Scan barcode
nrweinst's review
4.5
Beautiful, desolate book. Puts the fiction in historical fiction but nonetheless an interesting read and a good beginning into learning about John Browns life. Better served for a look into living in the shadow of greatness
alundeberg's review
3.0
I have decided that I am way too practical of person for Russell Banks' novel, "Cloudsplitter" about arch-abolitionist John Brown. Narrated by his living son, Owen, forty years after the calamitous raid on Harpers Ferry, this is one long tale of Brown's pie-in-the-sky schemes for riches and the complete end of slavery. Like most pie-in-the-skiers, Brown's plans repeatedly fall flat with his lack of both financial acumen and a pragmatic grasp on reality. This leads him to dragging his family into deep debt and into one new home after another as he chases his next high. In the meantime, Owen is trapped in a state of arrested development as he cannot quite ever quit his father. The problem? I am not a pie-in-the-skier and get bored by people who can't resolve their issues. I made it to page 431 (out of 756), and they STILL have not made it to their raids in Kansas or Virginia-- they're still ten years away from those momentous events. And I just couldn't take it anymore.
Which is a real shame. Banks, like Maugham, has the ability to pull you directly into the action, and it is so here as he plunges the reader into pre-Civil War American life. His writing and research is superb, and his ability to distill a wide range of topics in great detail into a narrative is more than impressive. His exploration of what it is like to grow up in the shadow of a "Great Man" and the myriad ways history remembers him is insightful and nuanced, and this doesn't even touch his rendering of American attitudes towards slavery. It is just TOO long. It could have easily been 500 pages, and it would have been a better book for it.
Which is a real shame. Banks, like Maugham, has the ability to pull you directly into the action, and it is so here as he plunges the reader into pre-Civil War American life. His writing and research is superb, and his ability to distill a wide range of topics in great detail into a narrative is more than impressive. His exploration of what it is like to grow up in the shadow of a "Great Man" and the myriad ways history remembers him is insightful and nuanced, and this doesn't even touch his rendering of American attitudes towards slavery. It is just TOO long. It could have easily been 500 pages, and it would have been a better book for it.
emilybryk's review
3.0
I think I built this way, way up in my head. It's been on my too-read list forever, and maybe that's my own fault.
It's not that Cloudsplitter is a bad book. Far from it. Hell, there are whole segments I enjoyed pretty well, or at least found identifiable. (I'm looking specifically at Owen and his mother and stepmother, or at John Brown's demagogue-y escalation. However, things go a little bonkers fast. Every piece of Owen's sexuality was overdone and oddly disorienting, as was the business of Fred's self-castration.
This could have been an excellent 400-page book, but it turned into too much novel for its own good.
It's not that Cloudsplitter is a bad book. Far from it. Hell, there are whole segments I enjoyed pretty well, or at least found identifiable. (I'm looking specifically at Owen and his mother and stepmother, or at John Brown's demagogue-y escalation. However, things go a little bonkers fast. Every piece of Owen's sexuality was overdone and oddly disorienting, as was the business of Fred's self-castration.
This could have been an excellent 400-page book, but it turned into too much novel for its own good.
cjeanne99's review
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
Shaking my head. I made it through this book - but not without a lot of work. And now that I’m done - I’m not really sure what I read.
ekane33's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Finally finished this huge novel after months of start-and-stop.
It explores John Browns life, history and motivation through the eyes of his son Owen but seems torn between being a memoir about Owen and being his effort to tell his fathers story. The novel is at least 100-150 pages longer than it needs to be (maybe more) and would have benefited greatly from a more aggressive editorial process.
Owen is, by turns, philosophical and deeply practical, may have had religious visions or doubts thr existence of God and his fathers faith. The long, long asides about animal husbandry, wool prices, and family dynamics add little to the story that couldn’t have been done as effectively in half the space
It explores John Browns life, history and motivation through the eyes of his son Owen but seems torn between being a memoir about Owen and being his effort to tell his fathers story. The novel is at least 100-150 pages longer than it needs to be (maybe more) and would have benefited greatly from a more aggressive editorial process.
Owen is, by turns, philosophical and deeply practical, may have had religious visions or doubts thr existence of God and his fathers faith. The long, long asides about animal husbandry, wool prices, and family dynamics add little to the story that couldn’t have been done as effectively in half the space
kinddog2073's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Not sure what the last quarter star of my rating represents. This book is tremendous and shaped by the lives of the figures upon which it is based.
