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A Moment in the Sun
It’s 1897. Gold has been discovered in the Yukon. New York is under the sway of Hearst and Pulitzer. And in a few months, an American battleship will explode in a Cuban harbor, plunging the U.S. into war. Spanning five years and half a dozen countries, this is the unforgettable story of that extraordinary the turn of the twentieth century, as seen by one of the greatest storytellers of our time.
Shot through with a lyrical intensity and stunning detail that recall Doctorow and Deadwood both, A Moment in the Sun takes the whole era in its sights—from the white-racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina to the bloody dawn of U.S. interventionism in the Philippines. Beginning with Hod Brackenridge searching for his fortune in the North, and hurtling forward on the voices of a breathtaking range of men and women—Royal Scott, an African American infantryman whose life outside the military has been destroyed; Diosdado Concepcíon, a Filipino insurgent fighting against his country’s new colonizers; and more than a dozen others, Mark Twain and President McKinley’s assassin among them—this is a story as big as its history rediscovered through the lives of the people who made it happen.
Shot through with a lyrical intensity and stunning detail that recall Doctorow and Deadwood both, A Moment in the Sun takes the whole era in its sights—from the white-racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina to the bloody dawn of U.S. interventionism in the Philippines. Beginning with Hod Brackenridge searching for his fortune in the North, and hurtling forward on the voices of a breathtaking range of men and women—Royal Scott, an African American infantryman whose life outside the military has been destroyed; Diosdado Concepcíon, a Filipino insurgent fighting against his country’s new colonizers; and more than a dozen others, Mark Twain and President McKinley’s assassin among them—this is a story as big as its history rediscovered through the lives of the people who made it happen.
955 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2011
135 people are currently reading
3246 people want to read
About the author
John Sayles
89 books136 followersJohn Thomas Sayles is an independent film director, screenwriter, novelist and short story writer who frequently plays small roles in his own and other indie films.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews
June 18, 2018
True story: whenever I finish a book that I have not simply enjoyed but have truly loved reading, I follow the same simple ritual. I slowly close the book, hold it in both hands so I can squeeze the pages together between the boards, and then press my lips to the front cover. It has been awhile since I kissed a book but I planted a big smacker on John Sayles’ latest novel A Moment in the Sun.
What can I say about this incredible, accomplished novel that won’t sound like the usual book jacket bullshit? Book reviews and blurbs have made the language of praise seem tired and worn: incredible, phenomenal, terrific, powerful, riveting . . . It’s even worse when praising a longer novel since reviewers have standard tactics they use to convey a book’s sweep and scope – tactics that often include liberal use of the words “sweep” and “scope.” I could easily use some of those tactics here: from the icy cliffs of the Yukon to the dense jungles of the Philippines; from presidents, generals, and literary luminaries to newsboys, buggy drivers, and cleaning women; from, to; from, to . . .
So, I’ll say this: by the time I began reading the last third of a Moment in the Sun I was already slowing down, savoring the pages—wanting to know what happens next but not wanting to finish too quickly. While reading the final 50 pages I felt that singular sense of loss that comes only when a reader realizes, with regret, that they have probably read the last there is to read about each character.
Those who know John Sayles primarily as a writer-director of independent films will not be surprised that he has a screenwriter’s ear for dialogue and a director’s eye for detail. Happily, Sayles also has an author’s sense of language. Throughout his sentences are clean and polished – polished almost to the point of transparency: each phrase fades into the thing it describes. Still, there is real beauty here: the elegance of precision.
To say that the book is well researched is an understatement. Most historical fiction wears its research on its sleeve. A Moment in the Sun is not a tightly plotted novel peppered with research. It is a life’s work--the product of a lifetime’s worth of fascination with history and people and place.
I won't bother trying to describe the story. I have already gone on too long and there are plenty of plot synopses to be found. Better yet, just read the book and discover for yourself.
What can I say about this incredible, accomplished novel that won’t sound like the usual book jacket bullshit? Book reviews and blurbs have made the language of praise seem tired and worn: incredible, phenomenal, terrific, powerful, riveting . . . It’s even worse when praising a longer novel since reviewers have standard tactics they use to convey a book’s sweep and scope – tactics that often include liberal use of the words “sweep” and “scope.” I could easily use some of those tactics here: from the icy cliffs of the Yukon to the dense jungles of the Philippines; from presidents, generals, and literary luminaries to newsboys, buggy drivers, and cleaning women; from, to; from, to . . .
So, I’ll say this: by the time I began reading the last third of a Moment in the Sun I was already slowing down, savoring the pages—wanting to know what happens next but not wanting to finish too quickly. While reading the final 50 pages I felt that singular sense of loss that comes only when a reader realizes, with regret, that they have probably read the last there is to read about each character.
Those who know John Sayles primarily as a writer-director of independent films will not be surprised that he has a screenwriter’s ear for dialogue and a director’s eye for detail. Happily, Sayles also has an author’s sense of language. Throughout his sentences are clean and polished – polished almost to the point of transparency: each phrase fades into the thing it describes. Still, there is real beauty here: the elegance of precision.
To say that the book is well researched is an understatement. Most historical fiction wears its research on its sleeve. A Moment in the Sun is not a tightly plotted novel peppered with research. It is a life’s work--the product of a lifetime’s worth of fascination with history and people and place.
I won't bother trying to describe the story. I have already gone on too long and there are plenty of plot synopses to be found. Better yet, just read the book and discover for yourself.
December 30, 2012
There was an element of Papa's dictum in my reading of John Sayles' doorstop qua cinder block of a narrative, it sat gradually until suddenly I devoured its 1000 pages. My cheekiest nod to the novel is that its as if the Chums of Chance (Pynchon's creations in Against The Day) chose to chronicle American Race and Imperium. That said, Sayles never appears overwrought nor resigned to types or constructs in establishing his dramatic web.
As many may know, I once considered African-American history to be a desired career path. The plausibility of that now strikes me as either ancient or a thumbnail sketch I was considering for a screenplay. My focus and affairs drifted quite far afield and I was thus caught unawares by how the description of the purge of Wilmington affected me. Not that I find such removed or distinct from any other pogrom, far from it, but as domestic political discourse appears as of late to be saturated with racial codes, I do wonder.
a postscript would simply nudge and nod. Glancing back at the work, I sense a lingering both above and within the influences of Vidal and Vollmann. We are prodded, we remember and thus imagine.
As many may know, I once considered African-American history to be a desired career path. The plausibility of that now strikes me as either ancient or a thumbnail sketch I was considering for a screenplay. My focus and affairs drifted quite far afield and I was thus caught unawares by how the description of the purge of Wilmington affected me. Not that I find such removed or distinct from any other pogrom, far from it, but as domestic political discourse appears as of late to be saturated with racial codes, I do wonder.
a postscript would simply nudge and nod. Glancing back at the work, I sense a lingering both above and within the influences of Vidal and Vollmann. We are prodded, we remember and thus imagine.
March 20, 2012
This will be the briefest review of one of the longest books I’ve ever read. At 955 pages, Sayles’ novel set at the turn of the last century comes in just short of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. The difference between the two is that there’s not a single long-winded passage in Sayles. And there’s more packed into it per square inch even than McMurtry’s multi-character, multi-plotted cattle drive novel.
Like Lonesome Dove, I read this one because it comes square in the middle of a historical period I’ve been interested in. Taking place between the years 1897 and 1902, it portrays a moment in American history when the frontier had closed and the country took its first steps toward empire with the Spanish-American War.
The novel is largely about that war, a small part devoted to the adventure in Cuba and a much greater part to the war in the Philippines. There we are treated to points of view from three sides, white troops of volunteers, black U.S. Army troops, and the “insurgents” fighting them. And all of it is set in the larger context of life back in the States.
I can tell you the names of the handful of soldiers whose lives we follow with considerable intimacy from start to finish. But I can’t keep a mental list long enough to recall the host of other characters whose lives weave in and out of the rest of the narrative. Still, they are drawn with such clarity, I came to feel utterly familiar with every one of them.
To a great extent, the novel is about race relations. While two young black men take up arms to fight in the War, their families back home experience the convulsive upheavals that followed so-called Reconstruction in the South. We get the story of the “recapture” of Wilmington, North Carolina, as whites forcibly take an election away from the blacks and cause their flight to the North.
There’s much also about working people and the poor. We are witness to grinding, low-paid physical labor. One example being the work involved in the removal and disposing of dead horses from city streets. There’s work in the mines of Colorado and women working in sweat shops and scrubbing floors in mansions. And there’s child labor, as homeless boys hawk newspapers on curbs and street corners in Manhattan.
There’s also a glancing focus at the media itself as editors, correspondents, and cartoonists shape and sensationalize the news for public consumption. And one character is entranced by the possibilities of a new invention that takes moving pictures. One of its first uses is to film reenactments of battle scenes showing U.S. troops abroad.
Historical figures walk the pages of the novel, among them the boomtown entrepreneur, Soapy Smith. We visit cigar factories in Tampa Bay, a military fort in Missoula, and the gold rush town of Skaguay, Alaska. One of the most absorbing chapters takes place entirely within a prison in upstate New York on the day President McKinley is shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.
