Caleb's Crossing

May 15, 2011 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-fiction, america, four-star-fiction, historical-fiction

BETHIA'S CROSSING would be a title more indicative of the book's contents. Caleb is mostly a peripheral character.
Feisty Puritan girl finds devious ways of gaining the knowledge she craves but is denied simply because she is a female. First I ever heard of someone getting a college education via eavesdropping.

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Sep 03, 2012 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-authors, historical-fiction, favorites, great-titles, setting-as-a-character, highly-recommend, 2012-national-book-festival-authors

Another "wow" from Geraldine Brooks! There's a level of writing and storytelling that consistently sets the bar high, and Brooks sets this high bar with every stroke of the key. She continues to find the obscure thread of history and create a story around it that completely enthralls the reader. As with her previous novels, I became ensconced into the time, places, and people of this tale. There is always a higher calling to the stories, a David vs. Goliath struggle that finds you passionately p...more Another "wow" from Geraldine Brooks! There's a level of writing and storytelling that consistently sets the bar high, and Brooks sets this high bar with every stroke of the key. She continues to find the obscure thread of history and create a story around it that completely enthralls the reader. As with her previous novels, I became ensconced into the time, places, and people of this tale. There is always a higher calling to the stories, a David vs. Goliath struggle that finds you passionately pulling for the underdog and exasperated with the ignorance and intolerance of those in power.

Caleb's Crossing is a tale inspired by the first Native American graduate of Harvard, Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, a member of the Wopanaak tribe from what is now Martha's Vineyard. In 1665, he accomplished this extraordinary feat, having learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew in the process. Brooks was able to take scant information about this amazing scholar and spin a plausible and intriguing story that vividly recreates the era of history in which Native Americans were usually referred to as salvages (savages) and women were routinely denied control of their destinies. The narrator of the story is Bethia Mayfield, daughter of Great Harbor's, as part of the island was called then, minister. Her grandfather had purchased the land from the Indians, attempting in his own way, a fair settlement. Bethia and Caleb become friends at a young age, unbeknownst to their families and friends, and exude some influence over each other. She teaches him English, and he teaches her his native tongue and the riches of the island's natural beauties. Life is hard on the island, and indeed in the late 17th century America, and Bethia and Caleb must overcome many prejudices and tragedies to claim a piece of the budding new world for themselves. Both clash with controlling family members, Bethia with her brother and Caleb with his uncle, and their relatives' ideas of what is best for them in contrast to what the two friends secretly covet. The novel is as much about breaking free of the chains that bind one as it is about Caleb's rise to Harvard graduate. The treatment of Native Americans and women had much in common in the 1660's age of white man's suppressive authority. Some would allow that the struggle still continues.

As with her previous novel, People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks has given readers a fascinating historical fiction read in Caleb's Crossing. Her writing is superb and her subjects are unparalleled in their captivating ability to transport the reader to another time and place. Perhaps, Brooks' novels should more accurately be listed under time travel. (less)

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Jan 24, 2012 B0nnie rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you cross The Mill on the Floss with The Last of the Mohicans, add a dash of Dances with Wolves, a pinch of Little House on the Prairie, maybe some The Education of Little Tree , The Scarlet Letter and even Tom Brown's School Days, you'll have a winner and call it Caleb's Crossing.

It's a good clean-cut visit to 17th c. Massachusetts, told by a girl named Bethia. Her family are Puritans trying to convert the "Indians". The relationship between Bethia and her brother is very much like that of...more

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Jul 16, 2011 Fiona rated it 2 of 5 stars

I ended Geraldine Brooks novel with regret which I was surprised to find. At first I wondered if I would become as engaged with it as I'd hoped, having enjoyed People of the Book, March so much. However after remonstrating with myself a little, I was rewarded.

In Caleb's Crossing Ms Brooks comes nearer to Margaret Atwood's greatest literary achievements than Margaret Atwood has managed in several of her own more recent novels and I think it's fair to draw the comparison for many reasons, not the...more I ended Geraldine Brooks novel with regret which I was surprised to find. At first I wondered if I would become as engaged with it as I'd hoped, having enjoyed People of the Book, March so much. However after remonstrating with myself a little, I was rewarded.

In Caleb's Crossing Ms Brooks comes nearer to Margaret Atwood's greatest literary achievements than Margaret Atwood has managed in several of her own more recent novels and I think it's fair to draw the comparison for many reasons, not the least of which are the staggering scope of their creative talent and their critical acclaim. But enough of Ms Atwood!

In Caleb's Crossing, the writing in the style of the era is meticulously researched and memorable without being cumbersome. There is also such confidence in handling of the 1st person narrative, that of a woman who is intelligent but without rights of education or self determination. The depiction of the pedagogy of the day and the teaching of the Classics is outstanding. The genesis of Harvard too is interesting, and not just as the locus of where Caleb is educated in the classics and slotted into the harsh confines of a white, Puritan society in the New World.

Those seeking a novel with a predictable romance between the two main characters may be surprised at how Ms Brooks deals with that possibility and I applaud her willingness to explore romantic love differently and to not have the story-telling mechanics of that dominating a far more important message.

Most importantly to me, and simplistically speaking, it's a story written in the new millennium with the "noble savage" as its central literary metaphor, made brutally clear as we read of the fate of the colonised (Caleb and his community) versus the prosperity of the colonisers (Bethia and her community). (I think that Ms Brooks possibly indulges that myth a little too much but there you go). And the main setting, Martha's Vineyard, emerges with a beautifully described persona, which is also in keeping with the evolving literary themes of the day.

These are hardly new themes but it's what I took most from this novel. The lessons drawn from Caleb's "crossing" are painful and extremely sad. Societies seemed compelled, both then and now, to eradicate all evidence of the "other" culture in order to demonstrate that homogeneity is seemingly preferable to respect for differences and uniqueness. Insodoing, the literary myth of the "noble savage" perished along with its inspiration. I'd be a little surprised if other readers did not also feel regret when the story ended whether they drew these conclusions or not. I'll be interested to read other reviews.(less)

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Apr 24, 2011 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

What becomes of those who independently and courageously navigate the intellectual and cultural shoals that divide cultures? Is it truly possible to make those crossings without relinquishing one’s very identity?

Geraldine Brooks poignantly explores these questions in her latest novel, Caleb’s Crossing. The story is based on sketchy knowledge of the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk – the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College -- and a member of the Wampanoag tribe in what is now Mar...more What becomes of those who independently and courageously navigate the intellectual and cultural shoals that divide cultures? Is it truly possible to make those crossings without relinquishing one’s very identity?

Geraldine Brooks poignantly explores these questions in her latest novel, Caleb’s Crossing. The story is based on sketchy knowledge of the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk – the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College -- and a member of the Wampanoag tribe in what is now Martha’s Vineyard.

This is truly a work of imagination since the sources on Caleb’s brief, tragic, and remarkable life are scant. The voice belongs to the fictional Bethia Mayfield, a minister’s quick-minded daughter who gently (and sometimes, not so gently) defies the rigid expectations of a Calvinistic society that demand silence and obedience from its womenfolk.

As outsiders, both Bethia and Caleb – who meet on the cusp of adolescence – quickly bond and form a lifelong friendship. On the sly, Bethia absorbs the language and the cultures of the Wopanaak tribe while out in the field; at home, she secretly absorbs lessons that are meant for her brother Makepeace.

Eventually, both serendipitously find themselves at Cambridge. Caleb’s Harvard education – conducted in the classical languages of Latin, Greek and Hebrew – is funded by rich English patrons as an experiment as to whether “salvages” can be indoctrinated into Christian culture alongside the dismissive colonial elite. Bethia goes along with Caleb and Makepeace as indentured help, striving to remain in close proximity to scholars and avoid her fate as yet another small settlement farm wife.

There are plenty of twists and turns, trauma and heartbreak, celebrations and sadness along the way; after all, Geraldine Brooks already has a reputation as an absorbing story teller who is able to imaginatively use history to fictional ends. And it would be unfair to even allude to some of these page-turning plot developments.

The themes, though, are fair game. This novel particularly shines when it touches upon matters of faith, which rely heavily upon John Cotton, Jr.’s account of his conversations with native islanders in the 1660s missionary journals (according to the author in her epilogue). The pantheistic view of the medicine men is placed in a high-stakes battle against strict and judgmental Calvinism time and again. Bethia muses, “It galls me, when I catch a stray remark from the master, or between the older English pupils, to the effect that the Indians are uncommonly fortunate to be here. I have come to think it is a fault in us, to credit what we give in such a case, and never to consider what must be given up in order to receive it.”

Ms. Brooks drums that point home – sometimes a bit too firmly, not relying enough on the reader to form his or her own conclusions. Still, there is intense observation in the “civilizing” of Caleb’s crossing to the world inhabited uneasily by Bethia. She reflects, “In that shimmering, golden light I saw the wild boy I had met here four summers past, no longer wild, nor boy. The hair was cut short and plain, the fringed deer hide leggings replaced with sensible black serge. The wampum ornaments were gone, the bare mahogany arms sheathed now in billowing linen. Yet neither was the youth who stood before me some replica of a young Englishman…” The story of Caleb and Bethia is part of an age-old battle of repressive and misguided individuals who callously use religion to assert dominancy, superiority, and control over others.

As a result, destiny and preordination wrestle as the boundaries of both cultures are movingly explored in a voice that may be described as “period language.” From the natural beauty of an early Martha’s Vineyard to the drafty dormitories of Harvard College, this fictional work includes a wallop of historical fact. Those who have thrilled to other Geraldine Brooks’ absorbingly told novels – March, Year of Wonders, People of the Book—will find yet one more reason to rejoice.
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Apr 26, 2013 Holly Weiss added it

Shelves: readers-guide-for-book-groups, to-review, 2011-release, favorites, american-historical-fiction

A Special Niche in Outstanding Historical Fiction

The best historical fiction takes historical fact and pulls us in by creating interest in characters of the time period. Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks is one of the most versatile historical fiction writers of today. Her talent lays in takes a slice of history and creating a world we long to enter. Imaginatively conceived and exquisitely written with compelling characters, Caleb’s Crossing will command your attention and demand your respe...more A Special Niche in Outstanding Historical Fiction

The best historical fiction takes historical fact and pulls us in by creating interest in characters of the time period. Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks is one of the most versatile historical fiction writers of today. Her talent lays in takes a slice of history and creating a world we long to enter. Imaginatively conceived and exquisitely written with compelling characters, Caleb’s Crossing will command your attention and demand your respect.

