Cloudsplitter

What I expected from Cloudsplitter was historical fiction about the famous abolitionist, John Brown. What I found was a masterful exploration of the relationship between two men, an extraordinary father and his ambivalent son, and their unrelenting struggles - within themselves, with each other, and with a nation that allows the enslavement of human beings.

Cloudsplitter is narrated by John Brown’s third son, Owen, who chronicles his life with his famous father for a biographical researcher. In an Author’s Note, Banks emphasizes that this novel is “a work of the imagination” and “should be read solely as a work of fiction, not as a version or interpretation of history”. Although following the main historical threads of John show more Brown’s life and anti-slavery activities, there are moments of divergence from fact and much added that is speculative and pure invention. But this seems largely irrelevant to Banks’ broader purpose.

John Brown is a complex figure whose single-minded opposition to slavery is both driven and marred by contradictions. Married twice and fathering twenty children, only eleven of whom survive to adulthood, Brown is devoted to his family, but extreme in his expectations of them.

Compared to the rest of us, no matter how hotly burned our individual flame, Father’s was a conflagration. He burned and burned, ceaselessly, it seemed, and though we were sometimes scorched by his flame, we were seldom warmed by it.

Highly religious, Brown imposes his own interpretation of God’s will in a harsh and severe manner. While intolerant of those who do not meet his strict Christian standards, his own version of faith inexplicably justifies the use of violence to advance his abolitionist cause. Historians have long debated whether John Brown was insane or simply a religious fanatic, a terrorist or a hero. But regardless, at the core of his character is a massive egotism that drives his failed ambition to amass great wealth and ultimately leads him to sacrifice his family and martyr himself to his abolitionist cause.

By comparison, Owen Brown is plagued by doubts. He lacks the unquestioning religious faith of his father and exhibits a rebellious temperament, driven by a desire to find a place and purpose in life that is missing for him. Despite these conflicting emotions, Owen is unable to separate from his father, eventually embracing his fanaticism and becoming his closest advisor and co-conspirator in their final acts of battle. Yet he secretly bears the guilt and responsibility for the accidental death of a freed slave and friend, and carries the crushing knowledge that he is himself not without prejudice and bigotry. And of all the family members, it is Owen that is most aware that his father is flawed, and not the prophet that his followers believe him to be.

They all thought me shy, inarticulate, perhaps not as intelligent as they, as they always had anyhow, and they were not wrong. But that did not mean that I did not know the truth about Father and why he did the great, good things and the bad, and why so much of what he did was, at bottom, horrendous, shocking, was wholly evil.

The storyline focuses on the decades prior to the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, exploring in-depth the development of John Brown’s abolitionist rage while only tangentially addressing the historical significance of this seminal event and its aftermath. Intricately plotted, the narrative follows the Browns through years of harsh conditions and hard work, marked by births and deaths. The family’s 1850 move to North Elba in the Adirondack Mountains is a turning point in their lives - a time of active participation in transporting runaway slaves to safety across the Canadian border, while evading slave-catchers and federal authorities. John and Owen Brown travel extensively during subsequent years, both for business purposes and to seek the support of wealthy abolitionists. During one such trip to Boston, Owen’s sense of faith and purpose are ignited by the excitement of danger and he is “brushed by an angel of the Lord”. His father’s resolve for militant action is strengthened by what he sees as the passivity of Boston’s prominent abolitionists and he develops elaborate plans to establish Kansas as a slavery-free state and to cause the collapse of Virginia’s economy by promoting an armed insurrection of slaves. But in the end, John Brown commits and condones horrific and wholly unnecessary acts of violence, culminating in a failed, armed attack on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry.

Russell Banks has a gift for creating multi-dimensional characters and placing them in real settings and situations. In Cloudsplitter, he reveals the complexities and contradictions inherent in the story of John Brown, while touching on important questions regarding the nature of faith, family, and the ways in which we are enslaved by our beliefs and ambitions. Banks writes in a voice that is both lyrical and stunning in its realism, using language consistent both with the period and with the religious fanaticism of John Brown. Never straying from Owen’s voice, