Literary Sunsets

Spending time watching the sunset-topped slope has been a quiet moment each evening. But my phone camera fails to capture the cloud-piercing pink rays and scattered chatter of the people on the hill. Throughout literary history, writers have been particularly active in the long lineage of people trying to capture the feelings of sunset. Given how visually overwhelming sunsets can be, representation through words can often tell far more than photographs. 

In H.E. Hilton’s The Outsiders, a shared sunset is used to break down socioeconomic barriers. In a town split between two opposing social groups, the “Socs” and “Greasers,” the interactions between them are violent and hateful.

COURTESY OF PENGUIN BOOKS

Upward Spiral: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

If I closed my eyes, I could picture vividly the last time I read a book by John Green. I was high school sophomore then, and had the luxury to spend entire afternoons reading non-academic books. The book I picked that day was The Fault in Our Stars, and it made me stay in the same armchair for hours. Fast-forward four years, and there are some things that haven’t changed all that much. The heroine of John Green’s new novel Turtles All the Way Down is much like Hazel Grace as she’s a quirky, nerdy sixteen-year-old girl who embarks on an adventure and encounters friendship and love along the way, all the while battling a chronic illness that stands between her and happiness.