A Gritty History

So I’ve started reading A Moment in the Sun, by John Sayles — the third ‘big book’ on my list, and the first book on the list that’s technically under 1,000 pages (955, to be exact). I know, I know. I can hear your disillusioned and disgusted jeering now, but I will live with your disappointment.

I’m just shy of 200 pages through the novel so far, and I have to say it’s pretty incredible. This post may be a little premature — and may reveal more ignorance than insight — but A Moment in the Sun is developing into quite an incredible, and truly American, novel. It begins in 1897, just before the advent of the Spanish-American War, following a myriad of characters from all across North America (from the gold-crazy Alaskan Yukon to the pro-Confederate politics of Wilmington, North Carolina) to as far across the world as the Philippines (during the tense, transitionary period between Spanish and American occupations).