Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Cloudsplitter : A Novel by Russell Banks ISBN: 0-06-093086-1 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 (76 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Thickly worded. Somewhat unfulfilling.
Comment: Cloud Splitter is a novel based on the life of abolitionist John Brown as told in retrospect by his aging son Owen. Written ostensibly as a series of seamless letters to a research assistant, the premise of Cloud Splitter becomes somewhat implausible. Owen, looking back 50+ years can miraculously recall with photographic detail thousands of the most mundane events/observations pinning them down to the exact day. This, despite the fact that he admits to never having kept a journal. It is this CD Rom-like recall that fills 758 pages as, apparently, there is nothing else to tell that can.
Still, the writing, if dense, is well done and the book is certainly interesting. Much is gleaned about life as it was in the mid-19th century. There are some gratuitous threads throughout the story such as Owen's apparent inability to get a firm grasp on his sexuality. Why this addition is necessary betrays further the lack of germane material within this fictitious account.
Banks' most admirable achievement is the description of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. Apparently, this is where Banks takes his yearly recreation thus explaining his power to describe the area so enchantingly. Once he leaves this area, however, his descriptive powers suffer accordingly as evidenced by his descriptions of Kansas, Ohio, et al.
All in all, Cloudsplitter is a book worth reading, but not one that should be placed head-and-shoulders above any other worthy effort. It is a take-it-or-leave-it sort of proposition which promises a decent read if you take it, but no calamitous loss if you don't.
Rating: 3
Summary: Well written, but too long!
Comment: Written from the perspective of Owen Brown, son of John Brown there is a great deal within the pages of Cloudsplitter that can be admired. It is in many instances well written, evocative, moving and extremely powerful. The strengths of the novel are to be found in its depth of description both in terms of events and environments. For example the reader gains an excellent understanding of the hardships of existing in certain parts of 19th century America. Furthermore, the author develops the characterisation of both Owen and John Brown with a great deal of skill.
However, at 758 pages this book is far too long and at times I found that length of description replaced depth of description which for this reader was reflected in a lack of momentum and development. Consequently, I at times became frustrated at attempts to flood me with language rather than lead me with it. The second half of the book - after Owen and his brother Fred head off to Kansas ( a move which would lead them to Harper's Ferry) - picked up pace and I felt that I had more invested in the story. I do wish however that this could have happened before page 549!
I gave this book three stars because that's right in the middle of what I could have given. I suppose this is because Cloudsplitter for me hangs in the balance, one side represented by fine writing and the other by at time over indulgence. Ultimately I'm glad I read the book but for me it isn't an epic or the great American novel (as it is described on its cover). A measure for me of how much I've enjoyed a book is how many times I'll loan it out to friends and family - Cloudsplitter I regret to say will spend some time of my bookcase.
Rating: 3
Summary: Coloring Within the Lines of American History
Comment: History appeals to me most when the players are presented as three-dimensional people instead of flat characters composed of little more than names and dates. Though it surely warps the truth and fills the gaps with deliberate lies, I like historical fiction. In that no account of an event of historical importance is complete without subjective commentary and analysis, the truth doesn't have to be any more sullied if documented as fiction. The memorable details of the event become more meaningful to anyone who learns them in context, and good historical fiction can make that possible.
_Cloudsplitter_ is a novel about the radical, pre-Civil War abolitionist John Brown, as told by his son, Owen. The premise for this book is Owen's life story and confession to his long-dead father and the other raiders on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and their subsequently failed attempt to incite a slave insurrection. He is writing all this for a Miss Mayo, a young woman who is assisting Oswald Garrison Villard in research for his book _John Brown: A Biography Fifty Years After_ (Boston, 1910).
Owen describes what it was like being John Brown's son, creating for the reader a picture of a deeply religious father with high moral standards and expectations for his children, as well as for himself. John Brown is a strong, compassionate, but demanding and commanding figure. Through Owen, Russel Banks shows us a man whose honest convictions about the immorality of slavery, and whose trust in knowing God's will, made him duty-bound and justified in freeing slaves. He was determined in his mission, even if it meant sacrificing the lives of guilty pro-slavers, the innocent, his sons and his supporters, and ultimately, even his own life.
Before reading this book I only had a fuzzy notion of who John Brown was. As I continued to read, I found myself wondering about the real story. I did some research and read additional accounts of the Pottawatomie Massacre in Kansas, and of the raid on Harpers Ferry. I read "A Plea for John Brown," a speech by Henry David Thoreau, and I came across articles and memoirs written after Brown's execution, extolling him as a martyr in a holy crusade against slavery. The intimate details of Bank's characters are products of his imagination, but I believe the character he portrays as John Brown is faithful with respect to the purportedly more factual accounts I've read.
This is an epic tale that requires more than a little patience. Banks is often repetitive and verbose in ways that do little to enhance plot and character development. At times I imagined taking a red pencil and striking through whole sections of text. On the other hand, Banks' writing, in spite of all the extra words, made me feel I knew both Owen and John Brown, and what it was like to live in this country during the years leading up to the Civil War. Also, Banks presents a hauntingly powerful portrait of a complex father-son relationship, and successfully provokes thought about the subtle differences between sanity and insanity.
 |
Title: Continental Drift by Russell Banks ISBN: 0060956739 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: The Angel on the Roof : The Stories of Russell Banks by Russell Banks ISBN: 0060931256 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 24 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Rule of the Bone : Novel, A by Russell Banks ISBN: 0060927240 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 08 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Affliction by Russell Banks ISBN: 0060920076 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 26 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Trailerpark by Russell Banks ISBN: 006097706X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 19 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