It’s the kind of book you can go on and on about, particularly when you know that you’ll probably never persuade another person to read it because of its length. And what’s ironic is that it’s so well suited to readers with short attention spans. Its 100-plus chapters are each like a tightly written short story. You can pick it up anywhere and read one without needing to know what came before it.
Set in another context, this novel covers the years leading up to the publication of Owen Wister’s The Virginian (1902). It’s curious and maybe telling that at a time of war abroad and political assassination at home, this romance of the Old West became a best seller.
Like Lonesome Dove, I read this one because it comes square in the middle of a historical period I’ve been interested in. Taking place between the years 1897 and 1902, it portrays a moment in American history when the frontier had closed and the country took its first steps toward empire with the Spanish-American War.
The novel is largely about that war, a small part devoted to the adventure in Cuba and a much greater part to the war in the Philippines. There we are treated to points of view from three sides, white troops of volunteers, black U.S. Army troops, and the “insurgents” fighting them. And all of it is set in the larger context of life back in the States.
I can tell you the names of the handful of soldiers whose lives we follow with considerable intimacy from start to finish. But I can’t keep a mental list long enough to recall the host of other characters whose lives weave in and out of the rest of the narrative. Still, they are drawn with such clarity, I came to feel utterly familiar with every one of them.
To a great extent, the novel is about race relations. While two young black men take up arms to fight in the War, their families back home experience the convulsive upheavals that followed so-called Reconstruction in the South. We get the story of the “recapture” of Wilmington, North Carolina, as whites forcibly take an election away from the blacks and cause their flight to the North.
There’s much also about working people and the poor. We are witness to grinding, low-paid physical labor. One example being the work involved in the removal and disposing of dead horses from city streets. There’s work in the mines of Colorado and women working in sweat shops and scrubbing floors in mansions. And there’s child labor, as homeless boys hawk newspapers on curbs and street corners in Manhattan.
There’s also a glancing focus at the media itself as editors, correspondents, and cartoonists shape and sensationalize the news for public consumption. And one character is entranced by the possibilities of a new invention that takes moving pictures. One of its first uses is to film reenactments of battle scenes showing U.S. troops abroad.
Historical figures walk the pages of the novel, among them the boomtown entrepreneur, Soapy Smith. We visit cigar factories in Tampa Bay, a military fort in Missoula, and the gold rush town of Skaguay, Alaska. One of the most absorbing chapters takes place entirely within a prison in upstate New York on the day President McKinley is shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.
It’s the kind of book you can go on and on about, particularly when you know that you’ll probably never persuade another person to read it because of its length. And what’s ironic is that it’s so well suited to readers with short attention spans. Its 100-plus chapters are each like a tightly written short story. You can pick it up anywhere and read one without needing to know what came before it.
Set in another context, this novel covers the years leading up to the publication of Owen Wister’s The Virginian (1902). It’s curious and maybe telling that at a time of war abroad and political assassination at home, this romance of the Old West became a best seller.
Want to read
February 14, 2017The Vollmann review:
http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/1802...
http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/1802...
June 8, 2011
Wow you guys. This one, too, is going to blow your minds. It's tough not to compare it to
The Instructions
, the last 1000-plus-pager from the inimitable McSweeney's, but such a comparison would be meaningless, as I think it would be pretty difficult for these books to be more different. It's still way pre-pub, so I don't want to spill any secrets, but obvs this book, like everything McSwy's does, is phenomenal. Get it on them to-read shelves already!!
***
Whoa, William T. Vollmann reviewed this!! Sayles must be thrilled.
***
Whoa, William T. Vollmann reviewed this!! Sayles must be thrilled.
August 2, 2011
You say: Epic. I say: Endless.
You say: Sweeping. I say: Scattered.
You say: Rollicking. I say: the Opposite of Rollicking.
I can't explain how excited I was to find a copy of John Sayles' acclaimed new novel at a book fair in downtown Chicago for a reasonable price. It is both a huge and beautiful book -- kudos to the reliable McSweeney's Publishing house. (Although just about everybody who saw me reading had the same quip: "is that a Bible?") It's exciting to heft a big, epic, summertime book and think: I'm really gonna sink my teeth into this one.
If only.
Deep breath, here goes. This is a 955-page novel that feels twice as long to read. I picture Sayles at whatever quirky, anachronistic typewriter he uses, clattering out page after unedited page, throwing them all into an enormous stack of tree-pulp and treating it all like Rumpelstiltskin's gold. This is a book where every other sentence could be cut, where what could be accomplished in a word takes a chapter (or three), where "plotting" is more like "plodding." And I say this with full self-awareness as a needlessly verbose guy. By page 700 I had so completely lost patience that I was unabashedly skimming whole chunks of book at a time. I didn't miss a thing.
The sad part is that there IS a rollicking historical epic somewhere inside this bloated mess. (It's just buried under layers and layers of preachy social-justice talk, endless numbers of discursive subplots, and shrill, monotonous descriptions.) Many of the characters are sympathetic and well-drawn; the turn-of-the-(20th)-Century setting is absolutely fascinating. The part of this book that is actually wonderful conveys the compelling sense that There is Nothing New Under the Sun, and that all the social ills we wring our hands over and decry -- the sensationalized state of journalism, American military involvement overseas, an economically and racially stratified society, et al -- has always been part of the American experience. Parts of the novel chillingly echo everything from Vietnam to Afganistan, from Fox News to deregulation. It all comes from a obviously liberal perspective, but I have no qualms with that necessarily: purposeful echoings that allow the reader to forge their own connections and conclusions are fine. But heavy-handedness is death for pointedly political works. Compare this to another clearly political book published by McSweeney's -- Zeitoun -- and the shortcomings of A Moment in the Sun are all the more stark. Alternatively, if you give me an absolute thrill ride of a book that I can't put down, you can stick any looney politics you want in there and I'll greedily overlook it (here's to you, Tom Clancy!).
My anger with this book stems from pure disappointment. My expectations were too high -- the reality of reading couldn't sustain them. Would that it were not so...
As a Pyrrhic art-project, I'm tempted to remorselessly cull this book to a lean, mean, 350 pages just to see if it would be a bestseller and win a Pulitzer. I bet it would. But I'm so excited finally to be free of this leaden albatross that I'm moving on to new fictional climes without another backward glance.
You say: Sweeping. I say: Scattered.
You say: Rollicking. I say: the Opposite of Rollicking.
I can't explain how excited I was to find a copy of John Sayles' acclaimed new novel at a book fair in downtown Chicago for a reasonable price. It is both a huge and beautiful book -- kudos to the reliable McSweeney's Publishing house. (Although just about everybody who saw me reading had the same quip: "is that a Bible?") It's exciting to heft a big, epic, summertime book and think: I'm really gonna sink my teeth into this one.
If only.
Deep breath, here goes. This is a 955-page novel that feels twice as long to read. I picture Sayles at whatever quirky, anachronistic typewriter he uses, clattering out page after unedited page, throwing them all into an enormous stack of tree-pulp and treating it all like Rumpelstiltskin's gold. This is a book where every other sentence could be cut, where what could be accomplished in a word takes a chapter (or three), where "plotting" is more like "plodding." And I say this with full self-awareness as a needlessly verbose guy. By page 700 I had so completely lost patience that I was unabashedly skimming whole chunks of book at a time. I didn't miss a thing.
The sad part is that there IS a rollicking historical epic somewhere inside this bloated mess. (It's just buried under layers and layers of preachy social-justice talk, endless numbers of discursive subplots, and shrill, monotonous descriptions.) Many of the characters are sympathetic and well-drawn; the turn-of-the-(20th)-Century setting is absolutely fascinating. The part of this book that is actually wonderful conveys the compelling sense that There is Nothing New Under the Sun, and that all the social ills we wring our hands over and decry -- the sensationalized state of journalism, American military involvement overseas, an economically and racially stratified society, et al -- has always been part of the American experience. Parts of the novel chillingly echo everything from Vietnam to Afganistan, from Fox News to deregulation. It all comes from a obviously liberal perspective, but I have no qualms with that necessarily: purposeful echoings that allow the reader to forge their own connections and conclusions are fine. But heavy-handedness is death for pointedly political works. Compare this to another clearly political book published by McSweeney's -- Zeitoun -- and the shortcomings of A Moment in the Sun are all the more stark. Alternatively, if you give me an absolute thrill ride of a book that I can't put down, you can stick any looney politics you want in there and I'll greedily overlook it (here's to you, Tom Clancy!).
My anger with this book stems from pure disappointment. My expectations were too high -- the reality of reading couldn't sustain them. Would that it were not so...
As a Pyrrhic art-project, I'm tempted to remorselessly cull this book to a lean, mean, 350 pages just to see if it would be a bestseller and win a Pulitzer. I bet it would. But I'm so excited finally to be free of this leaden albatross that I'm moving on to new fictional climes without another backward glance.