1660. Great Harbor (now Martha’s Vineyard), Massachusetts. Bethia Mayfield anticipates the arrival of Caleb, a member of the Wampanoag tribe, to her home for tutoring with her minister father. Unperceived by her family, she and Caleb, who share a love of nature, have learned each other’s languages and formed a friendship over the past few years. Her brother and Caleb, the first Native American to do so, enter Cambridge to prepare for studies at Harvard. Bethia feels at a loss when she leaves Martha’s Vineyard to become a servant in the headmaster’s home. Her love of learning prods her secret vigilance in listening to all the lessons.

You will find yourself reading in a leisurely fashion to fully savor the evocative prose. “And then I woke, on my cold pallet in this stranger’s kitchen, with ice winds from the cracked window fingering my flesh and a snowflake melting slowly on the fireless hearth.”

The characters are absorbing. The soulful narrative voice of Bethia has an ethereal quality. She is haunted by guilt, taking upon herself blame for a smallpox outbreak, a death during the delivery of a baby—all because of her secret relationship with Caleb. Caleb yearns to be a Pawaaw, or healer of his people. For him, knowledge respects no boundaries. He glows with appreciation of life, zest for learning, curiosity and love of nature.

Integral elements of the remarkable Caleb’s Crossing are joy in learning, unexpected death, heartbreaking starvation, and the ever-present bond between Caleb and Bethia despite all hardship and prejudice against their bond. Knowledge equals power in this unique book. Caleb says, “And since it seems that knowledge is no respecter of boundaries, I will take it wheresoever I can…if necessary, I will go into the dark to get it.” Intrigued?

The release of Caleb’s Crossing coincided with an important 2011 Harvard University event. A degree was awarded to Tiffany Smalley, the first Martha’s Vineyard member of the Wampanoag tribe since Caleb to graduate. An official portrait of Caleb was painted in commemoration.

To what does Caleb cross? Read Caleb’s Crossing to find out. In the book, Ms. Brooks highlights this question: What are the effects of attempting to Christianize an already spiritual, established civilization? Her own opinion is not expressed. Instead, she tells Caleb’s story with forthrightness and clarity, allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions.

I thank Viking and Penguin Group Publishing for providing a copy. The opinions expressed unbiased and solely that of the reviewer.

Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont (less)

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Jun 01, 2011 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 17th-century, new-england, native-american, first-reads-favorites, historical-fiction, published-in-2011, in-colonial-america, read-in-2011

OK, I was just adding a few things to the review that I posted yesterday, and somehow I deleted the whole review (except the last two short paragraphs!!!!!) Well, it's okay, because I really loved this book, but I felt that my review wasn't strong enough, so now I have to start from scratch and rewrite the entire review. For now, I have to get back to work, so I'll be back later or tomorrow to write another review.

I absolutely loved "Caleb's Crossing" and I strongly recommend this book to anyone...more

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May 10, 2011 Juliana rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Lovers of historical fiction, emotional reads, and strong female narrators

Shelves: 4-half-stars, fiction, historical-fiction, 17th-century, 1660s, 1670s, american-historical-fiction, american-literature, native-american-historical-fiction, usa-and-native-americans, book-club-reads, book-within-book-story-within-story, death-and-grief, difficult-emotional-read, family-and-relationships, frontier-novel, women-in-history, h-a-f-npr, set-in-usa, set-in-usa-massachusetts, usa-colonial-period, colonial-fiction, race-relations, 2011-reads, 2011-may-reads, religion-and-spirituality, 0-reviewed, tragedy, womens-fiction, colonialism-in-america, colonialism, strong-female-narrator, 0-wishlist-buy-in-dead-tree-form, library-book, 4-to-5-stars, challenge-2011-rrrc-a-to-z-heroines, challenge-2011-rrrc-a-to-z-heroes, challenge-2011-mine-regular-books, 2011-reads-my-favorites-of-the-year, challenge-2011-bb-the-50-states, sad-emotional-in-a-good-way

Deeply affecting novel (4.5 stars)

Absolutely stunning book. I read from page 63 to the end in one sitting because I just could not put it down. Utterly lovely and heartbreaking.

Bethia, the narrator, is a strong female voice and beautifully written. The other characters are vividly drawn and just as affecting. The way Brooks has written the book - from three points in Bethia's life, but looking back on what has happened to bring her to that point - is very skilfully done and provides an arc to th...more Deeply affecting novel (4.5 stars)

Absolutely stunning book. I read from page 63 to the end in one sitting because I just could not put it down. Utterly lovely and heartbreaking.

Bethia, the narrator, is a strong female voice and beautifully written. The other characters are vividly drawn and just as affecting. The way Brooks has written the book - from three points in Bethia's life, but looking back on what has happened to bring her to that point - is very skilfully done and provides an arc to the narrative that gives the reader a sense of completeness. That she has used the small amount she uncovered about this real man's life oh so long ago to write this book shows her remarkable imagination and her talent for creating lives and whole histories from small kernels of truth.

Caleb and Bethia's lives intersect and cross over one another in both magical and tragic ways, but it is representative of the two very different worlds they come from and what so often happened upon these worlds' meeting. There is a true beauty to their friendship and story that even now, as I am writing this, brings me to tears.

Both characters are struggling to find their place in their ever-changing world. Bethia is trying to balance her identity as a Christian woman with that of a seeker of knowledge who craves and rejoices in learning; her conversations on this topic with others and her own inner thoughts and desires provide us with very interesting insight into how women's education and a woman's place were viewed at the time. Caleb is trying to stay true to the spirits and the Wampanoag way of life, while also finding a place for himself and his people so that they may survive these newcomers and the unstoppable change they bring. The dialogue between him and Bethia regarding their separate religions and traditions, as well as Bethia's own reflections, gives rise to very thought-provoking issues regarding faith, religion, spirituality, and culture. Is it possible to wed two different ways of thinking, two different belief systems? Does an attempt to do so automatically compromise one or both? How do we stay true to ourselves and our history, while also adapting in order to survive?

