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A review by mimooo
Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
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.