July 11, 2011
I really admired this book. The topic, late 19th/early 20th century US, is fascinating and highly relevant today's political and cultural landscape and it needs to be examined more closely: the Spanish American War and the resulting occupation of the Phillipines, white southerners re-taking control of government after Reconstruction in an attempt to push back nascent African American political power, labor organization and rebellion as a response to the exploitative relationships inevitable in unchecked capitalism. Unfortunately, as a novel, it never got beyond being a left-leaning history lesson - I was always aware of the characters existing to emobody some aspect of the period or to suffer some indignity to reflect flaws in the system or embody the persecution of a group. The characters never felt real and I was always feeling jerked around/manipulated in their constant lesson-filled reversals. Don't get me wrong, character and even plot are not wholly essential to enjoying a novel if the language and ideas are beautiful or thought provoking enough. But this isn't one of those novels. A Moment in the Sun left me wishing for a straight history book with the veil completely lifted off - the narrative of this moment in US history is compelling enough (and probably more so) without the pretext of fictional characters marked by constant bad luck and picaresque wandering.
December 30, 2023
So big and massive in scope. Excellent. John Sayles can find the interesting in people and places whenever and wherever.
July 28, 2020
Sorry, it's July 2020 and everything I write has to start with pandemic.
In late March of this year, when it became clear that everything was going to be shut tight for a while, instead of running to the Costco for a 96-roll-package of toilet paper, I stopped by the library, anticipating a suspension of return deadlines and overdue fees. I picked up this monster of a novel with satisfaction. I felt like the pandemic would be like the pre-Internet times when I lived in remote, quiet places and read great fat classics like War and Peace to pass away the cricket-filled tropical evening.
I no longer live in the tropics. Our time is not like those times.
In those times, the word “doom-scrolling” was not yet part of the English language. In those times, I was not working full-time from home, plus cooking healthy food and cleaning in a way which, I hope, will improve my health and forestall madness. In other words, I didn't have the long slow evenings of undistracted reading that I had anticipated.
And that's too bad, because in the occasional moments when I got sit down and swallow this great book in 50+ page chunks, it was magnificent, galloping along in a very readable fashion and allowing me to go for minutes on end without a single thought about murder hornets, flesh-eating amoeba, the re-appearance of the Bubonic Plague, or any of the other horrors that 2020 has to offer.
This book would be great for a beach vacation, if anybody ever gets to take one again.
The old-school library hardcover edition I grabbed at a run in the library has been designed with a deliberately retro look by those hipsters at McSweeney's. It reminded me of the dusty, neglected, fascinating bestsellers of previous decades that I took off the shelves during long pre-Internet summer afternoons at the public library ages ago. This was a cool effect for me, but I have to wonder whether it will have the same positive effect on people who are younger than sixty (my age). However, I felt that the print of this edition was a little light, and the occasional cause of eye-strain during late-night reading.
At the center of the sprawling narrative are two Wilmington, NC, families, the white Manigaults and the black Luncefords, though both families disappear from the narrative for dozens of pages at a time to make room for subplots involving a sickly Manhattan newsboy, a Filipino aristocrat-turned-revolutionary, a newspaperman, a cartoonist, some prison wardens and prisoners, a native American boxer, a professional Theodore Roosevelt impersonator, miners, soldiers, and others, as well as cameos from Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, President McKinley, and his assassin.
The central event, occurring about midway through the novel, is the shameful 1898 episode wherein white bigots overthrew the legally-elected and -appointed government of Wilmington in a coup d'etat, and went on a murderous spree, killing or sending into exile most of the African-American community. Completely by accident, I had read a non-fiction book on this topic only a few months before, so a lot of the references to pre-1898 Wilmington events and personalities made more sense to me than it might have if I had come to the novel with no previous knowledge.
It's to Sayles' credit that he put the disgraceful Wilmington episode at the center in this novel. Like the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, it has been ignored for far, far too long.
More generally, the time around the year 1900 is a fascinating time, and worthy of attention. I think that many writers and historians have shared my view that this period was a final, fateful moment, where my homeland could have turned away and not repeated the tired mistakes of empire in the 20th century, but didn't. John Dos Passos, E.L. Doctorow, and Thomas Pynchon, among others, have felt that the age is compelling enough to have spent a big junk of their lives trying to get it down on paper. This attempt by Sayles will get a lot less future ink from literary scholars (if such creatures exist in the future) because Sayles is also a successful independent filmmaker and well-paid Hollywood “script doctor”. It just doesn't seem fair somehow that talent (also monetary reward for same) is distributed so unevenly in the population.
I also think that this fine novel does not get as much attention as it deserves because it is pretty straight forward storytelling, without post-modern winking asides and ironic references. (Although, at one point, Sayles gives the name Pynchon to a soldier who was killed by insurgents in the Philippines.) It's just plain old great storytelling.
This novel is a big investment of time and energy, plus, if it falls out of your hands and onto your chest while reading in bed, it can really knock the wind out of you. I'm finally returning it to the library now, and I hope it can help somebody else get through sheltering in place, since, at this writing, it doesn't seem like it's going to end anytime soon.
In late March of this year, when it became clear that everything was going to be shut tight for a while, instead of running to the Costco for a 96-roll-package of toilet paper, I stopped by the library, anticipating a suspension of return deadlines and overdue fees. I picked up this monster of a novel with satisfaction. I felt like the pandemic would be like the pre-Internet times when I lived in remote, quiet places and read great fat classics like War and Peace to pass away the cricket-filled tropical evening.
I no longer live in the tropics. Our time is not like those times.
In those times, the word “doom-scrolling” was not yet part of the English language. In those times, I was not working full-time from home, plus cooking healthy food and cleaning in a way which, I hope, will improve my health and forestall madness. In other words, I didn't have the long slow evenings of undistracted reading that I had anticipated.
And that's too bad, because in the occasional moments when I got sit down and swallow this great book in 50+ page chunks, it was magnificent, galloping along in a very readable fashion and allowing me to go for minutes on end without a single thought about murder hornets, flesh-eating amoeba, the re-appearance of the Bubonic Plague, or any of the other horrors that 2020 has to offer.
This book would be great for a beach vacation, if anybody ever gets to take one again.
The old-school library hardcover edition I grabbed at a run in the library has been designed with a deliberately retro look by those hipsters at McSweeney's. It reminded me of the dusty, neglected, fascinating bestsellers of previous decades that I took off the shelves during long pre-Internet summer afternoons at the public library ages ago. This was a cool effect for me, but I have to wonder whether it will have the same positive effect on people who are younger than sixty (my age). However, I felt that the print of this edition was a little light, and the occasional cause of eye-strain during late-night reading.
At the center of the sprawling narrative are two Wilmington, NC, families, the white Manigaults and the black Luncefords, though both families disappear from the narrative for dozens of pages at a time to make room for subplots involving a sickly Manhattan newsboy, a Filipino aristocrat-turned-revolutionary, a newspaperman, a cartoonist, some prison wardens and prisoners, a native American boxer, a professional Theodore Roosevelt impersonator, miners, soldiers, and others, as well as cameos from Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, President McKinley, and his assassin.
The central event, occurring about midway through the novel, is the shameful 1898 episode wherein white bigots overthrew the legally-elected and -appointed government of Wilmington in a coup d'etat, and went on a murderous spree, killing or sending into exile most of the African-American community. Completely by accident, I had read a non-fiction book on this topic only a few months before, so a lot of the references to pre-1898 Wilmington events and personalities made more sense to me than it might have if I had come to the novel with no previous knowledge.
It's to Sayles' credit that he put the disgraceful Wilmington episode at the center in this novel. Like the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, it has been ignored for far, far too long.
More generally, the time around the year 1900 is a fascinating time, and worthy of attention. I think that many writers and historians have shared my view that this period was a final, fateful moment, where my homeland could have turned away and not repeated the tired mistakes of empire in the 20th century, but didn't. John Dos Passos, E.L. Doctorow, and Thomas Pynchon, among others, have felt that the age is compelling enough to have spent a big junk of their lives trying to get it down on paper. This attempt by Sayles will get a lot less future ink from literary scholars (if such creatures exist in the future) because Sayles is also a successful independent filmmaker and well-paid Hollywood “script doctor”. It just doesn't seem fair somehow that talent (also monetary reward for same) is distributed so unevenly in the population.
I also think that this fine novel does not get as much attention as it deserves because it is pretty straight forward storytelling, without post-modern winking asides and ironic references. (Although, at one point, Sayles gives the name Pynchon to a soldier who was killed by insurgents in the Philippines.) It's just plain old great storytelling.
This novel is a big investment of time and energy, plus, if it falls out of your hands and onto your chest while reading in bed, it can really knock the wind out of you. I'm finally returning it to the library now, and I hope it can help somebody else get through sheltering in place, since, at this writing, it doesn't seem like it's going to end anytime soon.
July 13, 2025
John Sayles is a master storyteller. I've enjoyed many of his movies and now I can include this behemoth of a novel in that pantheon.
It's a page-turner of the highest quality, I can't believe it took me just 10 days to complete it
Set at the tail-end of the 19th century and beginning with the Yukon gold rush it's main concern is with the Spanish-American war in the late 1890s which resulted in Spain losing several of their lat remaining overseas colonies, primarily (as far as the US was involved) Cuba and the Philippines.
Sayles shows how this is the beginning of the United States' involvement in wider geopolitics and the spread of US imperialism. To some extent the descriptions of the war in the Philippines to "liberate" the Filipinos from Spanish rule and then having to fight against local guerilla groups who didn't just want to swap the Spanish for the US reminded me of the Vietnam war that was to bog the US down about 60 years later
It's a page-turner of the highest quality, I can't believe it took me just 10 days to complete it
Set at the tail-end of the 19th century and beginning with the Yukon gold rush it's main concern is with the Spanish-American war in the late 1890s which resulted in Spain losing several of their lat remaining overseas colonies, primarily (as far as the US was involved) Cuba and the Philippines.
