Cloudsplitter

Oct 24, 2010 Krok Zero rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fall-2010

Finally finished this ginormous tome, after dipping in and out of it for months. I have mixed feelings. Subject matter's fascinating, of course: radical abolitionist and Christian fundamentalist John Brown raises his family to be a cult of anti-slavery soldiers, culminating in the failed attempt at a slave revolt in Harpers Ferry, VA, one of the big "road to the Civil War" events in your American history textbooks. The big unasked/unanswered question the book poses is this: why did it take a rel...more Finally finished this ginormous tome, after dipping in and out of it for months. I have mixed feelings. Subject matter's fascinating, of course: radical abolitionist and Christian fundamentalist John Brown raises his family to be a cult of anti-slavery soldiers, culminating in the failed attempt at a slave revolt in Harpers Ferry, VA, one of the big "road to the Civil War" events in your American history textbooks. The big unasked/unanswered question the book poses is this: why did it take a religious nutjob kamikaze terrorist to take serious action against slavery? There were other white abolitionists, of course, but they were basically journalists and theoreticians, not men of action. The only white dude in America to hold true moral convictions about the evil of slavery was a mad dervish who murdered innocent people, then led himself and his sons on a Wild Bunch-style suicide mission.

Banks tells the tale from the perspective of Brown's son Owen, the only surviving member of the family circa the turn of the 20th century. The book is pretty much split between the story itself and Owen's running commentary on the story, in which he interjects thoughts about race relations in 19th-century America and the complex father-son relationship between Owen and the "Old Man," as he was known. (The three big themes running through the book are race, religion and daddy issues.) This running commentary is consistently interesting and beautifully written, Owen writing as an old hermit whose every waking minute is haunted by the past events he's relating. But the story itself...eeennnhhhh, I dunno. I'm not at all convinced it needed to take up 750 pages, I'll say that much. Episodes involving John Brown's financial woes are so boring it almost seems like a deliberate joke of boringness. When it finally gets to the killing -- first in the "Bleeding Kansas" wars to determine whether Kansas territory would go free or slave, then in Harpers Ferry -- the book gets bogged down in action sequences, which Banks doesn't write particularly well. But the reflections, the meta-story, made me think long and hard about race and family life in the 19th century, and the broader connection to today's religiously motivated terrorism is clear.

For Owen's voice, Banks adopts a purposefully stilted prose style meant to imitate both the general windbaggedness of 19th-century verbiage and John Brown's Biblical oratory. This style is often grating, and it's not without anachronistic usage, but it does help to immerse the reader in the world, and after living with the book for a while I found myself weirdly attached to the voice. What it comes down to is there's a lot of good juicy stuff here, but there's also waaaay too much padding. I believe this could have been a damn good, verging-on-great novel if Banks had kept it somewhere in the 300-400 page range.(less)

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Oct 07, 2012 Samantha rated it 5 of 5 stars

I first discovered Russell Banks when I encountered Lost Memory of Skin about a year ago. Topically they're very different, but a major commonality is Banks's acuity in depicting the lives of outsiders. "Cloudsplitter" is a historical novel about the radical abolitionist John Brown and his gradual metamorphosis from a deeply religious family man (and failed businessman) staunchly opposed to slavery to the man who led a failed attack on Harper's Ferry. It is told from the perspective of Brown's t...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is a novel based on what truth is available. The story centers on Owen Brown, the youngest and last living son of John Brown. What I was looking for, of course, was information about John Brown himself. However, because he understood the need for secrecy in his movements, considered himself (and usually really was) a hunted man, he did not leave copious journals. In fact, writing was not one of his talents. What he did care about were the 3 million men, women and children shackled to t...more This book is a novel based on what truth is available. The story centers on Owen Brown, the youngest and last living son of John Brown. What I was looking for, of course, was information about John Brown himself. However, because he understood the need for secrecy in his movements, considered himself (and usually really was) a hunted man, he did not leave copious journals. In fact, writing was not one of his talents. What he did care about were the 3 million men, women and children shackled to the plantation system, sometimes literally. He was the only white man recorded in history to have been friends (real friends) with Black people, who understandably were deeply suspicious.

Telling it all through Owen's eyes is a strong device. Banks is a really good writer, and I think this is my favorite among his published works.