I took Caleb's Crossing out from the library, but will want to buy my own copy. It's an emotionally engaging and deeply moving work that I know I will want to reread. Raw as it left me feeling, I know this story will stay with me for many, many days, causing me to question and wonder.(less)

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Sep 23, 2011 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

The language of this book is simply astounding. I have found myself enthralled by Geraldine Brooks' writing before, but she attained a new level here. When I think of the research required for her to voice Bethia so authentically, and then render it in a way that makes sense to a modern reader, I am properly impressed.

Entwined with the study of language, fictional and real, is the story of two young people from very different worlds who each look to learn about the other with varying success. Ye...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Julie Ekkers rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

I have read nearly all of Geraldine Brooks' books (fiction and non), and have really enjoyed all that I have read. Caleb's Crossing just didn't do it for me. I thought it started slow, but then once it got going, I was very much into it--enjoying the strong female character who is smart and ahead of her time (something I think Brooks has done well in the past). I also enjoyed the exploration of the tension created for and between the two main characters by different religious experiences. But wh...more

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May 12, 2011 Christina White rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodreads-giveaways, literary-fiction, historical-fiction

4.5 STARS! Wow!

I must say that I have not been the biggest fan of historical fiction, but I may be now. I started this book slowly, struggling with the flow of language used back in the 1600's. Then it was like I entered a time machine and I was right there. I would close the book literally thinking thoughts in that same form of speech an hour after! I cried at the end and I can tell I will be thinking of the characters for a long time to come. I am native and was born and raised on the reserva...more

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May 29, 2013 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Geraldine Brooks' novel is of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck of Martha's Vineyard, who graduated from Harvard, where the 1650 charter describes its mission as "the education of the English and Indian youth of this country." That much is fact, but Caleb befriending Bethia Mayfield, the intelligent and spirited daughter of the island's preacher has been developed by Brooks to tell this story. Bethia is keen and rebellious, indignant and angered that she should be prevented from learning and studying, when...more Geraldine Brooks' novel is of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck of Martha's Vineyard, who graduated from Harvard, where the 1650 charter describes its mission as "the education of the English and Indian youth of this country." That much is fact, but Caleb befriending Bethia Mayfield, the intelligent and spirited daughter of the island's preacher has been developed by Brooks to tell this story. Bethia is keen and rebellious, indignant and angered that she should be prevented from learning and studying, when her slower, mean-spirited brother gets the benefit of an education. Despite all this, in a culture where women were subservient to men and not expected to learn, or need an education, she absorbed much by eavesdropping and reading. She encounters and befriends Caleb in the forests, learning of his language and way of life, frequently and stoutly debating her Christian beliefs. Bethia's zealous, but kind father brings Caleb into the household to convert him. And so begins Caleb's crossing, first from Native to English Colonial culture and then from the island to Cambridge, where he studies at a preparatory school before entering Harvard.

Told in Bethia's voice, Brooks' narrative replicates the language of the era. Initially, I found this aspect difficult, frequently relying on context to interpret unfamiliar words, but I soon realized it was an effective measure to reflect the time. She clearly addresses the obvious issues of white arrogance and maltreatment of Native Americans , cultural difference, and the debased role of women. The constraining, intolerant and often terror-filled role of religion in this society was sharply portrayed in even the smallest details of every day life.

Along with the rhythm of this tale, I enjoyed reading of Harvard, Cambridge and surrounding towns during that period. These locales, which are so familiar to me, were of course devoid of sanitation and carefully devised city planning, so they were literally open, fetid cesspools- a clear invitation to disease. Few could afford to eat properly, so society, such as it was, suffered greatly. It amazes me to read of the great education and scholarship offered in those early times and in those conditions, yet I know it is so.(less)

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Jun 26, 2011 Schmacko rated it 4 of 5 stars

Geraldine Brooks has a way with history, making it a powerful force in her fiction.

After her luminous Pulitzer-Prize-winning March, she in on that list of authors I will always read. March told the “lost” story of Little Women: the father who went into the Civil War as a pacifist minister and abolitionist and came back home (in Alcott’s words) “haunted.” Brook’s People of the Book was about a haggadah, an ancient Jewish holy book, and its extravagant history. These books (I haven’t read her firs...more Geraldine Brooks has a way with history, making it a powerful force in her fiction.

After her luminous Pulitzer-Prize-winning March, she in on that list of authors I will always read. March told the “lost” story of Little Women: the father who went into the Civil War as a pacifist minister and abolitionist and came back home (in Alcott’s words) “haunted.” Brook’s People of the Book was about a haggadah, an ancient Jewish holy book, and its extravagant history. These books (I haven’t read her first yet) give a strong sense of an author who loves to do the research, turning it into enjoyable fiction, passing her passion on to the reader.

That being said, I don’t feel Brooks has yet returned to the same ethically complex and emotional charged high ground that won her the Pulitzer for March. That book was not only historically fascinating (though even Brooks admits she sometimes fudged with history to make a good read). March also asked a question about moral absolutes and their price, and it told a heartfelt tale of belief and its price, of nobility with its attendant victories and failures.