Sayles shows how this is the beginning of the United States' involvement in wider geopolitics and the spread of US imperialism. To some extent the descriptions of the war in the Philippines to "liberate" the Filipinos from Spanish rule and then having to fight against local guerilla groups who didn't just want to swap the Spanish for the US reminded me of the Vietnam war that was to bog the US down about 60 years later
September 22, 2011
A Moment in the Sun is an epic novel that covers much ground. I agree with my friend David for his notion that “Tolstoy himself would have to be proud of Sayles for this one.” A Moment in the Sun certainly mirrors
War and Peace
in scope and subject (although I'm sure Tolstoy—especially in his later years—would have grave objections with some of the vulgarity in Sayles' work).
AMitS brings to fiction one of the more interesting time periods of American history. It begins n 1897, shortly before the sinking of the USS Maine off the coast of Cuba, and concludes sometime after Czolgosz's execution in 1901. In the 955 pages of the novel, the reader is taken around the world—most notable were the Yukon, North Carolina, Cuba, the Philippines, and New York. Using many factual events and people, A Moment in the Sun touches on some lesser known moments from world history (e.g. the successful and bloody coup in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898).
Sayles does a splendid job in refraining from making his novel a platform for social commentary. The opportunity is definitely there, but Sayles allows the characters and events to speak for themselves. It could be said that many parallels exist between the United States of 1898 and the United States of 2001—questions of people's judgments and their sense of right and wrong—but these are fully up to the reader to deduce and interpret as they see appropriate.
The characters of A Moment in the Sun are equally compelling but do lack some balance. Some characters (especially Hod), introduced in the introductory chapters, dominate the book for several hundred pages and are largely forgotten by the end. Others are shaped as primary characters but do not show up until the last chapters (i.e. Shoe and, to a lesser extent, Mei). Equally off balance were Sayles female characters, which was very unfortunate given the author's ability to work so well with a female narrative. Of the novel's many characters, only three females took any kind of significant role; their place was always secondary to their male counterparts. Many of my favorite scenes involved the character of Jessie and I would have loved for Sayles to develop her further.
Aside from the lack of symmetry, A Moment in the Sun was very well orchestrated. The distinct voices were believable and gripping; the scenes were filled with action and heart; the settings and events were stunning and well-researched.
Reflecting on all that happened in A Moment in the Sun, I am reminded of a passage from a similar novel: “It's not given to people to judge what's right or wrong. People have eternally been mistaken and will be mistaken, and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong.” -War and Peace Indeed, Tolstoy would've been proud.
AMitS brings to fiction one of the more interesting time periods of American history. It begins n 1897, shortly before the sinking of the USS Maine off the coast of Cuba, and concludes sometime after Czolgosz's execution in 1901. In the 955 pages of the novel, the reader is taken around the world—most notable were the Yukon, North Carolina, Cuba, the Philippines, and New York. Using many factual events and people, A Moment in the Sun touches on some lesser known moments from world history (e.g. the successful and bloody coup in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898).
Sayles does a splendid job in refraining from making his novel a platform for social commentary. The opportunity is definitely there, but Sayles allows the characters and events to speak for themselves. It could be said that many parallels exist between the United States of 1898 and the United States of 2001—questions of people's judgments and their sense of right and wrong—but these are fully up to the reader to deduce and interpret as they see appropriate.
The characters of A Moment in the Sun are equally compelling but do lack some balance. Some characters (especially Hod), introduced in the introductory chapters, dominate the book for several hundred pages and are largely forgotten by the end. Others are shaped as primary characters but do not show up until the last chapters (i.e. Shoe and, to a lesser extent, Mei). Equally off balance were Sayles female characters, which was very unfortunate given the author's ability to work so well with a female narrative. Of the novel's many characters, only three females took any kind of significant role; their place was always secondary to their male counterparts. Many of my favorite scenes involved the character of Jessie and I would have loved for Sayles to develop her further.
Aside from the lack of symmetry, A Moment in the Sun was very well orchestrated. The distinct voices were believable and gripping; the scenes were filled with action and heart; the settings and events were stunning and well-researched.
Reflecting on all that happened in A Moment in the Sun, I am reminded of a passage from a similar novel: “It's not given to people to judge what's right or wrong. People have eternally been mistaken and will be mistaken, and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong.” -War and Peace Indeed, Tolstoy would've been proud.
July 22, 2011
This is an unforgettable book about America at the turn of the last century. Skillfully told and breathtaking in its scope.
I must say that the first half was totally engrossing, but it got a little tougher in the second half. I think whole chapters could have been left out. And yet the breadth of it is amazing, it's like you are soaking in the era. Gold rush, Spanish American War, yellow journalism, Cuba, the philippines, African American culture post Reconstruction, the white overthrow of the elected government of Wilmington, NC, the early days of movie making, Mark Twain, the assassination of McKinley, on and on, yet woven into a compelling narrative. I learned some history for sure.
This book is getting rave reviews (the one in the NYTimes caused me to buy it) but I don't hear much about it otherwise. It is a rough read, and you have to wrestle with it in more ways than one, but well worth the effort. Like reading a cinder block, it's so fat.
It takes dedication to read this, and it's not for everyone, but I admire it greatly.
I must say that the first half was totally engrossing, but it got a little tougher in the second half. I think whole chapters could have been left out. And yet the breadth of it is amazing, it's like you are soaking in the era. Gold rush, Spanish American War, yellow journalism, Cuba, the philippines, African American culture post Reconstruction, the white overthrow of the elected government of Wilmington, NC, the early days of movie making, Mark Twain, the assassination of McKinley, on and on, yet woven into a compelling narrative. I learned some history for sure.
This book is getting rave reviews (the one in the NYTimes caused me to buy it) but I don't hear much about it otherwise. It is a rough read, and you have to wrestle with it in more ways than one, but well worth the effort. Like reading a cinder block, it's so fat.
It takes dedication to read this, and it's not for everyone, but I admire it greatly.
November 4, 2012
A Moment in the Sun is a big sprawl of a novel at 955 pages focusing on s sliver of time at the turn of the last century, the era of the Spanish American War. At the heart of his story is American imperialism and racism. It seems to be his intention to illuminate American traits of the past we'd easily recognize as those of today. For the period around 1900 was the seedtime of American imperialism, manifest destiny spilled over the west coast into the Pacific. The sections of the novel dealing with the war concern primarily military and political events in the Philippines, which was a war quickly won but just as quickly mired in a transitional guerilla war today called the Philippine Insurrection. If the reader doesn't connect the events and situation with Iraq, Sayles helps by writing the Philippine chapters in a kind of journalistic style as familiar as the recent media coverage in the Middle East. San Epifano is seen in the same light as Fallujah.
Racism is Sayles's other major theme. The narrative and its characters are rooted in Wilmington, North Carolina. Almost every character is connected there in some way, and about half of them are African-American. The events in Wilmington revolve around a Jim Crow vigilante movement which drives the black population out. However, racism extends everywhere in the novel. Bigotry sprinkles the far-flung localities: Filipinos are slurred by American soldiers fighting there, even by the black units, which are themselves considered second-class by the rest of the military. Ethnic groups such as Jews or the Irish in America are denigrated, discrimination is ubiquitous, epithets are freely used in the novel's dialogue and multifaceted points of view.
Much of it is seen in terms of journalism and meant to reflect the vaulting energy of an America teetering on the platform of a new century, poised to spring into it to create or seize its destiny. Some sections are written in a journalistic idiom complete with headlines, a character called the Yellow Kid sells the sensational news of the bustling new America on the streets of New York City, editorial cartoonists sketch their ideas, Mark Twain comments to the press, even Damon Runyon, I think, has a voice here in a chapter representing the popular reportage on the war. In fact, sections written in this style, reflective of the news of the day, combined with cameo appearances of some notable historic personages plus the vast reach of the novel itself make it a kissin' cousin of the USA Trilogy of John Dos Passos.
It must've been Sayles's idea that such big themes required a big novel. He provided it. And it's impressive. Sayles's capture of the language and atmosphere of these many, many characters and the wide broadcast of settings his plot scatters among these many pages is flawlessly controlled, be they Filipino insurrectionist or young boy hawking the evening edition on Broadway, black soldier in Manila or racist newspaper editor in Wilmington. They're meant to reflect the varied types of people in motion during this transformation from frontier perspective to international aspirations. Sayles doesn't miss the historical and societal shift from the agricultural/industrial to the social consciousness/political. This is a new America, the seed sprouting from the bud Sayles writes, on its way to full, expansive bloom. This is an America bursting its boundaries, in full flow into the world while at the same time shackling elements of its population with a familiar repression. The paradox of growth and racism and xenophobia.
The creation of the age mirrors our own yet lets that age, 112 years ago, live on its own. Built into the narrative are some important events of the turn of the century allowing it to be singular in its own way. American politics is a constant slow simmer underneath the narrative, President McKinley is assassinated, mention is made of a new sandwich called a hamburger, New York's small industries thrive in sweatshops.
It may not be brilliantly achieved. It may not be great fiction. On the other hand, perhaps it is. What I do think is true is that in a few spots it rather heavy-handedly splashes its message into the mind. The novel's first page, a "Frontspiece," is apparently a description of an editorial cartoon in which Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty stand on the shore looking west across the ocean before them in expectation. In the final pages Sayles writes for us a scene in which the cholera-stricken Yellow Kid, being treated by the black Dr. Lunceford, points out with hand laid on hand that they're the same color. But Sayles stumbles in this way only a few times--remarkably--in such a long novel, though it tends to jar the reader convinced of the author's ability to write with realism and grace. Because Sayles can write beautifully descriptive prose while deftly controlling a narrative as big as America itself, brimming with a swarm of energetic characters in motion. Perhaps it does shine an uncomfortable light on a moment of Americentric prejudice which Sayles suggests still exists. Maybe the clouds are parted to reveal the beginnings of an American triumphalism just being recognized and endorsed by an industry and populace too energetic to be contained. The triumph in that sunshine is Sayles's.
Racism is Sayles's other major theme. The narrative and its characters are rooted in Wilmington, North Carolina. Almost every character is connected there in some way, and about half of them are African-American. The events in Wilmington revolve around a Jim Crow vigilante movement which drives the black population out. However, racism extends everywhere in the novel. Bigotry sprinkles the far-flung localities: Filipinos are slurred by American soldiers fighting there, even by the black units, which are themselves considered second-class by the rest of the military. Ethnic groups such as Jews or the Irish in America are denigrated, discrimination is ubiquitous, epithets are freely used in the novel's dialogue and multifaceted points of view.
Much of it is seen in terms of journalism and meant to reflect the vaulting energy of an America teetering on the platform of a new century, poised to spring into it to create or seize its destiny. Some sections are written in a journalistic idiom complete with headlines, a character called the Yellow Kid sells the sensational news of the bustling new America on the streets of New York City, editorial cartoonists sketch their ideas, Mark Twain comments to the press, even Damon Runyon, I think, has a voice here in a chapter representing the popular reportage on the war. In fact, sections written in this style, reflective of the news of the day, combined with cameo appearances of some notable historic personages plus the vast reach of the novel itself make it a kissin' cousin of the USA Trilogy of John Dos Passos.
It must've been Sayles's idea that such big themes required a big novel. He provided it. And it's impressive. Sayles's capture of the language and atmosphere of these many, many characters and the wide broadcast of settings his plot scatters among these many pages is flawlessly controlled, be they Filipino insurrectionist or young boy hawking the evening edition on Broadway, black soldier in Manila or racist newspaper editor in Wilmington. They're meant to reflect the varied types of people in motion during this transformation from frontier perspective to international aspirations. Sayles doesn't miss the historical and societal shift from the agricultural/industrial to the social consciousness/political. This is a new America, the seed sprouting from the bud Sayles writes, on its way to full, expansive bloom. This is an America bursting its boundaries, in full flow into the world while at the same time shackling elements of its population with a familiar repression. The paradox of growth and racism and xenophobia.
The creation of the age mirrors our own yet lets that age, 112 years ago, live on its own. Built into the narrative are some important events of the turn of the century allowing it to be singular in its own way. American politics is a constant slow simmer underneath the narrative, President McKinley is assassinated, mention is made of a new sandwich called a hamburger, New York's small industries thrive in sweatshops.
It may not be brilliantly achieved. It may not be great fiction. On the other hand, perhaps it is. What I do think is true is that in a few spots it rather heavy-handedly splashes its message into the mind. The novel's first page, a "Frontspiece," is apparently a description of an editorial cartoon in which Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty stand on the shore looking west across the ocean before them in expectation. In the final pages Sayles writes for us a scene in which the cholera-stricken Yellow Kid, being treated by the black Dr. Lunceford, points out with hand laid on hand that they're the same color. But Sayles stumbles in this way only a few times--remarkably--in such a long novel, though it tends to jar the reader convinced of the author's ability to write with realism and grace. Because Sayles can write beautifully descriptive prose while deftly controlling a narrative as big as America itself, brimming with a swarm of energetic characters in motion. Perhaps it does shine an uncomfortable light on a moment of Americentric prejudice which Sayles suggests still exists. Maybe the clouds are parted to reveal the beginnings of an American triumphalism just being recognized and endorsed by an industry and populace too energetic to be contained. The triumph in that sunshine is Sayles's.
March 3, 2017
A great sweeping look at the beginnings of the 20th century through a broad array of characters.
Rousing, robust historical fiction that puts you in the center of some of the great events in North America. Not only is John Sayles a great movie director, he is a talented writer.
Rousing, robust historical fiction that puts you in the center of some of the great events in North America. Not only is John Sayles a great movie director, he is a talented writer.
June 19, 2023
A Moment in the Sun takes a fascinating, often spectacular, low-angle look at the underbelly of America in its growing pains as it heaves and flexes into the 20th century.
There. I did it. A first paragraph without mentioning author John Sayles' other, more well-known, job. But now it can't be helped. For those who didn't know, Sayles is a top-notch movie writer/director, producing such fine films as Eight Men Out (my favorite), Matewan, Lone Star and Sunshine State. A Moment in the Sun isn't his first novel, though it's his first in 10 years and the only one I have read. It could go a long way toward putting "novelist" in front of his name instead of filmmaker. It's exceptionally good. I already knew he could write a movie script; he's a hell of a novelist, as well.
In a colossal work reminiscent of John Dos Passos' U.S.A trilogy, Sayles starts the action in 1897 and takes us a little into the new century as American imperialism and racism — not new topics — hold sway and yellow journalism and a nascent film industry feed a public hungry for entertainment. The main characters in A Moment in the Sun are the "little guys" of history, though famous figures such as Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt (mostly in the form of a T.R. impersonator) and President William McKinley and (more prominently) his assassin, among others, appear. It tackles big topics, though often in small ways. Speaking of size, this is a 955-page tome that looks much bigger (the only book I own that's thicker than the trade paperback I read is the still-champeen of fat novels, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy) and, unless you're of Schwarzeneggerian proportions, will tax your arm muscles plenty.
Yes, it's long as hell, but I was two-thirds of the way through the book before I ever once got impatient with Sayles to get on with it. And he always did.
A Moment in the Sun opens with the Yukon gold rush, featuring one of the main characters, Hod Brackenridge, who will come to find his way to a few boxing matches and on the front lines as America fights in Cuba and the Philippines. The Philippine-American War, in particular, comes to dominate the novel in its second half. It must be said that the Philippine sections are the only places where the novel drags, though there are many excellent scenes set during this forgotten war that certainly cost America its innocence, if it hadn't been long gone already. One small criticism is that here, and sometimes elsewhere, Sayles assumes a little too much reader knowledge of the period.
Along the way to the Philippines, there's the Spanish-American War in Cuba and racial strife in Wilmington, N.C. Sayles features more black main characters than white, following them from Wilmington to the two wars to back home (or to their graves). In scenes of riot and brutality, the white people of Wilmington take back their city, ousting black elected officials and dealing violently with ordinary black citizens in what was a virtual coup while the federal government looked the other way. These scenes are extremely powerful.
The short Spanish-American War in Cuba ("Remember the Maine!"), seeming to whet the American appetite, gives way to American incursion in the Philippines, the U.S. first driving out the Spanish, then (while we're at it) whipping the Filipinos as well in a shameful example of U.S. imperialism. Here we meet Filipino insurgent Diosdado, among others, and many Americans whom Sayles has shown us elsewhere.
As stated, there's more than wars and racial strife in Sayles' book. He is expert at providing texture and atmosphere to a period that's one you're probably least likely to read about in history books. From Coney Island fun to the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo; from a sickly paperboy to a sensational newspaper cartoonist; from black society (not just the socially downtrodden) to Irish immigrants to Filipinos to a Native American; Sayles' handling of this panorama always feels right, always puts us right there. There's romance, history, adventure, everyday life. That one of the main characters, Harry Manigault, is an early filmmaker is fitting, considering the cinematic scope of Sayles' book. It's an amazing achievement.
If Sayles sometimes has a hard time getting deep into his characters, it's a small price to pay. He's covering a lot of ground, weaving main characters in and out and introducing a few characters briefly who are never seen again. Sayles writes almost exclusively in the present tense here; a warning for those irritated by that. His writing often acquires the perspective (and intellectual capacity) of those he's focusing on. Usually, this works. At the very least, he's giving us diverse perspectives. At more than 100 chapters, A Moment in the Sun generally keeps things moving, which may be a weakness with those who want total immersion in a less broad spectrum. But this is what we've got, and it's great. It's the best novel I've read this year.
There. I did it. A first paragraph without mentioning author John Sayles' other, more well-known, job. But now it can't be helped. For those who didn't know, Sayles is a top-notch movie writer/director, producing such fine films as Eight Men Out (my favorite), Matewan, Lone Star and Sunshine State. A Moment in the Sun isn't his first novel, though it's his first in 10 years and the only one I have read. It could go a long way toward putting "novelist" in front of his name instead of filmmaker. It's exceptionally good. I already knew he could write a movie script; he's a hell of a novelist, as well.
