The Stars at Noon

By Denis Johnson

Book Overview

A literary thriller and love story set during the Nicaraguan revolution, from the National Book Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. - Now the basis for a major motion picture

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 the anti-war group Eyes of Peace? And who is the rough English businessman she begins an affair with? The two foreigners become entangled in sinister plots and ever-widening webs of corruption, until a desperate attempt to escape the country brings their relationship to a crisis point.

With his customary narrative brilliance, award-winning writer Denis Johnson brings a hellish landscape of moral ambiguity vividly to life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593469771
• ISBN13: 9780593469774
• Release Date: June 2023
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Vastly underrated

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.

A 20th Century Heart of Darkness

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.