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A review by emilybryk
Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
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.