The question that hangs in the air for historians interested in this time period, and in Brown in particular, has always been whether he was sane or a madman (and as a history teacher, I have to say that at least one text mentions him only briefly, and comes down strongly on the side of his being a crazy man).

There is one undeniable fact, whichever side one takes: he was the first white man to kill and die for Black men. At that time, and for a long time after, his name carried great respect among Black men and women in the U.S. I am inclined to agree with them.

In these modern times, we know that it is possible to be mentally ill, and yet not be unable to function. I'm willing to bet that most families, if you trace the lines hard and long enough, will have at least one such person. And reading this novel convinced me that this was the case with John Brown.

Owen's life was not an attractive one. At times, it appeared that their father had deserted the family; he would go away on one religious/political (for Brown, they were inseparable) mission or another, and not come back for years. There were times that the children of the family nearly starved to death, and their lives were not only desperately poor, but beset by constant danger. The stress alone might be enough to unhinge almost anyone.

I think I should leave the story as Banks tells it to the reader. His prose is brilliant and compelling. This is a very long book, but I finished it pretty quickly, because I couldn't leave this family in danger until I had seen the very end. Banks brings characters alive in a way few writers do. I was a member of the Brown family until the book was over; their struggle became mine, and each poor decision made me flinch and my stomach felt leaden. Doom!

It also left me with the question we can never answer: what if Brown had waited another (roughly) ten years to lead the revolt? Might he have met with greater success?

If you like seeing characters developed well and also like historical fiction when it is done well, this book is terrific. (It is also very large, and heavy. If you have a nook or Kindle and it is available, consider reading it that way). (less)

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Jun 23, 2012 Stephen Wallant rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just think you NEED to understand something. OK this book is just great. Now now we all know the Reserve sucked ass. And I said The Darling was great and it was but this was A THOUSAND TIMES BETTER! There are not enough stars in all of the rating systems in all the world to say what a great novel we have on our hands here.

Cloudsplitter is the English translation of the Iroquois word for Mount Marcy, the tallest mountain of the Adirondacks. Really incredible up there. So Banks has some descrip...more I just think you NEED to understand something. OK this book is just great. Now now we all know the Reserve sucked ass. And I said The Darling was great and it was but this was A THOUSAND TIMES BETTER! There are not enough stars in all of the rating systems in all the world to say what a great novel we have on our hands here.

Cloudsplitter is the English translation of the Iroquois word for Mount Marcy, the tallest mountain of the Adirondacks. Really incredible up there. So Banks has some descriptions of the Adirondacks in full summer riot, and it's spot on. Something about the Adirondacks kind of having to blow its wad quick b/c summer is so short in the high peaks. Now it SUCKS up there 10 months out of the year, but for those two months, wow. Just holy Spaghetti Monster it's beautiful.

Anyway, John Brown, yes that John Brown, Civil War John Brown that ambivalent anti-hero you forgot about from American History class, lived in the Adirondakcs which I will just call the Dacks because frankly it's a giant pain the ass to type. Running the Underground Railroad to Canada and some towns full of freed slaves deep in the Dacks. The man was MOSES. So the narrator is one of his sons, Guy who didn't die in Pottawatomie/Bleeding Kansas. Now THAT was some action. Harpers Ferry and the great betrayal! Frederick Douglas you chicken! The abolitionists lacked the courage of their convictions? Or was Brown just an extremist? Well the novel thankfully does not devolve too much into this academic masturbation thank GOD. It is more of a portrait of this time that we really can not now imagine, a time of nearing suicide. I mean. In the prewar 19th century someone said, The combined armies of Europe and Asia could not by force drink from the Ohio River. But suicide is this country's poison. And never was it deeper drunk than the failure of Harpers Ferry and the hell of civil war. So Clousdplitter captures this time when the whole COUNTRY as one became ready to embrace purest distilled molten mass suicide (because the South was such an asshole). Really unthinkable, but you can think it! IF YOU Read it.
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Feb 04, 2012 Frank rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, 1001-books-you-must-read

