Russell Banks: American Author Challenge

"Russell Banks was born March 28, 1940, in Newton, Massachusetts. American fiction and poetry writer. As a novelist, Banks is best known for his detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters. His stories usually revolve around his own childhood experiences, and often reflect moral themes and personal relationships.
Banks was educated at Colgate University. His main works include the novels Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, The Sweet Hereafter, and Affliction. The latter two novels were each made into feature films in 1997 (see The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction). Many of Banks's works reflect his working-class upbringing. His stories often show people facing tragedy and downturns in everyday life, expressing sadness and self-doubt, but also showing resilience and strength in the face of their difficulties. Banks has also written short stories, some of which appear in the collection The Angel on the Roof."

**This is part of our American Author Challenge 2017. This author will be read in November. The general discussion thread can be found right here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/244600

I LOVED The Sweet Hereafter and I really liked Continental Drift, so why have I not read more of this author? Who, the heck knows. I think he was a good choice for the AAC, because I rarely see him mentioned on LT. I have a few of his books on shelf, but I have wanted to read Cloudsplitter for years, so that will be my choice. It's a Big Boy too. Nearly 750 pages, so guess what will be hogging a lot of my reading time, for the next 2 weeks?

Anyone have any thoughts about Banks? And what will your read(s) be? If it is your first time, give The Sweet Hereafter a try. A perfect place to start.

Banks is one of those authors whose books I seem to collect but never read... So I have lots of options, but think I will start with The Sweet Hereafter. I know I saw the film years ago but don't remember much about it (and I'm sure it was much different from the book!).

Great to have you join us, Katie. The film version of The Sweet Hereafter is excellent. A superb adaptation. I suggest you re-watch it again, after reading the book.

CLOUDSPLITTER is still on my upstairs Keep Shelf, read many years ago and remembered as both great and illuminating.

I love, love, loved Cloudsplitter a few years ago. I plan to read either Lost Memory of Skin or The Darling, both of which have spent a fair amount of time on my TBR shelves.

I haven’t read Banks before, I might go for Continental Drift.

I haven't read any Banks before, either. I was thinking of The Sweet Hereafter; but a little depends on availability.

The only book by Banks that I found at the library was The Reserve, so I will see how that goes. I have never read anything by Banks before.

Just read a fine essay by Ann Patchett, where she mentions Banks taught her, and shaped the writer she became.

I have a copy of The Reserve somewhere in my boxes of books, but I am going to see if his book Voyager: Travel Writings is available from any of our libraries. I have been wanting to read Cloudsplitter for years, but haven't done so. I am afraid that it will turn into a 6 month long endeavor along the lines of reading Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel. I do have a copy of Cloudsplitter as well, but that title just isn't calling to me right now.

Will I read anything by Banks in November? Not sure. I've read Cloudsplitter and The Reserve, and I don't think I have anything else on hand.

Since Continental Drift is the only Banks novel I have, I guess that's the one I'll read.

The Banks book I have on hand is The Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks so I am planning to read some stories from it over the course of the month. I don't think I have read anything by Banks before.

"Cloudsplitter is the English translation of the Iroquois word for Mount Marcy, the tallest mountain of the Adirondacks."

^I started Cloudsplitter. Just a few pages in, but it begins well. The story is being told by Owen Brown, son of John Brown. Since, it is such a big book, at 750 pages, I decided to do both print and audio.



-John Brown, abolitionist.

>15 RBeffa: I have The Angel on the Roof on shelf, Ron, so I will watch for your thoughts. I have not read any of his short fiction.

I've picked up Dreaming Up America from the library.

If I manage it, I will be reading The Reserve.

Last evening I started on The Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks. There are a lot of short stories in this collection selected by Banks and published in 2001. Banks wrote a very nice introduction (9 pgs) to the career spanning collection that really whet my appetite. I read the first three stories, titled Djinn, Defenseman and The Caul. I liked Djinn the best but it was nothing like I expected to be reading. The next two stories I liked less. Djinn is set in an imaginary African state and it was entertaining reading but I can't say that I understood it. Defenseman was a relatively straightforward slice of memory story about ice hockey and skating as a youngster, but it was more pointedly a story about the relationship between a father and son. The Caul would require me to think much harder than I wish to about the story, but it is nominally about "Edgar Poe the Poet".

I'm glad I sampled Russell Banks - I've seen his works for years and yet never tried him. 3 stories out of 31 isn't a large enough sample for me to fairly evaluate his work, but I'd say these stories would appeal most to those who like their fiction literary.

#16
My sister read Cloudsplitter many years ago and loved it, even though it is a very lengthy book. You will have read two books this year in which John Brown is a prominent figure. Did you do that on purpose?

“In profile, Father's unsmiling, clean-shaven face, was like a fist. He had a tight mouth with thin lips, a square-chin and forehead, and a hooked, short nose, a hawk's beak. You may be unaware that the long beard, with which he was later so often and so famously pictured, he wore only after Kansas, as a disguise...”

“At our supper table, Father's seat was the seat of the government, all three house of it, executive, legislative, and judiciary. His constitution was, of course, the Bible, in particular the Old Testament. His Declaration of Independence and Preamble were the Books of Genesis and Deuteronomy. His Bill of Rights was taken straight from the New Testament: love the Lord thy God above all else...”

“It was like a dream, a beautiful, soothing dream of late autumn: low, gray skies, smell of woodsmoke, fallen leaves crackling beneath my feet, and somewhere out there, in the farmsteads and plantations ahead of me, swift retribution!
Freedom! The bloody work of the Lord!”

-Cloudsplitter

^I am really enjoying this book. About 2/3rds of the way through it. Yes, it is a Big Book and Banks takes his time, telling it, but the writing is top-notch throughout. This is definitely a labor of love and Owen Brown delivers a heart-breaking narrative.