Caleb’s Crossing is about the first Native American who graduated from Harvard. We forget that Harvard is older than America. That scholar was Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, from the Wampanoag tribe of Martha’s Vineyard (before it was Martha’s). He graduated in 1665. Very little is known of Caleb’s life, but that’s where Brooks steps in, filling in the gaps, creating a rich history.

That being said, this is also where Brooks makes a misstep for me. The narrator of the story is Bethia, a local Vineyard girl whose minister father is trying to bring Puritanism and Christianity to the Wampanoag. The minister, who also teaches, is a primary reason Caleb goes to Harvard, according to Brooks. The Native American is given an opportunity of learning that Bethia isn’t. Bathia has to sneak around, eavesdropping and memorizing her father’s lessons to her loutish brother. She secrets books. She silently rails against the bigotry and sexism of her era and her family’s religious beliefs. Bethia is stuck, so embroiled in the dogma even she doesn’t realize how squelched her natural affinity for learning is. She steals away papers, writing this lost history.

OK, so I get it. I get that the sexism that Bethia suffers is a lot like the discrimination Caleb and his tribe suffers. Caleb tries to bridge the two worlds; he’s given more opportunity, but it’s a position that forces him to face racism and to hide many of his own natural beliefs that Brooks strongly hints may be better than the Puritan ones. Bethia is the same. The problem is that this is an overused structure, or at least an obvious one. We know Americans (and pre-Americans) have a long history of xenophobia and misogyny, and we know we’ve justified our hateful beliefs with religion.

Brooks even goes so far as to hint at the passion these two outcasts feel for each other. It’s one scarlet letter from being a cliché.

The problem with this approach is that the author adopts the same “I’m right, and they’re wrong” approach that she accuses of her antagonists. Yes, right now, we can judge and say that Puritan sexism and discrimination did harm. And we can see how modern religious belief can do this. Are we comfortable slinging judgment to people who didn’t know any different? Might we also have lost something that they knew about simplicity and the power of faith? This book is a wholesale dismissal of the religion as purely tyrannical, sexist and racist (except for maybe the note that they did support education, for white males…) In contrast, the Wampanoag spirituality is free and wonderful and tree-huggy. Both Puritans and natives lack in scientific and medical knowledge, and both are riddled with superstition; yes, we know that. I wish Brooks could’ve been more complex than that., something about how people don’t know better, something about the power and price of integrated belief.

However, Brooks is such a brilliant writer, that she even makes this flaw mostly work. She describes the daily life in detail. She allows her characters some semblance of the language, so that it reads like an actual history. She finds words like “salvages” for the tribe, or “tegs” for the sheep. The emotional lives of her characters seem real, and she subtly tells us what daily life was like for Caleb and Bethia. Finally, Brooks also reaches some of the emotional heights that she soared through in March.

I just feel that Bethia is a typical narrator, and the themes are typical. It would’ve been lovely to hear from the minister father, a man who seemed to see some beauty in the Native beliefs but held on to his evangelism of Christianity. There are also Harvard scholars in the book who also seem to walk that thin line between the limits of their age and a willingness to help everyone reach their potential. A local farm by also might have a unique perspective. These other characters would’ve also made fascinating, more complex voices than just Bethia’s. The juxtaposition between their views, Caleb’s struggles, and Bethia’s insight would’ve been gripping.

I’ll still keep reading Brooks. I also keep hoping she gets back to the type of moral conundrum and complexity that drove March.

PS: As a side note, I love that the book’s pages are a slightly ivory color, and that the type font looks old, heavy with serifs. It brings to the reader a sense of the “oldness’ of this story. It was a nice touch by the bookmakers.
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Jul 08, 2012 Lilia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bookclub-selection

Didn't finish this in time for bookclub but am still listening to this on CD. Not crazy about the "voice," sounds a little Queen Amidala-ish from Star Wars, stilted and painstakingly enunciated, but on the third disc now and am really into the story (June 27).

I would give this 3 1/2 stars. It was pretty dry at the beginning and I think the dearth of dialogue contributed to this. I am happy that I read it and think the author did an excellent job researching the times (mid 1600's - early 1700's)....more

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Jun 05, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, us-multicultural, feminism, coming-of-age

Brooks takes scant information about the first native American to graduate from Harvard and expands it into a novel-length work about the struggles of people crossing from one world to another--and being stuck in between.

As other reviewers have noted, the novel really focuses more on the narrator, Bethia, who is also from Martha's Vineyard, except that she is of English ancestry. Bethia also yearns for education, but as a woman, she is denied full access to the opportunities that her father, he...more Brooks takes scant information about the first native American to graduate from Harvard and expands it into a novel-length work about the struggles of people crossing from one world to another--and being stuck in between.

As other reviewers have noted, the novel really focuses more on the narrator, Bethia, who is also from Martha's Vineyard, except that she is of English ancestry. Bethia also yearns for education, but as a woman, she is denied full access to the opportunities that her father, her brother, and even her native American friend are afforded. This plight is addressed so fully that the novel's subtitle might be "A Room of Bethia's Own."

I haven't read any author interviews yet, so I am curious as to why Brooks chose to focus so much on Bethia? As I read, I imagined the author's answers: 1) Brooks could imagine the female perspective more fully 2) Brooks could see parallel inequities for women that enrich the novel beyond just documenting the inequities based on race 3) Brooks is a fan of Bradstreet and Hutchinson and wanted to weave in those biographies and texts, but without Bethia such inclusions would seem odd. 4) Brooks currently lives on Martha's Vineyard and has gone on imaginative time travels as Bethia, and 5) Other possibilities I haven't imagined?

