Sironia, Texas

by Madison Cooper

The goings-on of a small Texas town, commencing in November 1900.

Genres: History

856 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

American novelist and short-story writer.

Reviews

[Matthew Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As being the first person on Goodreads to actually write a review for this book, I'm going to have to give some context. Skip below for quick-review.

First, If you don't feel interested in spending HUNDREDS on eBay to get an original copy, abebooks.com has a ready-to-print option that is perfect and affordable for the casual reader. I got both Volumes for under $70 all together (shipped form India to California), and its a "fresh" copy!

CONTEXT:
First, I found this book by literally googling "longest books ever written" at work one day, and found a blog that listed the top 10 largest english novels. This was 2nd in place to some other arguably longer books (L. Ron Hubbards' 10 volume scifi epic). You can argue this fact of being the longest American fictional novel, but thats beside the reason to read it.

The summary on Listverse.com was shockingly the only real summary of the book that described more literally what happens in the 1800 pages.

"In the lives of Cooper’s 30-odd major characters, there occurs a flood, several murders and suicides, and a castration party. One whorehouse burns down, one Negro is burned alive, one changeling is introduced into a childbed. Girls are seduced and others are beaten; at times it seems as though the streets of Sironia must be paved with female teeth. Crowbars are swung in labor strife, horsewhips in political campaigns. Sex-crazed old women corner fresh-faced youths in locked bedrooms. Blackmail is commonplace, miscegenation comes almost as natural as breathing, and the highest ambition of mankind, it would seem, is to own a real, live, spangly N’awlins ‘hoah’."

That summary completely drew me in. I had just finished reading some epics such as Murakami's 1Q84, Hallberg's City on Fire, Gaddis' JR, Bolanos' 2666, and some others (you can see my entire history on my GR profile).

I only have been avidly reading fiction since the beginning of 2016, because of my struggle with dyslexia I only now can get the pace and stamina to read long books from listening to tons of audiobooks during my work day. So my experience in fiction is relatively low for a lot of people on this website, and even though I have read some great works I feel obligated to put a little disclaimer on my review.

REVIEW:

I don't know where to start! There are over 40 characters in Volume 1 alone, with maybe another 20 secondary characters introduced in the end that continue into Volume 2. I have only just started Volume 2 so the review is strictly centered around the first book.

Sironia is a complicated town that has a lot of complicated characters. Their roles and reputation are something always kept in mind, especially when their actions defy those expectations. Its a satire and mirror to the world presented in virtual reality. You actually feel connected and a full-knowing spectator in Sironia. Almost like a virus in the brain moving from host to host, you start to feel "infections" when a character's actions influence others. The town is of a couple thousand, but you know everyone who makes it what it is. The POV never moves away from the town even if characters leave (or come back).

Since this is a profile of the early 20th century, the feeling of progress and change in those post-civil war decades is an experience one can not simply ever explain in only a couple pages. The children of the main characters in the beginning of Volume 1 soon become the main actors in the town's chapters as the generations start to move on into Volume 2. Its unnatural how easy it is to fall into the new characters he introduces almost every 20-30 pages. You start to know a daughter's sister's maid's granddaughter's boyfriend and you don't even realize it!

This book covers the rich, the poor, and people in between. The class and racial dynamics are explored from the point of view of each character as their story progresses and ethical dilemmas are presented. Of course for the time of this book's authorship, and the story it tells, racial slurs and misogynistic language are used liberally and constantly in the story. All black characters are referred to by offensive slurs and language that I have never even heard spoken, but there is a sympathy the author gives. Many of the black characters in this story, though abused and exploited, are given as much if not more heart and story than the white privileged characters that make up the town's "Quality". Some characters of course move away from the confederate-proud families, and start to change what the standard of black and white relations in the town.

I find this book more like a masterfully written soap where I can easily pick up and read for 15-30 minutes and immediately feel connected back into the storylines. The sections in each chapter follow a specific character and don't always relate back to the main story, rarely are there flashbacks but context is always given. Not one character's actions are unjustified or feel random and there is a deliberate method to the development and Cooper mastered it.

There is so much more to say but I can't digest this all so easily and I am not normally a literary critic! I hope people find this review good enough to feel convinced to read Sironia. I know its a risk to read something this unaccessible but I find it even more rewarding knowing that this story is continuing to be told over 70 years later. Hope you feel as excited as I did when I read the first page, and I know I'll feel all the more on the last.

I plan to update this review after I finish Volume 2! However long that shall take.

TL, DR: Sironia tells a story that is incomparable to anything written in the last 100 years. At 856 pages for Volume 1, the story packs 40 characters and their amazing interlocking stories though drama, comedy, and horror. Scandals and their gossip give the reader insight and goggles that let this story be told as if you live in the small town itself. Its long, its epic, but its damn good.

Thanks for reading :)

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll have to see what I think after the second volume, but this is decently done and handles its length well. The racism isn’t as enlightened as it wants to be, but it was 1952 trying to depict even earlier. Regardless, pretty solid for a detailed depiction of life in a small Texas town in the early part of the 1900s. It’s like an epic version of Our Town with sex and racism.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big, old behemoth of a novel, clocking in at ~1,700 pages over two volumes. I initially only had an interest because I'd seen the title in a list of longest English novels ever published and thought it would be interesting to read one of them. I ended up enjoying the novel very much. The story is told over 20+ years, with the eventual main protagonist, Tam Abercrombie, being just a minor character at the start the book (in more ways than one, as he's only five years old at the outset). Over the course of the story, you'll follow the fate and fortunes of the Abercrombies, a merchant family on the rise in society; the various branches of the Hill Families, as their wealth and status begin to fade; lecherous Young Tom Bly, as he watches over the town from his home on the bluff; the town's black folks, living in city that still celebrates Jefferson Davis's birthday and where even the lightest-skinned biracial kids know they will never be seen as anything other than "negroes"; and women who want more than what society will allow them. There are many character to love and quite a few to hate, and moments both funny and sad.

[Jacob Tibbetts]

Good bek very good also mj dies