A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone

 A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone

Monumental may sound exaggerated, but that is how I feel about this chef d'oeuvre

Robert Stone had already impressed me before A Flag, but I have to say that the size of the novel and the appearance of a complicated, challenging plot has put me off when I first tried it.

That only proves how shallow and fickle this reader can be.

And what a missed opportunity this masterpiece could have been.

I am not sure if I have read, imagined or I am just making up a comparison with Dostoyevsky.

But the serious subjects, the manner in which they are treated, the characters, the landscape, the war and the sharp, honest eye that has seen all this are outstanding.

There is no personage that is pure and without flaws, except perhaps sister Justin or May.

She may symbolize the ideal human being, even if or because she swears once in a while, in impossible situations.

She has dedicated her life, young as she is, not just to God in an abstract, reclusive manner, but in an active way, offering to help wounded, putting her life in danger.

Then there is Holliwell, who comes close the being the positive, like able hero.

Only he is a very complex man, with many issues, some going back to Vietnam and having to decide, I think, what to do with his life.

The novel is long and there is no way that I can even begin to explain or write anything worthwhile.

So I will just throw some subjective feelings that I have experienced while reading this excellent volume.

Pablo is the third in line, with a heavy presence but an unlikeable guy.

He shoots his dogs right near the beginning, so I am not giving away any clues on what happens next with a guy I sort of despised from the start.

There are many personages and it is unusual for me to get immersed in a long story with over twenty people that are key to the saga.

Calahan and Deedee his wife, Negus, Campos, a few priests, some spies with the CIA, an American Embassy Army attaché and more.

The Americans are involved in a Latin American country, which has a thug on top of the hierarchy.

But in real politik, you have to work with what you have, very often, unsavory as these dictators can be.

Think Saudi Arabia.

In fact, this is the only area where I do not share the same wave length or beliefs with the author.

If I am not wrong, he is disappointed with the support that right wing, tyrannical leaders have received from America.

Which is understandable, only in my - perhaps wrong view- the communists are much worse.

I was ruled by them and my vision is surely distorted by that fact.

And then Robert Stone is not painting anyone, with the aforementioned exception, as being " good and without fault"

The guerillas come out of this better, they may represent a better alternative, as they are depicted here, but they are not saints, they make mistakes and they sound rather ruthless at times.

Fabulous, outstanding and extraordinary book.

One of my Absolute favorites.