In a colossal work reminiscent of John Dos Passos' U.S.A trilogy, Sayles starts the action in 1897 and takes us a little into the new century as American imperialism and racism — not new topics — hold sway and yellow journalism and a nascent film industry feed a public hungry for entertainment. The main characters in A Moment in the Sun are the "little guys" of history, though famous figures such as Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt (mostly in the form of a T.R. impersonator) and President William McKinley and (more prominently) his assassin, among others, appear. It tackles big topics, though often in small ways. Speaking of size, this is a 955-page tome that looks much bigger (the only book I own that's thicker than the trade paperback I read is the still-champeen of fat novels, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy) and, unless you're of Schwarzeneggerian proportions, will tax your arm muscles plenty.
Yes, it's long as hell, but I was two-thirds of the way through the book before I ever once got impatient with Sayles to get on with it. And he always did.
A Moment in the Sun opens with the Yukon gold rush, featuring one of the main characters, Hod Brackenridge, who will come to find his way to a few boxing matches and on the front lines as America fights in Cuba and the Philippines. The Philippine-American War, in particular, comes to dominate the novel in its second half. It must be said that the Philippine sections are the only places where the novel drags, though there are many excellent scenes set during this forgotten war that certainly cost America its innocence, if it hadn't been long gone already. One small criticism is that here, and sometimes elsewhere, Sayles assumes a little too much reader knowledge of the period.
Along the way to the Philippines, there's the Spanish-American War in Cuba and racial strife in Wilmington, N.C. Sayles features more black main characters than white, following them from Wilmington to the two wars to back home (or to their graves). In scenes of riot and brutality, the white people of Wilmington take back their city, ousting black elected officials and dealing violently with ordinary black citizens in what was a virtual coup while the federal government looked the other way. These scenes are extremely powerful.
The short Spanish-American War in Cuba ("Remember the Maine!"), seeming to whet the American appetite, gives way to American incursion in the Philippines, the U.S. first driving out the Spanish, then (while we're at it) whipping the Filipinos as well in a shameful example of U.S. imperialism. Here we meet Filipino insurgent Diosdado, among others, and many Americans whom Sayles has shown us elsewhere.
As stated, there's more than wars and racial strife in Sayles' book. He is expert at providing texture and atmosphere to a period that's one you're probably least likely to read about in history books. From Coney Island fun to the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo; from a sickly paperboy to a sensational newspaper cartoonist; from black society (not just the socially downtrodden) to Irish immigrants to Filipinos to a Native American; Sayles' handling of this panorama always feels right, always puts us right there. There's romance, history, adventure, everyday life. That one of the main characters, Harry Manigault, is an early filmmaker is fitting, considering the cinematic scope of Sayles' book. It's an amazing achievement.
If Sayles sometimes has a hard time getting deep into his characters, it's a small price to pay. He's covering a lot of ground, weaving main characters in and out and introducing a few characters briefly who are never seen again. Sayles writes almost exclusively in the present tense here; a warning for those irritated by that. His writing often acquires the perspective (and intellectual capacity) of those he's focusing on. Usually, this works. At the very least, he's giving us diverse perspectives. At more than 100 chapters, A Moment in the Sun generally keeps things moving, which may be a weakness with those who want total immersion in a less broad spectrum. But this is what we've got, and it's great. It's the best novel I've read this year.
October 13, 2022
This book is HUGE. 955 pages. Organized into three books, I hope the soft cover came as a trilogy. This was an unwieldy read! This isn't to say that the content of those 955 pages weren't worthwhile to read, but rather, the size of this hard cover (aka "the brick"), actually interfered with reading that content.
It's not poorly written, though I've read better historical fiction. Set within the rise of American Imperialism off the disintegration of the Spanish monarchies empire, this is the story of some of the individuals caught up in the expansion of the US's empire of capital.
It's not poorly written, though I've read better historical fiction. Set within the rise of American Imperialism off the disintegration of the Spanish monarchies empire, this is the story of some of the individuals caught up in the expansion of the US's empire of capital.
September 1, 2011
I had this rated a four (because I never give anything a five) but changed to five because I don't like when people criticize John Sayles and I didn't want to do it. He essentially does exactly what I want in popular history and tries to appeal to the mainstream at the same time, and people just look for excuses not to read him or go see his movies. Yes the book does have many characters and plot lines, but you never get lost. It is long, but fun and not difficult. One negative review I read said you needed to constantly google to follow it. That person had clearly not read truly difficult stuff like Pynchon or Melville where you would be lost without an encyclopedia. Most of the history can be clearly understood from the text. If you want more, the publisher has a great website with annotated pictures (http://www.mcsweeneys.net/books/amome...). It's not finished, but it should be great when it is, and as a history teacher I would recommend using it to give small sections to your students for research.
I have this same problem with reviews of his recent film Amigo, which is set at the same time as the book but has nothing to do with it really. The negative comments these reviews make revolve around it being too hokey or sincere or not enough of an artistic accomplishment. That might be true, but it isn't what's keeping people from seeing the film or reading the book. His stuff isn't commercially successful because it doesn't have happy endings and it's too political in a way that is more than just liberal. He tries his best to make the stuff have mainstream appeal in its form (which is where the hokey and sincere criticism comes from). I think people are just looking for reasons not to like it because they aren't really interested in politics or history. Whatever it's shortcomings (which I don't see many), there is no novel about the Spanish American War that is more of a literary achievement than this. So if you're interested you have to read it.
I have this same problem with reviews of his recent film Amigo, which is set at the same time as the book but has nothing to do with it really. The negative comments these reviews make revolve around it being too hokey or sincere or not enough of an artistic accomplishment. That might be true, but it isn't what's keeping people from seeing the film or reading the book. His stuff isn't commercially successful because it doesn't have happy endings and it's too political in a way that is more than just liberal. He tries his best to make the stuff have mainstream appeal in its form (which is where the hokey and sincere criticism comes from). I think people are just looking for reasons not to like it because they aren't really interested in politics or history. Whatever it's shortcomings (which I don't see many), there is no novel about the Spanish American War that is more of a literary achievement than this. So if you're interested you have to read it.
January 20, 2012
Author is a master of the big picture saga, and this new one does not disappoint. Encompasses 4 story lines, and what is most impressive is that author takes the “little guy’s” perspective, that is working class, blacks, women, those trying to what? Succeed? Survive? Has some damn dignity? So no big high faluting art galleries, captains of industry, or other bourgey pretenses (well there are some, granted, but in the black and passing community of Wilmington north Carolina, who were all run out of town or shot down like dogs, for getting “too uppity”) . So, follows Hod, white poor guy who goes to Klondike to try gold mining (ends up in army and shipped to Philippines for span-amer war), and Coop and Royal and Junior, black fellows from Wilmington, who too join usa army, and are shipped both to cuba AND Philippines, Diosdado, a Filipino freedom fighter, and we all know how that turned out, over 100 years of usa imperialism, and the judges daughter Jessie, trying to stay out of the gutter in NYC where she and her family are exiled from their ancestral home of Wilmington. She falls from belle of the ball to drudge, but hangs in there. Plus a caste of 100’s to help these 4 stories along, anarchists assassins, wandering anishnabeg, TR Roosevelt and the actor who riffed off him, hearst and his newspaper, sadistic niles, the white aristocratic Wilmington boy who takes his fascism on the road, and on and on. Great book that even at 900+ pages is not long enough.
September 23, 2011
Wow, what a great read. I heard about this book when John Sayles interviewed by Michael Silverblatt on his KCRW show Bookworm, and was instantly intrigued. http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/b...
Sayles talked about the Spanish American War being one that our history books say we won, but which we don't brag about much...which made him suspicious.
Sayles introduces a lot of characters in the first chapters, and you have to just let it flow over you a bit and trust that you'll recognize the key players when they pop up again. You get to follow several people through the lat 1800s time period.
I cared about the characters as Sayles put them through often gut wrenching experiences. There is a good mix of tragedy, irony and survival. A good read. I sat for several minutes after finishing it, just going back over the journeys of the main characters.
The physical size of the book is kind of a deterrent to quick reading, because it's hard to read in bed...which is where most of my reading gets done, in the middle of the night. It was interesting to have a book that was more comfortable to sit in a chair and read. Reminded me of wrangling The Count of Monte Cristo when I was a kid. It was good to be put in my place--in a comfortable chair with a good reading light--by this book.
Sayles talked about the Spanish American War being one that our history books say we won, but which we don't brag about much...which made him suspicious.
Sayles introduces a lot of characters in the first chapters, and you have to just let it flow over you a bit and trust that you'll recognize the key players when they pop up again. You get to follow several people through the lat 1800s time period.
I cared about the characters as Sayles put them through often gut wrenching experiences. There is a good mix of tragedy, irony and survival. A good read. I sat for several minutes after finishing it, just going back over the journeys of the main characters.
The physical size of the book is kind of a deterrent to quick reading, because it's hard to read in bed...which is where most of my reading gets done, in the middle of the night. It was interesting to have a book that was more comfortable to sit in a chair and read. Reminded me of wrangling The Count of Monte Cristo when I was a kid. It was good to be put in my place--in a comfortable chair with a good reading light--by this book.