Whatever her motivation, it was interesting to inhabit the island centuries ago, interesting to eavesdrop on the conversations between a white woman and a native American man -- each trying to forge an identity and a destiny before God, nature and their fellow humans, and interesting to walk through the sites of learning they inhabited: the wilds of Martha's Vineyard, the hearth, the boarding school, the early classrooms at Harvard. Even a library is the setting of a key love scene, so central is learning to the themes of this book.

While misnamed, I do think Brooks did a marvelous job bringing to readers the life (although most of it imagined, and most of it observed by another) of an important native American while she also highlights the hardships faced by seventeenth century white women living on the frontier and pushing for their place in a [white] man's world.
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Feb 27, 2013 Joy H. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: discovered-browsing-web, historical-fiction, selection-of-the-constnt-rder-group, harvard

Added 1/8/12. (first published January 1st 2011)
Good story. Well told.

This novel is historical fiction, centered around the true history of the first Native American (a boy called "Caleb" who was raised on Martha's Vineyard) to actually graduate from Harvard. It's told from the point of view of a Christian woman, Bethia (a fictional character), who met him by chance and became his friend when he and she were in their youth on Martha's Vineyard. She tells of the way the Christians tried to persu...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-group

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side, Brooks has meticulously constructed the highly detailed and imagined colonial world of the narrator, Bethia Mayfield. As a woman, Bethia chafes at the religious and social constraints of this world. Her biggest lament, however, is that she doesn't share the same access to education that her brother does. The language used throughout this account is astoundingly historical true to era, and I found myself checking the meaning of such wor...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Gary McTiernan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a terrific book. I've read and admired Geraldine Brooks since reading March several years ago so I expected to like this a lot. She has the ability to create memorable characters who inhabit their surroundings in totally believable ways. But her settings are anything but commonplace. This novel is set in Puritan New England. This allows Brooks to probe an historical era with the benefit of hindsight, yet her description of the world of the young female protagonist seems totally authentic...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Michal rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: didn-t-like-didn-t-finish, histroical-fiction

I was disappointed in this book.
The author is a favorite of mine and I was looking forward to the book.
The writing is very good, clear and vivid. She uses it to create the atmosphere of the time effectively.
I couldn't get involved with the characters. It wasn't because they weren't believable or sympathetic. I just found that I didn't care much about them.
I read more than half this book before I put it down.

There was also an undercurrent of some kind in the story that I didn't like. It was like...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mt-tbr-challenge, kindle, australian-authors, historical-fiction

This is a book I fully expected to love, as I am a long-time fan of the author. Brooks was an excellent journalist and writer of non-fiction before she became a respected writer of historical novels. She writes elegant prose and has the ability to evoke a sense of time and place without overdoing the period detail. She can also impart historical information without resorting to tedious information dumps. Of crucial importance, Brooks has sound research skills. As a reader, I always feel confiden...more
This is a book I fully expected to love, as I am a long-time fan of the author. Brooks was an excellent journalist and writer of non-fiction before she became a respected writer of historical novels. She writes elegant prose and has the ability to evoke a sense of time and place without overdoing the period detail. She can also impart historical information without resorting to tedious information dumps. Of crucial importance, Brooks has sound research skills. As a reader, I always feel confident that she will use reliable sources and get the details right. In addition, Brooks creates memorable characters who fully inhabit the environment in which they are placed. While Brooks uses her novels to explore themes of interest to modern readers, her characters are never just contemporary people in period clothing.

This novel has as its background the story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, who in 1665 became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College, which later became Harvard University. Caleb was from Martha’s Vineyard (Brooks’ adopted home) and the narrative also deals with the first English settlements on the island and the relationships between its Native American inhabitants and the colonists. As relatively little is known about the historical Caleb, Brooks tells the story from the point of view of a fictitious character, Bethia Mayfield, the daughter of a colonial leader who develops a friendship with Caleb and who struggles with the varying demands of faith, family, community, friendship and a desperate desire for education. The novel is Bethia’s diary and memoir.

There’s a lot to like about the novel. The characters are believable and while Caleb is less vivid than the title of the novel would suggest, this is not surprising, given how little is known about the real-life Caleb. Brooks is only prepared to let her imagination about Caleb’s life go so far and to me this is entirely appropriate. The details about the relationships between the colonists and the Native Americans are interesting, as are the accounts of preparatory schooling and the life of scholars at Harvard College. Crucially, Bethia’s tale is poignant and involving.

So why did this book leave me a little disappointed? It wasn’t the writing, which was as good as always. But for all of the novel’s qualities, I felt a little disconnected from the narrative: I was not nearly as involved with the novel as I was with Brooks’ Pulitzer Prize winning novel March. On reflection, my reaction probably has a lot more to do with me than it does with the book. I think that as a general rule I prefer historical fiction when it does not centre on characters who really existed. I find myself wondering about the “real” story just a bit too much to completely lose myself in the narrative*. In the case of this novel, I found myself wanting to get to the end so that I could read the author’s note and find out more about Brooks’ research. For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, I would rather read a historian or biographer’s take on the primary sources than a novelist’s, particularly if the novelist bases their research on histories or biographies written by someone else. That’s not a big concern with Brooks’ writing; she is too experienced to fudge her research. But spending even part of the time I was reading this novel wondering about the real Caleb’s life was a little distracting.