Fascinating look at the life of John Brown, the abolitionist who thought slavery was an abomination and who thought he was God's instrument in trying to eliminate it from the country. The novel is narrated by his last surviving son, Owen Brown (photo left), who escaped from Harper's Ferry, and tells of the beginnings of the Brown clan in Ohio, Massachusetts, and North Elba, New York. The novel is long and detailed and really gives the reader the feel of living in the middle 19th century with its...more

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Apr 20, 2009 Jean Higham rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cloudsplitter by Russel Banks

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 th...more Cloudsplitter by Russel Banks

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.
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Aug 01, 2011 Vicki rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Russell Banks won readers' hearts in 1991 with "The Sweet Hereafter". He tackled painful subject matter and populated his story with a cast of damaged, thorny characters. He wrapped it all with a troubling conclusion that somehow had a perverse sense of redemption.

A reader might be predisposed on the basis of that fine accomplishment to assume that only Russell Banks could take on the towering figure of real-life abolitionist John Brown and take him beyond history textbook admirable, and make t...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Lynn Pribus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Written in the form of letters from Owen Brown to a New York woman who is working on a history of his father John Brown. The largest part of the book deals with early days, family history and the Underground Railroad.

Brown moved around much more than you think of people moving in the mid-1800s. Ohio to North Elba, New York, (a remote town near Lake Placid and one of the towns on the Railroad) to Massachusetts and back and forth among his various farms. He was a failure at the various businesses...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Michael Lackey rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a brilliant work, one that offers a new way of understanding John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. Owen Brown is the narrator, and, as it turns out, the puppet master, pulling his father's strings. Cloudsplitter is a biographical novel in the tradition of Arna Bontemps' Black Thunder and William Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner in that it documents the motivation for staging a revolt against slavery. But Banks' novel has an Anna Karenina feel about it--a massive effort to articulate the...more

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May 19, 2012 Kingfan30 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001-books

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...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Snotchocheez rated it 3 of 5 stars

"Cloudsplitter", a fictional novel about the the abolitionist John Brown, is as painful to review as it is (at times) to read. Clearly this 750+ page behemoth is a labor of love for author Russell Banks: as exhaustive and as detailed as the events in John Brown's life are depicted, you can't help but feel that Banks lived, sleeped, breathed...well, completely inhabited John Brown and his family (particularly, the narrator, his third son Owen Brown). The book, however, is simultaneously beautiful...more "Cloudsplitter", a fictional novel about the the abolitionist John Brown, is as painful to review as it is (at times) to read. Clearly this 750+ page behemoth is a labor of love for author Russell Banks: as exhaustive and as detailed as the events in John Brown's life are depicted, you can't help but feel that Banks lived, sleeped, breathed...well, completely inhabited John Brown and his family (particularly, the narrator, his third son Owen Brown). The book, however, is simultaneously beautiful AND boring, thought-provoking AND mind-numbing, true-to-life AND fanciful, brilliant AND mundane.

The problem might lie in the manner Banks chooses to portray this story: through a vast meandering recollection of son Owen Brown, who, nearly 40 years after the anti-slavery uprising movement ended, is approached by an historian to provide an account of John Brown's life. The book starts out quite promisingly, with Owen Brown providing a reflective, almost meditative account on the foment of Brown's abolitionist movement. Discussing the psychological and religious impetuses and imperatives that led John Brown down his road of insurrection (and martyrdom) in the name of doing away with the scourge of slavery seemed a much more interesting read than, say, merely reading a historical account of Brown's life. The problem lies in Banks inhabiting Owen Brown's character so completely that he often times comes off as a terribly unreliable narrator: he repeats himself three or more times in discussing certain sequences, and trails off or omits other key sequences entirely by saying things like "enough about that has been made public record in the history books...so I won't go into it"...then preceding comments like that with minutiae that beg for a equally detailed resolution. The formative years of John Brown's anti-slave sentiment, many of which spent in upstate New York within view of Tahawus Mountain (whence the "Cloudsplitter" title originates) in the Adirondacks, are carefully detailed...while key uprisings like the ones in the Kansas territory in the 1850s are seemingly glossed over...and the raid on Harpers Ferry, (West) Virginia in 1859, often pointed to as a pivotal event leading toward the American Civil War, barely even touched upon.

