The Anarchist's Convention and Other Stories

by John Sayles

Book Overview

Before John Sayles was an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, he was a National Book Award-nominated writer of fiction. The Anarchists' Convention is his first short story collection, providing a prism of America through fifteen stories. These everyday people -- a kid on the road heading west, aging political activists, a lonely woman in Boston -- go about their business with humor and resilience, dealing more in possibility than fact. In the widely...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560256915
• ISBN13: 9781560256915
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Bold Type Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

The fire underlying all his films

Those who love the independent films of John Sayles should really experience this collection of short stories. Not surprisingly, Sayles proves to be as good a writer as he is a film maker. Further, the genises of many of his film ideas can be seen in these tales of ordinary people living in extraordinary times.Sayles has a feel for working people and the intricate forces that over the decades has shaped their lives. He understands, as few contemporaries do, how complex and unlikely is our history. The multiple forces of political and social unrest that led immagrants from numerous countries to forge an uneasy peace with conservative white bread America is a constant given in his world view. He has such an eympathy with people of all ages and backgrounds that he is able to give life to his characters using words snd images that seem like they have to be true. Like his films, the stories are long on talk and situation and short on plot. This is only a failing if one doesn't care about the people he portrays, and he is so skillful at making them real and interesting that the reader's sympathy is almost guaranteed.