The story is truly not about John Brown and I am glad I knew this before starting it. It is about Owen Brown and his transformation into the man John Brown needed by his side to urge him to action and turn him into Osawotamie Brown. It is a story about someone confronted by deep principles, ones held sincerily, but constantly at risk of flaking. It is a story of extremism and rationalisation after the fact.
The narration here is different than in Continental Drift, the only other Banks I've read. Owen Brown is similarly sympathetic and of course still concerned with Banks's same question in CD, why we make the decisions we do in the face of world-sized terror and risk. Owen Brown's answer is specific to himself, rather than more broad like Bob and Vanise in CD. But his answer is a reflection of someone who mirrors Bob so closely. Prevented from becoming a rich man, from participating in "America" the way it promises is available to everyon who seeks it because of his own lack of foresight, unscrupulpusness in business, and of course the fradulence of the lie, driven to a contextually radical yet at turns reasonably motivated, despite being practically foolish, decision that ultimately leads to the end of his story.
There is much to adore here, Banks's narrative structure I still love. After pausing to see if a friend caught up, I read the last 600 pages in a few days. Banks's writing grips me here just as he did with Continental Drift.
The story is truly not about John Brown and I am glad I knew this before starting it. It is about Owen Brown and his transformation into the man John Brown needed by his side to urge him to action and turn him into Osawotamie Brown. It is a story about someone confronted by deep principles, ones held sincerily, but constantly at risk of flaking. It is a story of extremism and rationalisation after the fact.
The narration here is different than in Continental Drift, the only other Banks I've read. Owen Brown is similarly sympathetic and of course still concerned with Banks's same question in CD, why we make the decisions we do in the face of world-sized terror and risk. Owen Brown's answer is specific to himself, rather than more broad like Bob and Vanise in CD. But his answer is a reflection of someone who mirrors Bob so closely. Prevented from becoming a rich man, from participating in "America" the way it promises is available to everyon who seeks it because of his own lack of foresight, unscrupulpusness in business, and of course the fradulence of the lie, driven to a contextually radical yet at turns reasonably motivated, despite being practically foolish, decision that ultimately leads to the end of his story.
There is much to adore here, Banks's narrative structure I still love. After pausing to see if a friend caught up, I read the last 600 pages in a few days. Banks's writing grips me here just as he did with Continental Drift.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Slavery, and Racial slurs
Minor: Alcohol
mimooo's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
absolutely should be canonical american literature
i get why white studies doesn't need to be a thing because basically this book contains all you need to know about the meaning and what must be the final thesis and reckoning of whiteness in this country, that is, to struggle and die to atone for all the lives stolen across the Atlantic and to struggle to the death against the pure satanic evil at the core of this country's wealth and history.
but in all seriousness one of the best books i have ever read. psychological fiction grounded in the sublime landscape of the Adirondacks, the Kansan plains, wooded small towns, and the festering cities of Boston and London AND also a crazy depiction of the violence of can I say premodern times and the rhythm of labor.....
and also at the center of it all a ghost story. owen brown as the occulted shadow of john brown-- by his own admission the Iago whispering the downfall of john brown but also by his own admission Isaac the sacrifice of Abraham but also an Isaac who had no god but John Brown, who was saved by nothing but the sheer abrasive violent clarity of john brown from suicide. but who, from lack of belief, ended up alive, as a ghost, alone, occulted, devoid of meaning, unable to live and unable to die but to tell this story. someone who was chasing death and could not live like the others but who loved someone so much, or can we say lived so fully from the light of one sole God, that when that one died, death also became meaningless. ... Owen Brown a fully real character, someone who became an avatar of violence when Lyman died and Died again at harper's Ferry when he lost his God but Owen brown the narrator as no one at all.......
the bulk of the book is this amazing riveting depiction of a family's struggle to stay alive while refusing to abide by the pure evil that surrounds them in many forms including liberals' fantasy of a "gradual" "nonviolent" end to slavery and the vultures that are eastern seaboard creditors driving a yeoman farming family to ruin. but the last hundred or so pages are an account of the jokerfication of owen after blaming himself for the death of the love of his life (spoiler: he's a very very sad introspective gay man) and throwing himself and his loved ones into a righteous path of violence (which is only an emotional outlet for him and which possibility his father created for him in the first place), only he himself doesn't even believe in the righteousness and it leads many brave and innocent souls to death because they do believe that this is a stand against satan.....Whooooo boy.... how much of this was true of owen brown? I hope none, it would be too much to handle.