For the reader, Banks' inconsistent narrative provides a frustrating reading experience: a juxtaposition between getting a clear detailed account of John Brown's life and his causes, alongside an unfleshed-out overview on the important events in the abolitionist movement gives the reader pause as to why it took 750 pages to tell this story. Kudos to Mr. Banks for providing fiction that defies pigeon-holing: Not one of the five books I've read by him thus far resembles any of the others. The only common theme among them is the exploration of the relationships between strong (perhaps overbearing) fathers (or absent a father, a father figure) and their offspring. "Cloudsplitter" is an interesting departure for Banks. Although, while it seems like he was shooting for the moon with this epic saga, he should probably have aimed a little closer to home.

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Aug 15, 2012 Florence rated it 4 of 5 stars

Was John Brown, the fervid abolitionist a terrorist or a visionary? This fictionalized portrait of his life as told by a surviving son draws no definite conclusion. John Brown, after failing as a farmer and a businessman, dedicated his life to ending slavery. He preached of the great evil to anyone who would listen and had contempt for white abolitionists who weren't ready to shed blood for the cause of emanicipation. Details of daily life in mid nineteenth century were vivid. Homesteading a few...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars

This has been on my 'must read' shelf ever since it was published. A sort of "True History of the Brown Gang," it is told from the point of view of one of John Brown's sons, Owen. I'm guessing Russell Banks thought third person would not work because it would not be intense enough, and the first person pov of the great abolitionist himself would not work because (a) he was nuts, and (b) we need to be able to look back on him after his death. I'm not sure these were the right decisions: Owen's pu...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Sophie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: southern-af-am-lit

This was an impressive book, very educational, and a surprisingly fast read, but disappointing overall. It was mainly enjoyable for being an interesting, LONG meditation on what life would be like in sparsely populated, primitive 19th century America. The day-to-day struggles and chores and worries and, in this family's case, the intense religiosity were made very real and ordinary. And despite all the downsides I'm about to list, I was surprised that I didn't actually dislike it. But that said,...more

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Jun 21, 2011 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

This beautifully written book is a fictional memoir of Owen brow, middle son of John Brown. We see Owen mature over the years as his family responsibilities increase. John was dedicated to two things: to provide for his ever growing family and to do his part to bring about the end of slavery in the States. He continued to fail on the first count. Land speculation and overblown business ideas left his near bankruptcy most of the time. His plan for an underground railroad along the Appalachian and...more

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Jan 04, 2009 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Not a quick read, and maybe a tiny bit too long, but I enjoyed it all. More about one of John Brown's son, Owen, than John Brown. But we get a lot of John. An excellent historical fiction told from the point of view of the weak and emotional Owen Brown. Great believable story telling about his father and the time.

Good balance between telling the John Brown narrative and dealing with Owen's issues living in the shadow of his father and difficult and sometimes contradictory actions with blacks. I...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Omar Muniz rated it 3 of 5 stars

Other reviewers have summarized this book better than I can, so I'll only offer this. I enjoyed this book. But I enjoyed it like a picky eater enjoys a meal. Cloudsplitter is a big juicy burger and before ever biting into it, I knew it was going to be really tasty. It looked great. And though very good, I could only enjoy it by picking out some of the onions and scraping off the pickles. What I mean to say is, the book does drone on too long, especially that first chapter. You would understand t...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Gail Amendt rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have finally finished this painfully long book. It was not an easy book to read, being very wordy, and containing much narrative that I do not feel contributed much to the story. To be fair, life also got in the way of my finishing this one in a timely fashion.

I did find this fictionalized account of the life of radical abolitionist John Brown very educational. It tells the story of the years leading up to his failed raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. We learn of his par...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Lee (Rocky) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013, 1-001-books

This is a fictionalized account of the infamous abolitionist John Brown, as told by his son, Owen. The book is rich with historical details (as well as embellishments), and does a remarkable job of setting the tone for the contentious time in which the bulk of the story takes place. There is also extensive characterization, with John and Owen Brown especially becoming very deep and complex characters by the end. The story itself was well paced and despite it's historical basis, full of well done...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Amerynth rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001-books, fiction, historical-fiction, read-2010, unfinished

Sprawling historical novel that follows the tale of Owen Brown, the son of John Brown, the abolitionist that led the raid at Harper's Ferry. The story is really bogged down in pages and pages of useless detail (nearly 30 pages describing the family's financial situation in Ohio....) that quickly becomes repetitive. Oddly enough the novel suffers from the opposite problem too, it jumps to a new storyline with no build up whatsoever. (Owen suddenly beats up a man on his farm, for no apparent reaso...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

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...more 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.