-John Brown

>20 RBeffa: I normally do not sample story collections. I read them straight through, but I may have to sample, The Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks, much like the massive John Cheever collection. It is just too much to take in at one time. Are you planning on reading the rest of the collection, at some point, Ron?

>21 benitastrnad: You are quite correct, Benita. I did read The Good Lord Bird, just a couple of months ago but picking Cloudsplitter was based, solely on the fact, that I have wanted to read it for years and this was the perfect opportunity. I also read Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War back in 2011. This was nonfiction and another solid read.

Has anyone else started a Banks? Thoughts?

>23 msf59: Mark, your comparison to the John Cheever collection is an apt one. Need to read it in small bites. I probably won't return to Banks' short stories however.

I finished Dreaming Up America last night and found it to be full of sweeping generalizations and gross oversimplifications of American history. I hope Banks is a better novelist than he is a historian.

I won't start my Russell Banks until I return home and complete The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle so it'll be another few days at least.

I got The Sweet Hereafter from the library, and am itching to get reading!

Karen O.

Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks 5 stars

“Of all the animals on this planet, we are surely the nastiest, the most deceitful, the most murderous and vile. Despite our God, or because of him. Both.”

John Brown. Those simple words, still conjure up so many conflicting images: abolitionist, terrorist, crusader, madman, insurrectionist and martyr. It still resonates, a century and a half after his death.

There have been many books written on Brown and this is Banks epic, take on this man's story. It is told entirely through the eyes of his third son, Owen, who somehow survived and escaped the raid on Harper's Ferry. He spent the rest of his life as a sheepherder in California.
Yes, this is fiction, something clearly stated in the foreward, but the amount of research Banks must have mounted, is truly astounding and his writing is robust, fluid and beautifully-rendered. A true labor of love. An over-looked American classic.

“ We pass between sea and sky with unaccountable, humiliating ease, as if there were no firmament between the firmaments, no above or below, here or there, now or then, with only the feeble conventions of language, our contrived principles, and our love of one another's light to keep our own light from going out; abandon any one of them, and we dissolve in darkness like salt in water.”

>28 klobrien2: Did you start it yet, Karen?

I collected Continental Drift from the library, will probably be a week before I get to it though.

I read The Sweet Hereafter This was my first Russell Banks. He can definitely write--I liked how the four narrators had distinctive voices. But I wasn't bowled over by the book... something about the plot did not work for me.

I may try another book by Bank's later, maybe Cloudsplitter, for the John Brown angle.

>30 msf59: Yes, I'm into The Sweet Hereafter! I'm enjoying it so far; I think I'll like the four-person points-of-view structure. It's not a huge book, is it?! Is that normal for Banks?

Karen O.

I am struggling with The Reserve which is too bad because it is set between the wars so is a time period that I like to read about. I just don't care for any of the characters.

Not that I'm feeling lonely or anything but I think it's weird that the two Banks books I have on my TBR shelves appear to be rather obscure. I have The Darling and Lost Memory of Skin; neither seems to be on anyone else's radar. I still don't know which one I'm going to prioritize for this month.

Ellen, I have Lost Memory of Skin but was planning to read The Sweet Hereafter for this month. My arm could be twisted if you felt strongly about it :)

>34 Familyhistorian: That was pretty much my reaction to The Reserve too. I read it a couple years ago. The setting was the best part.

*totally twisting Katie's arm*

I hope to start it Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Of course, no obligation at all but I would love to have your company on reading Lost Memory of Skin, Katie!

LOL, Ellen. You're on! Conveniently, I just finished something last night, so I can start the Banks now :)

Well started Continental Drift but it’s not what I’m in the mood for right now, I’ll put it on hold.

I thought Cloudsplitter was a great novel. I hope someone else enjoys a Banks novel. The Sweet Hereafter is my second favorite. Just sayin...

I have sen mixed reviews on both The Reserve and Lost Memory of Skin.

^There will be some AAC 2018 info coming, later in the day.

>41 msf59:

Cloudsplitter was faraway the best of all the Russell Banks I read, 3 or 4.

Coming in late to this party, because I'm still trying to finish my Ann Patchett. However, I did find this review of The Reserve while trying to decide what to read:

I can't help but wonder if Banks decided he wanted to write a trashy novel, but in the end couldn't commit to it.

LOL

>39 katiekrug: Yay! I'll start it tomorrow, the day before Thanksgiving!!!!! (I love Thanksgiving, and I'm totally excited about my 4-day weekend.)

>44 nittnut: I can relate to that after reading the book. Here is what I wrote about The Reserve.

Well, The Reserve got more interesting towards the end of the book. Secrets came out and death caused a few problems. I still didn't care for the characters very much which was probably a good thing as no one came out of too well.

I'm loving Lost Memory of Skin so far!

I think Banks is going to be an author I catch up with next year.

I finally finished Lost Memory of Skin this afternoon. I give it a solid 3.5 stars, meaning it was good with some things done very well. It just never completely engaged me, and I found parts of it to be a bit of a slog. But I loved the character study aspects of it, as well as the questions it raises about shame and guilt and consequences.

>49 katiekrug: Ha! I just got a copy of Lost Memory of Skin yesterday. I haven't progressed beyond the first chapter in Continental Drift, the first Banks novel I've started. It's sitting on the bedside table and seems easy to ignore. So this is auspicious enough an intro to Banks that I just got another.

Or am I nuts?

>51 katiekrug: - I admire your tenacity, Bill! I hope LMoS works out better for you than CD. Ellen really liked the former, a bit more than I did, but I did think it was good.

Katie is right, I gave Lost Memory of Skin 4.5 stars. I agree with her that it was a remarkable character study, and the subject matter was unusual. It was one of my favorite reads of the year.