Overall, notwithstanding my vague sense of disappointment, I did like the novel quite a lot. My respect for Geraldine Brooks as a writer remains very high. I will read anything she writes. This comes in at about 3-1/2 stars.

*The exception to this might be Wolf Hall, which I loved so much as a novel that I didn't care if it was accurate history.
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May 27, 2012 Trish rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, audio, historical-novel

Brooks has once again charmed us back into a century we thought we’d never see again with this story of 17th century settlers to the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts. The lush descriptions of a wild and wind-swept coast and her descriptions of Harvard College and Cambridge resonate like a memory. Her use of language is so particular, formal, and historically correct, that one feels it a foreign tongue, strange to hear and awkward to speak. But with time one thanks the a...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Gorfo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: school-forced-me-to-read-it, historical-fiction, my-favorite-character-died, coming-to-america

Caleb's Crossing really clears up a lot of misconceptions about the muddle of early American history. Everybody knows a little something about the pilgrims and somehow the witch hunts came about...and during all that time there was some sort of tension/friendship with the native Americans? Geraldine Brooks lays it out simply for everyone in this novel. After reading this I finally understand the relationship between the early british and the true american's. Not only did I learn by reading this...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Have heard some comments by fellow book clubbers that they don't enjoy the way this is written; in language dating back to 1665 of English Puritans of the region that is now called Martha's Vineyard today.

It starts out by the viewpoint of the young daughter of a Puritan family, whose father is ministering strict Calvinism to the local Native tribes.

The book is a historical fiction account of the original first Native American to graduate Harvard.

After finishing the book, my opinion is that t...more

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May 12, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, beloved

Oh.

Em.

Gee.

I am hooked and I am only on page 27...

Finished this absorbing story last night. Thoughtful and SO closely observed. Stunning writing. Wonderful narrator. Goodness. LOVED IT.

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Jun 22, 2011 Jean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: wow

In 1665, Caleb, an American Indian becomes the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Geraldine Brooks takes this scant piece of factual information and weaves a great historical novel of Caleb and a group of fictional charcaters through the ups and down of Caleb's journey. The journey is as much Bethis's, the narrator, as it is Caleb's. Bethia, is a strong-willed girl and she and Caleb watch each others backs.. A more than pleasant read.

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Feb 10, 2013 Jill Koontz added it

Caleb's Crossing takes place in the 1600s in the United States. A ministers daughter starts a friendship with a Native American boy who lives on the same island. The two form a unique relationship each teaching the other about their worlds. It kind of read like a reversed role Pocahontas in the beginning. Bethia (the daughter) and Caleb (the native boy) stay friends for a few years and we follow what's going on in each life and how they overlap. Bethia's father is working on bringing Christianit...more Caleb's Crossing takes place in the 1600s in the United States. A ministers daughter starts a friendship with a Native American boy who lives on the same island. The two form a unique relationship each teaching the other about their worlds. It kind of read like a reversed role Pocahontas in the beginning. Bethia (the daughter) and Caleb (the native boy) stay friends for a few years and we follow what's going on in each life and how they overlap. Bethia's father is working on bringing Christianity to the Native Americans on the island and that frequently brings conflict to the novel. The story mainly focuses around the education of Bethia's brother and two Native American boys who have been brought to the light of Christianity. Bethia is always listening in when she can. As the boys proceed to each level of education somehow Bethia follows. The story is riddled with death, lessons, tension, history, brutality and love. This was not a book I expected to like as much as I did by the end. About 3/4 of the way through this novel (when the boys & Bethia are at a college) the story takes a dramatic turn that I did not see coming and put the story and it's message in an entirely different light for me.

The earliest shows of racism in America with the treatment of the Native Americans is profound in this novel. Some of the vocabulary is amazing. I haven't had to reference a dictionary this much while reading in a long long LONG time. The last quote below I noted only because it had so many words that are so very old! My favorite aspect of this story was the ongoing tug of war between Christian beliefs and those of the natives. The author took a few jabs at religion but they were always ones that made me think. Like a very intense and intricate adult version of Pocahontas I did enjoy the historical fiction of Caleb's Crossing.

I quoted a lot from this book so below are just a few snippets from the novel:

An English child would have been whipped for what half of what these were about. Yet I saw no elder do so much as wag a finger at them. I remarked on this to father. He nodded. "They are, as you say, remarkably indulgent. I have not remonstrated with them on the matter, asking them why they do not correct their children. But they say that since adult life is full of hardship, childhood should be free of it. It is a kindly view, even if misguided."

There was a shadow on the sand. Even before I turned my head, I knew that it was Caleb. In that shimmering, golden light I saw the wild boy I had met here four summer past, no longer wild, nor boy.

And then he told us of the Greeks' story, of how Prometheus stole fire from the gods. He said that the fire represented the lamp of learning that had been lit by the ancient Greeks and passed to us, to keep alight. So I am a thief of fire, Bethia. And since it seems that knowledge is no respecter of boundaries, I will take it wheresoever I can. By light of day in your schoolrooms. By candlelight from your books. And if necessary, I will go into the dark to get it."

"My goodwife would wash my mouth our for saying it, but the older lads are not above whore hunting for hackney wenches upon the town, and betimes, if they get soused, they'll touse honest girls."(less)

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Jun 15, 2013 Tanya rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sheronda Gipson

Recommended to Tanya by: Busboys and Poets Hyattsville Book Club

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 28, 2013 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

I loved this book.