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Mar 06, 2009 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: recentreads

I like Russell Banks and this book in particular is on many recommended reading lists. I've had a copy at home for several years, but kept putting it off because of the length--700 pages. I am glad I finally read it though. It took a bit to get into it--the narrator has a rather dense "voice"--but what a story! It is a fictional account of the life of John Brown, the abolitionist, told from the perspective of one of his sons. It mentions Gerrit Smith often, another famous abolitionist who lived...more

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Jun 22, 2010 My Bookshelf rated it 5 of 5 stars

Though it's been quite a few years, I have visceral memories of reading this book. It was in 2002, during the winter of my first year of teaching. I read most of it while riding the G Train and the B24 bus, and I can still remember some of those moments. I felt a strong connection with the narrator, Owen, probably because of the lonliness I was going through at the time. I also recall leaving the book out on my classroom desk during the school day to impress upon my students that I too, read for...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Mike Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, fiction, history, political, religion

This is a huge (750p) fictional novel written about the Brown family and John Brown, the abolitionist, from the viewpoint of his third son Owen Brown. It is a study in personality and the slippery slope from religious fanaticism to terror and homicide in the name of anti-slave rebellion. Written somewhat as a memoir of Owen Brown, the only surviving Brown, the book is well written and philosophically rich. From the Kansas uprising to Harper's Ferry, the pace is good and the book is hard to put d...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

This brilliant recounting of the events surrounding John Brown's legendary raid on the armory at Harpers Ferry is a masterpiece of modern American storytelling that will be remembered as the crowning achievement of Russell Banks' celebrated career. Russell Banks' gift for creating compelling stories populated by gritty and startlingly realcharacters has resulted in such acclaimed masterworks as "Continental Drift," "The Sweet Hereafter" and his most recent bestseller, "Rule of the Bone." Now Ban...more

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May 19, 2012 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I'm sure that at one point, I must've known something about John Brown other than radical abolitionist mumble mumble Harper's Ferry. If I did, though, I had forgotten all of it except the fuzziest details before I starting reading Cloudsplitter.

I think, to some degree, that may be the best way of reading it; if you know too much about what happened in Kansas, at Harper's Ferry, about the Brown family in general, etc. (essentially, if you know too much of the truth of it), some of the power of Ba...more

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Dec 11, 2009 Wizzard rated it 4 of 5 stars

An excellent book that really sparked my thinking of race relations. The book was sick, twisted, passionate, and moving. I did not know very many facts about John Brown. Was glad for this fictional account that included the human motivations and emotional depths to the story. The book was a little too long though. it did an amazing job of setting the tone and describing the context of the Brown family - known for their stand at Harper's Ferry. But I don't feel like we quite needed every twist an...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Jonathan Roth rated it 5 of 5 stars

A compelling account of the life of radical abolitionist John Brown narrated by his son Owen, the last surviving member of the Brown family. The book is written from Owen's personal perspective at the end of his life 40 years after the raid on Harper's Ferry (a major flash point on the road to the Civil War). Incredibly well-researched, Cloudsplitter is in my opinion a must-read for those interested in American life in the decades leading up to the Civil War. I would also argue that from a pure...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Bonnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

A fictionalized biography of John Brown, the radical abolitionist, written by his guilt-ridden and emotionally confused son, Owen Brown. Traces the development and history of the man and his family and their lifelong commitment to the overthrow of slavery in America. Wonderful depiction of mid-nineteenth century America--social, political and religious. Extremely well-written and readable. Makes you want to put your children in the fields learning how to survive off the land and with their hands...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Matts rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a freakin book. If you are at all interested in the life of John Brown, the Kansas wars, or Harper's Ferry. Hell, if you're remotely interested in understanding what life was like in America just preceding the Civil War...this is a beautifully woven novel that paints a great picture of a life during a very important time in the history of the United States.

Banks' writing really drew me in with his characterizations of John and Owen Brown. Perhaps a bit long with a few too many emotional asi...more

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