Clouds part for 'A Moment in the Sun'

MANILA, Philippines - John Sayles is best known as a filmmaker, responsible for films like Eight Men Out, Lone Star, Matewan and The Secret of Roan Inish. A pioneer of the American independent film scene, he’s one of the only directors who owns his entire body of work. He also enjoys a reputation as one of Hollywood’s go-to script doctors, with work on Apollo 13, The Fugitive and Poltergeist.

As if that weren’t enough, he’s also a novelist (Pride of the Bimbos, the National Book Award-nominated Union Dues). When he wrote Los Gusanos, he felt he needed to learn the Spanish language, and that’s what he did, even if it took years. It’s that fluency with Spanish, though, that allowed him to read the original Spanish version of Jose Rizal’s two books, part of his massive research into the Philippines, one of the settings of his new novel, A Moment in the Sun.

Set around the turn of the 20th century, A Moment in the Sun is a vast, sprawling work, justifying its 950-plus pages. It traverses five years and six continents, with four major characters (one of whom is Filipino), and dozens more that don’t suffer from lack of characterization. Despite the scale and breadth of the events in the book, Sayles’ laser-like eye for details snaps to focus like a camera lens the reader’s attention, bringing to life the world as it was over 100 years ago.

Poster artist Aaron Horkey made the elaborate, lavish cover typography, embossed and printed with metallic inks.

It’s gotten many raves already, with glowing reviews from the New York Times, Publishers Weekly (starred review), the Chicago Tribune (Editor’s Choice), and while I’m not quite through with the book, it’s not surprising. Though it’s daunting to start a tome this thick, I found the language easy to slip into, and the next thing I knew almost 50 pages had gone by. What I most appreciate is how I can lose myself in the book. While at first I am paying attention to a clever turn of phrase or an archaic term that is no longer in popular use today, or how history has (sometimes too conveniently) explained the events contained herein in approved textbooks, the mark of truly engaging, absorptive storytelling is when you find yourself forgetting you are reading a work of fiction crafted by someone, and just follow along the human stories and lives of the characters, who both shape and are shaped by these events.

The book itself is a lovely object. Published by Dave Eggers’ McSweeney’s, the production values are top-notch, and their reputation for graphic design is upheld by the embossed, gold-and-silver-metallic-inked cover by renowned poster artist Aaron Horkey, whose exquisite typogaphy is a joy to behold. Even the spine gets such lovely treatment.

A nice additional bonus is in the website of the book at McSweeney’s, where Sayles has put up photos and notes from his research in writing the book, organized by chapter. It’s a wealth of material that nicely supplements the book, one that’s welcome considering how little there is to be found on the Philippine-American War to begin with.

A Moment in the Sun’s Philippine book launch will be held at Fully Booked High Street today at 3 p.m. Sayles will be there to sign.

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Ramon De Veyra blogs at thesecuriousdays.com but is more active on Twitter.