A Flag for Sunrise

What struck me about a Flag for Sunrise was its uncomprimisingly dark view of the world and the politics that makes it function. A world where all that is important is power and strength and your ability to harness these forces for your own self interest. A world where morals have no place, in fact a place where morals will get you killed, often slowly and painfully.

Yet somehow the book remains rivetting. You know that it is going to end badly for those characters that you like, at times it is difficult to turn the page, but you do anyhow and what happens is often worse than your darkest imaginings. But it is also honest.

This is the second Robert Stone novel that I have read and I am certain that it will not be the last.

Yes, Ken Kesey has called his friend Stone a professional paranoid and asserted that he could sense sinister elements lurking behind every Oreo cookie. After reading this book I could see what Kesey was saying.

This book reminded me of Graham Greene in some general ways (sneaky spies, drunken central american priests, general gloom), and like Greene (who i dont even like that much) there are plenty of worried, unhappy people. In fact I challenge one to catch any of the characters in this book happy or sober for one whole scene. I believe there were perhaps two smiles. Anyhow, Stone strikes me as the type of guy uncomfortable with writing about happy people or comedy, but this really is not a criticism and it does not limit the scope of his writing. An added bonus is the unbelievabe, almost heroic amounts of drinking in the novel. It makes you feel better about your own alcohol problem.

The writing is beautiful, contemplative, and his creation of the country Tecan is cool. The suspense and tension was often as immediate as it can be in really good movies, or worrisome phone calls or any discussion with an ex-girlfriend.

So the point is: this is a great book, OK?

Saints and sinners compete in this Third World nightmare, each with a different agenda. Its an ideological train wreck and the ultimate victims are the disenfranchised. The name of the game is greed and the players are the usual: privately owned corporations, interested governments, a militia trained to fight insurrection, various criminals, religious zealots and a panoply of hired spies and assorted operatives. Our personal guide is Frank Holliwell, an American anthropologist with "Company" ties from his days in Vietnam, visiting the region ostensibly to give a lecture. Holliwell becomes one more pawn in a dangerous game with incredibly high stakes.

In the final act, no one is who he seems in this Darwinian struggle for dominance. The common people are disposable, the cause is mutable and the quality of civilization a casualty of events. Enter at your own risk, this is Robert Stone at his best. But know this: you step into chaos in this novel (with no separate chapters) that jolts from one state of anxiety to another, watching over your shoulder at every turn.