February 25, 2016
My recurring question as I read this whale of a novel was, how many research assistants did Sayles hire? This book is epic, and the only other novel I've read equal in its scope is Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy. Sayles has written a bildungsroman for the U.S. that encompasses the major themes: capitalism, war, imperialism, racism. Nevertheless, he renders these themes effectively at the level of his characters, caught in the cogs of history. His ear for dialog is remarkable. This book looks formidable, but the length is justified. Sayles has a big, big story to tell in a polyphony of voices, and he does it well.
December 31, 2016
MANY THANKS to the fine proprietors of ATOMIC BOOKS, Benn and Rachel & their employers, who were kind enough to ask John Sayles to sign a personlazied, signed copy of this book for me, when I called & requested that because I was ill that night & could not make it to the Reading and Signing. Thanks guys and gals! :-)
December 1, 2020
Comprehensive! At 955 pages, very fast paced. Sayles' prose is often workmanlike, and with so much plot, it almost has to be. But his brief flourishes can be quite stunning (just a few examples):
"'There was no country before they came and there is not one now, only bands of wild men fighting other wild men for the right to remain ignorant.'"
"And he is the only one who can glance at a piece of copy, even something scrawled with hasty hand, and see it in solid block columns before his fingers touch the keyboard, edit the wording on the fly without resorting to awkward hyphens or loose lines for his justification. There are no orphans or widows dangling from Milsap's paragraphs. He understands better than anybody that words are not sounds made of air but solid objects, with weight and consequence."
"..the music, angry then sad then romantic then brooding - who could believe it is one small person filling the air with this war of emotions? The music seems to grow larger, to possess the entire house, and Brigid imagines it entering each of the countless, empty rooms like a warm liquid, bringing a glow of life back into them. Brigid feels Molly at her elbow and for once the woman has nothing to say, only watching and listening. They stand for a long while, till Jessie ends the piece, last note hanging in the air - "
"'There was no country before they came and there is not one now, only bands of wild men fighting other wild men for the right to remain ignorant.'"
"And he is the only one who can glance at a piece of copy, even something scrawled with hasty hand, and see it in solid block columns before his fingers touch the keyboard, edit the wording on the fly without resorting to awkward hyphens or loose lines for his justification. There are no orphans or widows dangling from Milsap's paragraphs. He understands better than anybody that words are not sounds made of air but solid objects, with weight and consequence."
"..the music, angry then sad then romantic then brooding - who could believe it is one small person filling the air with this war of emotions? The music seems to grow larger, to possess the entire house, and Brigid imagines it entering each of the countless, empty rooms like a warm liquid, bringing a glow of life back into them. Brigid feels Molly at her elbow and for once the woman has nothing to say, only watching and listening. They stand for a long while, till Jessie ends the piece, last note hanging in the air - "
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2018
A modern American epic.
November 9, 2012
Don't read this book if you are an impatient person. It's nearly 1,000 pages long and not with the "big" print of books by Follett or the Game of Thrones. But it's a good book. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is that it got tiresome after a while.
Unlike my favorite Mallon and more like most historical fiction, these characters are actually experiencing historical events: the invasion of Cuba and the Philippines, the racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina, the assassination of President McKinley, and others. Of course, they don't recognize that these events will prove historical; they are just a part of everyday life for them.
Many, many characters play a part. There is a sociopathic Southern second son who can't decide what he wants to be when he "grows up" so tries on gambler, soldier (officer, of course), politician. There is a former coal miner, who travels to Alaska for the Gold Rush and ends up in the Philippines as a soldier. There are several blacks - three who end up as soldiers, a well-to-do family, a younger son who has to flee to NYC after the Wilmington coup and ends up in a very comfortable working position with the older son of one of the caroup's planners and executors, a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator named Teethadore.
Actually, the characters are not hard to keep apart. The story only covers the few years before the turn of the twentieth century, but, because the book is so long, it seems like a much longer time period. I did catch the author in a couple of historic mistakes: the Great White Fleet that he says was painted gray for the attack on the Philippines was NOT the Great WHITE fleet until TR had it painted white as part of a campaign to let the world see the US navy's power. It was meant to stand out; otherwise, the fleet was the normal color. Now I can't remember the other, but the fact that I only caught two says a lot for the author's research abilities.
If you are interested in US history in this time period (which is one that few people learn about - except for TR's San Juan Hill episode), read it. But remember, it's long, so don't expect to finish it in a weekend.
Unlike my favorite Mallon and more like most historical fiction, these characters are actually experiencing historical events: the invasion of Cuba and the Philippines, the racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina, the assassination of President McKinley, and others. Of course, they don't recognize that these events will prove historical; they are just a part of everyday life for them.
Many, many characters play a part. There is a sociopathic Southern second son who can't decide what he wants to be when he "grows up" so tries on gambler, soldier (officer, of course), politician. There is a former coal miner, who travels to Alaska for the Gold Rush and ends up in the Philippines as a soldier. There are several blacks - three who end up as soldiers, a well-to-do family, a younger son who has to flee to NYC after the Wilmington coup and ends up in a very comfortable working position with the older son of one of the caroup's planners and executors, a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator named Teethadore.
Actually, the characters are not hard to keep apart. The story only covers the few years before the turn of the twentieth century, but, because the book is so long, it seems like a much longer time period. I did catch the author in a couple of historic mistakes: the Great White Fleet that he says was painted gray for the attack on the Philippines was NOT the Great WHITE fleet until TR had it painted white as part of a campaign to let the world see the US navy's power. It was meant to stand out; otherwise, the fleet was the normal color. Now I can't remember the other, but the fact that I only caught two says a lot for the author's research abilities.
If you are interested in US history in this time period (which is one that few people learn about - except for TR's San Juan Hill episode), read it. But remember, it's long, so don't expect to finish it in a weekend.
August 1, 2011
Set at the turn of the 20th-century, A Moment in the Sun by John Sayles weighs in a hefty 950 pages. One might think a historical novel of this length might be a little tedious to read, but this is not the case with A Moment in the Sun. Sayles' writing is clear and engrossing, and you can certainly tell this novel is written by someone skilled with writing film screenplays.
That is not to say that this is a light, feel-good read; the characters are repeatedly subjected to the harshest treatment imaginable. In fact, one might suggest the idea of the Sisyphean task is THE central theme of this novel. Character Hod Brackenridge quite literally struggles again and again up a steep, icy hill in the Yukon, hauling his gear a few pounds at a time only to have the whole ordeal rendered futile on the last trip. Consider the black community in the South struggling from slavery to Reconstruction-era prosperity, then watching helplessly as their voting and citizenship rights are revoked by Jim Crow laws. The character Lei Man escapes the practice of foot-binding, escapes an encounter with a wolf, escapes a shipwreck, escapes being sold into prostitution, escapes the occupying armies of Spain and the United States, and on and on. *Personal note: Lei Man is a relatively minor but perhaps my favorite character in the novel. I pretty much read the sections involving her with while holding my breath and fighting goosebumps. *
Sayles gives a very strong and accurate description of just how DIFFICULT and different life was a century ago. I walked away from this novel feeling absolutely blessed to be living in an age of technological exponentiation. In a few months, when this story has faded a bit from my mind, I might be upset to find a spider on the bathroom wall or find the hot water has been completely used up, but right now I just can't bring myself to complain.
If you are considering reading this novel, I would urge you to do so. You will find yourself hooked by about page 50.
That is not to say that this is a light, feel-good read; the characters are repeatedly subjected to the harshest treatment imaginable. In fact, one might suggest the idea of the Sisyphean task is THE central theme of this novel. Character Hod Brackenridge quite literally struggles again and again up a steep, icy hill in the Yukon, hauling his gear a few pounds at a time only to have the whole ordeal rendered futile on the last trip. Consider the black community in the South struggling from slavery to Reconstruction-era prosperity, then watching helplessly as their voting and citizenship rights are revoked by Jim Crow laws. The character Lei Man escapes the practice of foot-binding, escapes an encounter with a wolf, escapes a shipwreck, escapes being sold into prostitution, escapes the occupying armies of Spain and the United States, and on and on. *Personal note: Lei Man is a relatively minor but perhaps my favorite character in the novel. I pretty much read the sections involving her with while holding my breath and fighting goosebumps. *
Sayles gives a very strong and accurate description of just how DIFFICULT and different life was a century ago. I walked away from this novel feeling absolutely blessed to be living in an age of technological exponentiation. In a few months, when this story has faded a bit from my mind, I might be upset to find a spider on the bathroom wall or find the hot water has been completely used up, but right now I just can't bring myself to complain.
If you are considering reading this novel, I would urge you to do so. You will find yourself hooked by about page 50.
June 25, 2015
I learned a lot about the Spanish American war, I appreciated the author's glee in using his copious research into period slang, I grew to care for the characters... but I also had some issues with content. The thing is, I get that pretty much the point of this book is that it's about the racism of the period, and about how racism is bad. And I get that the inclusion of nuanced intelligent characters of color and ignorant white people was meant to further drive this point home. But even so, after 800 or so pages of racist language on every page, it began to feel like the point was being lost in the relentless barrage of invective, however period typical. I felt that this white author's zeal in immersing himself in authenticity should perhaps have been reined in a bit. Additionally, I took issue with the fact that all the white people who were not horrifically racist were totally anti-oppressive and perfect, no hint of conditioning or environment to mar their saintliness.