Whether you are familiar with the Praying Indian towns of pre-colonial Massachusetts and early Harvard or not, this is a deftly nuanced, beautiful, and well-researched story of Native Americans and English colonists learning to live together in the 1600's. The story is told from the vantage point of a fictional young girl who is at once able to impart an insider's view of the English as well as an outsider's sympathies and keen inferences as a female and friend of the Native Am...more

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May 26, 2013 Val rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-novels

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Another book I have to make up my own ending for! Drats!

I loved the first 7/8's of this historical adventure set on the east coast ofMassachusetts in the late 1600's. Our heroine, Bethia, is a puritan of sorts. Her father is a devout minister to their community on an island (now Martha's Vineyard) and has made it his mission to bring Christianity to the natives,the Wampanoag. Free spirited Bethia would rather ride her horse at break neck speed around the island in a totally unladylike manner and...more Another book I have to make up my own ending for! Drats!

I loved the first 7/8's of this historical adventure set on the east coast of Massachusetts in the late 1600's. Our heroine, Bethia, is a puritan of sorts. Her father is a devout minister to their community on an island (now Martha's Vineyard) and has made it his mission to bring Christianity to the natives, the Wampanoag. Free spirited Bethia would rather ride her horse at break neck speed around the island in a totally unladylike manner and listen in as her father teaches Wampanoag, Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. She is unable to study herself as an educated woman would only be a difficulty for her husband. But Bethia's quick mind and intense love of learning (opposite of her brother) drive her to find knowledge wherever she can get it.

One day on her wanderings around the island, she meets a young Wampanoag boy of her age and surprises him by being able to speak to him in his language. They become beloved friends, meeting daily and teaching each other their language. The boy, Caleb, as she names him (he calls her Storm Eyes) is so brilliant that he soon learns English without an accent.

She has to keep her friendship secret because her father, brother, and grandfather would never understand. Likewise, Caleb must hide his relationship with her from his uncle, Tequamuck, a powerful shaman thought to practice black magic by the Puritans. That Bethia believes Tequamuck's power is an equal to her godly beliefs, is a secret she must keep. Tequamuck forsees the future and his people's place in it.

Geraldine Brooks way with words and thePuritan dialect she writes is perfect. That I listened to it on audio ( Jennifer Ehle reads it) only added to the experience. I loved the language and found myself easily catching the rhythmical way of talking, I own it.

Time passes, and Caleb comes to live with Bethia's family so her father can tutor him and eventually Caleb ends up in Cambridge on the mainland at a school where he is tutored so he can be admitted to the Indian College at Harvard. Bethia is there, too, as a servant to the headmaster of the boy's school.

Brooks seizes the opportunity to prelude the disasters that will befall all of the Indians in the future by what she does to Caleb and his best friend, Joel, another Indian scholar. Their fate is horrible and I truly think it could have been left out. The story was told and we could see the future that was coming. I guess I'm just a sucker for a happy ending.
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May 18, 2013 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Erin, Petrea

Recommended to Megan by: Wicked Book Group

Shelves: bookgroup

Caleb's Crossing is the historically fictionalized story of the first native American to have attended Harvard. Interestingly enough, it is told through the eyes of a girl--an early settler--who knew Caleb. The author did a plethora of research to get the details right--what life was like during this time period, what they ate, how much, what diseases afflicted them, what the relationships between the settlers and the Native Americans were like, as well as the way they spoke then. It was a good...more Caleb's Crossing is the historically fictionalized story of the first native American to have attended Harvard. Interestingly enough, it is told through the eyes of a girl--an early settler--who knew Caleb. The author did a plethora of research to get the details right--what life was like during this time period, what they ate, how much, what diseases afflicted them, what the relationships between the settlers and the Native Americans were like, as well as the way they spoke then. It was a good story, informative about this time period in history, and it was fun to read about places that I'm so familiar with--Harvard, Cambridge, Martha's Vineyard, etc. I loved the layers of meaning in the title, and the thirst and sacrifice that Caleb, Jacob, and Bethia were all willing to submit to in order to get an education.
What I didn't like about it was the placement of a modern-day politically correct character, shuttled back in time to pass moral judgments about how wrong the early settlers opinions of the indigenous peoples were--particularly in the Island section of the book (the beginning). It felt too heavy handed to me and a little offensive that she wouldn't trust me more as a reader. She definitely adhered to the "noble savage" theory--how the Native Americans had it all right and we had it all wrong. She did the same thing in her book, "March"--so I was particularly aware of it and annoyed that she would get the 2011 politically correct attitudes in a time period of the 1600's.
I also felt like the author baited us a bit with innuendo of and hints about a grievous sin committed by Bethia that would be the cause of all of the misfortune that fell upon her family. I'm not sure which transgression was the one to which she was referring, because there were several and they were very mild. Then, later in the book the main character really does commit a serious sin, but it is covered up, and only briefly mentioned. That seemed out of character for someone who beleaguered themselves so much over the slightest infraction and took such a heavy weight of guilt and responsibility for her actions.
The first part of the book felt a bit heavy and oppressive--all of this weight of sin and the feeling that you should live a miserable life devoid of happiness as penance for your sins was a little hard for me to bear up.
The romance didn't go where I might have expected it to.'
The ending felt tragic and disheartening.
That said, I recommend it to someone looking for a good historical fiction book--especially about Massachusetts, the Wampanoag, Harvard, and life amongst the pioneering English Puritans in the 1660's.(less)

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