regardless in real life john brown is one of the truly heroic white american martyrs alongside the rosenbergs, rachel corrie, gary webb, maybe some others.... but may his soul go marching on.
i get why white studies doesn't need to be a thing because basically this book contains all you need to know about the meaning and what must be the final thesis and reckoning of whiteness in this country, that is, to struggle and die to atone for all the lives stolen across the Atlantic and to struggle to the death against the pure satanic evil at the core of this country's wealth and history.
but in all seriousness one of the best books i have ever read. psychological fiction grounded in the sublime landscape of the Adirondacks, the Kansan plains, wooded small towns, and the festering cities of Boston and London AND also a crazy depiction of the violence of can I say premodern times and the rhythm of labor.....
and also at the center of it all a ghost story. owen brown as the occulted shadow of john brown-- by his own admission the Iago whispering the downfall of john brown but also by his own admission Isaac the sacrifice of Abraham but also an Isaac who had no god but John Brown, who was saved by nothing but the sheer abrasive violent clarity of john brown from suicide. but who, from lack of belief, ended up alive, as a ghost, alone, occulted, devoid of meaning, unable to live and unable to die but to tell this story. someone who was chasing death and could not live like the others but who loved someone so much, or can we say lived so fully from the light of one sole God, that when that one died, death also became meaningless. ... Owen Brown a fully real character, someone who became an avatar of violence when Lyman died and Died again at harper's Ferry when he lost his God but Owen brown the narrator as no one at all.......
the bulk of the book is this amazing riveting depiction of a family's struggle to stay alive while refusing to abide by the pure evil that surrounds them in many forms including liberals' fantasy of a "gradual" "nonviolent" end to slavery and the vultures that are eastern seaboard creditors driving a yeoman farming family to ruin. but the last hundred or so pages are an account of the jokerfication of owen after blaming himself for the death of the love of his life (spoiler: he's a very very sad introspective gay man) and throwing himself and his loved ones into a righteous path of violence (which is only an emotional outlet for him and which possibility his father created for him in the first place), only he himself doesn't even believe in the righteousness and it leads many brave and innocent souls to death because they do believe that this is a stand against satan.....Whooooo boy.... how much of this was true of owen brown? I hope none, it would be too much to handle.
regardless in real life john brown is one of the truly heroic white american martyrs alongside the rosenbergs, rachel corrie, gary webb, maybe some others.... but may his soul go marching on.
smoralesjr's review
5.0
It took me three months to get through it but it was worth it. An inspiring and enjoyable read.
utopologist's review
4.0
There's a lot to like here if you're willing to go along with a sometimes meandering and very long journey. The prose is lush, both in describing the day to day of life in the mid-19th century and also in the innermost feelings that we have and never admit to anyone, even ourselves most of the time. I felt like I had known John Brown all my life, even with the unreliable and contradictory narration of Owen. By the end I had a portrait of a deeply flawed but even more deeply noble and principled man who felt the injustice of slavery in the marrow of his bones.
This is a fictional account, even if much of it is based off of information we know is true, and where it loses a star is in the subtle shift around halfway or two-thirds through where Owen reveals that he is the one who pushed Brown into actually taking up arms and going through with his most audacious actions. Owen becomes this calculating and experienced tactician very suddenly, and I never felt like he had "earned" that shift.
Beautiful book, though, even if Banks ultimately comes away seeming a little conflicted about whether or not John Brown was an insane religious zealot with noble goals or if he was a fervently religious but morally committed and consistent fighter.
This is a fictional account, even if much of it is based off of information we know is true, and where it loses a star is in the subtle shift around halfway or two-thirds through where Owen reveals that he is the one who pushed Brown into actually taking up arms and going through with his most audacious actions. Owen becomes this calculating and experienced tactician very suddenly, and I never felt like he had "earned" that shift.
Beautiful book, though, even if Banks ultimately comes away seeming a little conflicted about whether or not John Brown was an insane religious zealot with noble goals or if he was a fervently religious but morally committed and consistent fighter.