But despite all that I am still giving this book 4 stars because it was well written and entertaining and had a lot of great stuff in it, plus I learned all about the US annexation of the Phillippines. While I have some complaints, I feel like this guy is essentially on the same side as me. I think of it more as a critique of the delivery, not of his actual position. John Sayles everyone! Wins movie awards, wins book awards, writes epic historical novels; very impressive.
Also I am tempted to up this to 5 stars just to show my appreciation for his restraint in the use of famous historical figures. The President, for example, appears only briefly and totally appropriately. Miraculous! Unheard of!
Random thought-- there was a part of the ending that reminded me a lot of the end of The Mists of Avalon, but maybe that's just how books about lost causes end.
But despite all that I am still giving this book 4 stars because it was well written and entertaining and had a lot of great stuff in it, plus I learned all about the US annexation of the Phillippines. While I have some complaints, I feel like this guy is essentially on the same side as me. I think of it more as a critique of the delivery, not of his actual position. John Sayles everyone! Wins movie awards, wins book awards, writes epic historical novels; very impressive.
Also I am tempted to up this to 5 stars just to show my appreciation for his restraint in the use of famous historical figures. The President, for example, appears only briefly and totally appropriately. Miraculous! Unheard of!
Random thought-- there was a part of the ending that reminded me a lot of the end of The Mists of Avalon, but maybe that's just how books about lost causes end.
April 21, 2012
Despite the girth, this is not dense nor unruly and unmanageable, but a magnificent foray into the past through the lives of multiple characters across the county and the world. Whether the prose is beautiful, arch, stark, bemused, insistent, off-hand, or particularly descriptive, it was nearly always captivating.
The United States is exposed in all its side-show glory; a nation of hucksters,thieves, boasters, racists, jingoists, and psychopaths who view violence as an easy tool to get what one wants.
We're also shown people struggling against unfair odds, racist violence, and lack of rights--people who strive to survive without succumbing to the worst aspects of our collective nature. Perhaps the best thing one can say about a novel is this: now that it is over, I miss some of those characters and even grieve for some.
This is a fantastic novel, making parallels between the time period covered, events from the last one hundred years and our own period. If I have a criticism, it is that the novel is male-centric. Not that there aren't any female characters rendered as whole people, but (and perhaps this is also intended as a reflection of a time period when men ruled almost absolutely) the focus tends to be on the men and their outlook and actions.
That said, I unreservedly recommend this to anyone. 4.5 stars.
2/3 through!--the detail is evidence of a lifetime of research collecting.
At 955 pages, this will take some time. I have a policy (newly minted) with these epic tomes: read 200 pages or so, then read another book. Unless you're home with a work related injury then you can plow through as I did with the chronicles of Amber.
The United States is exposed in all its side-show glory; a nation of hucksters,thieves, boasters, racists, jingoists, and psychopaths who view violence as an easy tool to get what one wants.
We're also shown people struggling against unfair odds, racist violence, and lack of rights--people who strive to survive without succumbing to the worst aspects of our collective nature. Perhaps the best thing one can say about a novel is this: now that it is over, I miss some of those characters and even grieve for some.
This is a fantastic novel, making parallels between the time period covered, events from the last one hundred years and our own period. If I have a criticism, it is that the novel is male-centric. Not that there aren't any female characters rendered as whole people, but (and perhaps this is also intended as a reflection of a time period when men ruled almost absolutely) the focus tends to be on the men and their outlook and actions.
That said, I unreservedly recommend this to anyone. 4.5 stars.
2/3 through!--the detail is evidence of a lifetime of research collecting.
At 955 pages, this will take some time. I have a policy (newly minted) with these epic tomes: read 200 pages or so, then read another book. Unless you're home with a work related injury then you can plow through as I did with the chronicles of Amber.
June 7, 2012
My rating for this book went from a 4 for fine writing, to a 3 for holding my interest, to a 2 for getting bored, so I settled on an average of 3 stars. First off, I must admit, I have a hard time with 900+ page books. I am over-eager to learn the conclusion quickly; I also like page-turners, that make me want to find out what happens next. This book rarely had me anxious to see what the next page brought.
I had hoped to learn more about the Spanish/American War, which I did, but it was not presented in an easy fashion. My biggest disappointment is that I still need to read more about this war to fully understand it. The author’s style of moving from character to character and place to place was difficult for me to follow, especially with my poor background of history of the time and locations. His subtle way of introducing famous people occasionally took me a while to discover who he was describing. However, I did enjoy the side stories about the overall time period. I was amazed at how many of the songs they quoted that I had learned in grade school. (Yikes! I’m not THAT old! :) I was also delighted to be reminded of minstrels, of which I had seen only one before they were abandoned. The personal stories of the fictitious characters kept me going, and I am afraid I skimmed the last 150 pages, just to see who survived and what fate had in store for them. Throughout the book, I was appalled and ashamed of how the Negroes were treated.
For someone with a better background than mine, I think this book would deserve a four.
I had hoped to learn more about the Spanish/American War, which I did, but it was not presented in an easy fashion. My biggest disappointment is that I still need to read more about this war to fully understand it. The author’s style of moving from character to character and place to place was difficult for me to follow, especially with my poor background of history of the time and locations. His subtle way of introducing famous people occasionally took me a while to discover who he was describing. However, I did enjoy the side stories about the overall time period. I was amazed at how many of the songs they quoted that I had learned in grade school. (Yikes! I’m not THAT old! :) I was also delighted to be reminded of minstrels, of which I had seen only one before they were abandoned. The personal stories of the fictitious characters kept me going, and I am afraid I skimmed the last 150 pages, just to see who survived and what fate had in store for them. Throughout the book, I was appalled and ashamed of how the Negroes were treated.
For someone with a better background than mine, I think this book would deserve a four.
March 5, 2017
This, dear readers, is how you write historical fiction. John Sayles brings every bit of the extraordinary talent he exhibits in his filmmaking (Lone Star, Eight Men Out) to this epic novel about the world at the turn of the 20th century. In particular he focuses on the Spanish-American War in Cuba, the Phillipine-American War, and the Wilmington (N.C.) Insurrection of 1898, but along the way he touches on the Yukon Gold Rush, the Boxer Rebellion, the Boer War, Coxey's Army, the McKinley assassination, yellow journalism, and, of course, the beginning of the film industry.
Through Sayles' intricate storytelling, we learn about how the Anglo-Saxon minority in Wilmington executed a coup d'etat to re-establish white supremacy in at least one city in the South. We learn how African-American soldiers and other men across the country who turned to military service due to a lack of options were dispatched to help "liberate" the native people of Cuba and the Phillipines, but in fact were simply used to replace one imperial power with another. We see the world at the time through many sets of eyes and many different cultures.
Sayles uses the novel's 955 pages to display his incredible research and clean, forceful prose. His attention to detail is amazing, although I will say I learned far more than I ever cared to about dysentery, venereal disease, and natural childbirth. How people survived these hardships over a hundred years ago is a mystery to me.
This novel truly is a tour de force.
Through Sayles' intricate storytelling, we learn about how the Anglo-Saxon minority in Wilmington executed a coup d'etat to re-establish white supremacy in at least one city in the South. We learn how African-American soldiers and other men across the country who turned to military service due to a lack of options were dispatched to help "liberate" the native people of Cuba and the Phillipines, but in fact were simply used to replace one imperial power with another. We see the world at the time through many sets of eyes and many different cultures.
Sayles uses the novel's 955 pages to display his incredible research and clean, forceful prose. His attention to detail is amazing, although I will say I learned far more than I ever cared to about dysentery, venereal disease, and natural childbirth. How people survived these hardships over a hundred years ago is a mystery to me.
This novel truly is a tour de force.
July 26, 2011
So after renewing this book twice at the library, I had to return it after finishing only a bit over half. It's great, sprawling in every sense-language, characters, geography. I can't help but think it a little overwrought in some places. Some characters added only for color (and maybe to show off Sayles regional colloquial chops). Perhaps this shortcoming should should fall on the editor. All in all, this book coupled with We, The Drowned which I read right before this one, has really renewed my interest in quality historical fiction.
I'll end up buying this to finish it. It's a bit messy, overwritten, and can be leaned up a bit, but all in all Sayles can include an accomplished writer, historian, and political commentor to his filmmaker occupation on his resume--of envy inducement.
And for all 950+ pages, the 'packaging' is amazing. Not heavy at all, which helps when you lug this around, reading on the bus and such.
After completing: This book still merits 5 stars, but for 950+ pages, you think the editor would have cut some of the fat. In my estimation, there are no less than four non essential characters which I would have cut out completely. The fact it still deserves five stars speaks to the quality of the rest of the novel. Completely engrossing.
I'll end up buying this to finish it. It's a bit messy, overwritten, and can be leaned up a bit, but all in all Sayles can include an accomplished writer, historian, and political commentor to his filmmaker occupation on his resume--of envy inducement.
And for all 950+ pages, the 'packaging' is amazing. Not heavy at all, which helps when you lug this around, reading on the bus and such.
After completing: This book still merits 5 stars, but for 950+ pages, you think the editor would have cut some of the fat. In my estimation, there are no less than four non essential characters which I would have cut out completely. The fact it still deserves five stars speaks to the quality of the rest of the novel. Completely engrossing.
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