Set in Nicaragua in 1984, The Stars at Noon is a story of passion, fear, and betrayal told in the voice of an American woman whose mission in Central America is as shadowy as her surroundings.Is she a reporter for an American magazine as she sometimes claims, or a contact person for Eyes of Peace?And who is the rough English businessman with whom she becomes involved?As the two foreigners become entangled in increasingly sinister plots, Denis Johnson masterfully dramatizes a powerful vision of spiritual bereavement and corruption.
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From Publishers Weekly
In this novel set in Nicaragua, a nameless young American woman supports herself by whoring and seeks to flee the country she hates with one of her customers. PW was disappointed in this "inferior work" by the author of the well-received novels Angels and Fiskadoro.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
A young American woman (unnamed) is working in Nicaragua, supposedly as a journalist but actually as a prostitute; her primary aim is to convert the staggering quantity of cordobas she has accumulated so that she can get out of Nicaragua and back to the the United States via Costa Rica. Inadvertently she takes up with a British petroleum corporation executive turned traitor and/or fugitivea liaison that is nearly her undoing, for she finds herself trapped not only in Nicaragua but in a desperate and futile love/hate tangle. The remarkably poetic and memorable picture of sizzling political unrest in Central America almost but not quite redeems this rather confused and not very interesting tale by the author of Angels ( LJ 8/83) and Fiskadoro ( LJ 5/15/85). Ronald L. Coombs, SUNY Downstate Medical Ctr. Lib., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
THE AIR was getting thick-if you like calling a garotte of diesel and greasy dirt "air"-and so before the burning rain began I stepped into the McDonald's. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE AIR was getting thick-if you like calling a garotte of diesel and greasy dirt "air"-and so before the burning rain began I stepped into the McDonald's. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Henry Platte
Format:Paperback
This is easily some of Johnson's best work. Granted, it's short, and there may not be enough space to develop such an ambitious story in such a setting, but I think he selects all the right details. One sentence is enough to bring some strange corner of a horrifyingly corrupt city into focus(...).
It's not up to the mythic level of Jesus' Son, true, but it's a different kind of book. It's less personal, and gives a better sense of society in general, a convincing world. I recommend it very highly.
Format:Paperback
Stars at Noon presents the story of a female journalist caught in a murky labyrinth of a world in Nicaragua of the 1980's. She attempts to escape and in the process, becomes mixed up with "the Englishman" and other shadowy characters.
The mood is dark and the action somewhat confusing and hard to follow. The atmosphere is steamy and jungle-like, reminiscent of Conrad's classic story, "The Heart of Darkness."
Although there is no clear ending or moral to the book, I found the protagonist sympathetic and the language of the book poetic and evocative. The book, in spite of its murky and confusing qualities, was very entertaining and a good read.
By a reader
Format:Paperback
I completely disagree with the two-star review. This book is basically the tale of two nameless people traversing a hell both literal and figurative. The language is mesmerizing, poetic and often brutal. The story is simple, the emotions complex, and, believe me, there are no happy endings. This is Johnson's darkest work, and not as satisfying as his masterpieces 'Angels' and 'Fiskadoro'. Don't believe that two-star review; a lot of people only know Johnson through Jesus' Son. That's his most accessible book and seemingly everyone has read it, but the man is one of the greatest living American writers, and this book in no way tarnishes that reputation.
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