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A review by kingfan30
Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
3.0
I started off enjoying this book, the underground rail road helping slaves north to freedom was not something I had read or heard about before and I found it interesting. But about half way through the book describes the family's financial problems and a trip to England with their wool to try and make their fortune. It could have been covered over a few pages not the amount of space it was given, it did not really ad anything to the story and was not that interesting. Also the religious aspects were getting more and more often with passages quoted from the bible, not my sort of thing I'm afraid.
The characters are not particularly likeable, John is quite frankly barking mad, which becomes more and more evident as the book goes on. Owen the son and narrater is quite winy, would this book have been better from johns perspective?
The scenes of domesticated life were at times shocking, so many people on so little room. So many babies lost to child birth or illness. And how the wife felt at being left so often while her husband and eldest sons went off to rescue slaves / fight for the cause, I have no idea.
The book is building up the whole time to a big battle at harpers ferry, so I was surprised that so few pages were dedicated to this in the end. And although it was all in a good cause there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary blood letting.
Worth a read but quite a bit if skimming was done over the religious passages.
The characters are not particularly likeable, John is quite frankly barking mad, which becomes more and more evident as the book goes on. Owen the son and narrater is quite winy, would this book have been better from johns perspective?
The scenes of domesticated life were at times shocking, so many people on so little room. So many babies lost to child birth or illness. And how the wife felt at being left so often while her husband and eldest sons went off to rescue slaves / fight for the cause, I have no idea.
The book is building up the whole time to a big battle at harpers ferry, so I was surprised that so few pages were dedicated to this in the end. And although it was all in a good cause there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary blood letting.
Worth a read but quite a bit if skimming was done over the religious passages.