What do You think about Cloudsplitter (1999)?
I got into an argument not too long ago - the topic being who, in recent reading memory can write the best run-on sentences.Obviously, I am nominating Russell Banks - who I think trumps his Thomas Mann. Simply for the fact that Banks' run-on sentences send you gliding through a dreamy earthy passage as you tear through the life and times of John Brown and suddenly you realize you have ripped through almost 800 pages in under a week of bedtime readings and find yourself missing the ride.Anyway, despite his issues with commas, Banks has written no less than an eyeopening and lush look at John Brown, what made him tick, his fallacies, his strengths, and of course raises the ultimate question : why did that guy keep having all those babies? Like, give a bitch a break.Okay, no. The bigger question being: "martyr of the Republic or Nat Turner?" Interestingly, I read The Confessions of Nat Turner some time back, and I'm glad that I now have these two books to juxtapose. History was definitely kinder to John Brown, but should it have been? Should we condone hacking up your neighbors with broadswords in front of their families because they don't like abolition? No, neighbors should only be hacked with broadswords if they are coming after you with a weapon - or playing trance music too loud all night.Seriously, thud thud is annoying.(The segues are completely intentional. It's pretty much like preparing you to read this book.)I tend to read a lot in bars, and I was really impressed by the number of people - oddly all men - who seemed to know who John Brown was. I myself only know of him because I am lame, and like Ken Burns' The Civil War which really made him out to be some sort of lost hero. I think Banks also follows that trail, pulling out Brown's fear of failure and need to be great and questionably turning it into justice and reason. Brown's son, the narrator, cannot tell the difference, and eventually we cannot either.Also, life was really hard back then and Banks does a darn fine job of making us feel like we are back in it. The long descriptions of all the work to do even made my muscles ache as I was comfortably reclining and eating up this book. I remember one time it made me feel so bad I actually got out of bed and unloaded my dishwasher.My one bone to pick with the book is how abruptly it ended. It just kept getting better and better, particularly as the group moves toward Harpers' Ferry and the events there, but then I started to get troubled by the scarcity of pages, and it was justified. Like a rolling river dammed, 783 pages later the run-on simply stops. Although I knew it was the end, I kind of in denial and thought about asking Amazon for another copy to truly verify that was it. But I'm sure the feeling of unfinished business was intentional, forcing us to speculate what lay in store for the narrator without being certain of the decision that it seemed painfully obvious he was going to make.Still, powerful. Four out of five.
—Erin
This is the first book by Russell Banks that I've read, but I've seen two decent movies based on other novels, Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter, both are which are set in contemporary Northeastern rural communities, his more common milieu apparently. Cloudsplitter, however, is a historical novel about John Brown and is told through the voice of his third-oldest son, Owen. While it is a fascinating re-creation of America in the 1840s and 50s, it is also an up-close-and personal look at a family, ostensibly dominated by the intelligence and will of the father. I had previously only known the most bare-bones info about John Brown, so this book filled a lot of gaps and back story and in a manner that allowed John Brown to be more than an iconic historical character, and to be seen as a human being with flaws, as well as his many strengths. One of the interesting insights was how slavery appeared to people of conscience and how the South was seen as increasingly taking political control of all branches of the federal gov't, to the point that some thought the North would be the region to secede.On another level, this was also just a heck of a ripping yarn, with many exciting events occurring that were so beautifully written that they remain deeply etched in my mind. My only complaint is that the author put the grammatically incorrect phrase "most importantly" in the "mouth" of his first-person narrator, Owen Brown, which intruded on the verisimilitude of his nineteenth-century voice. The use of "most importantly"is a relatively modern error, probably dating to the appearance of people saying they gave 110 percent and the need to inflate actions, events, and things. "Importantly" is an adverb, and so a thing cannot be importantly, it can only be important (or not). A person, however, can behave importantly. If you haven't guessed, this is a pet peeve of my; hence the pedantry. Reading this book has piqued my curiosity about John Brown, and so I've bought two biographies, one a relatively recent book called John Brown Abolitionist, and the other called John Brown by W.E.B. Du Bois, which I'm particularly interested in because Frederick Douglass also wrote about Brown and was a very close friend of his, as was Harriett Tubman, though to a lesser extent. But since Brown was pretty much the only white man that any of the black abolitionists and ex-slaves (as well as the slaves he helped get to freedom) ever really trusted and loved, I'm looking forward to seeing how he is portrayed by an influential black intellectual who may have had access to some with first- and certainly second-hand exposure to Brown himself.Finally, since I believe that racism is still a major problem in this country, anyone interested in the dynamics of white/black relations would find this book valuable. And to those who think the worst of our racial history is behind us, I would say, "You must be white. Otherwise, you would know better."I highly recommend this book.
—Brian
A gorgeously written (and sympathetic) portrait of the controversial abolitionist John Brown, presented from the vantage point of his son Owen. I'm surprised that I haven't heard more about Russell Banks; he's a gifted stylist and storyteller. The novel starts out in a slow and murky way, but it certainly rewards those who keep reading. I think it was a bit longer than it needed to be, but I came to enjoy Owen's narration so much that I didn't mind. There was lots to think about here, regarding our American heritage of racism.
—Abby
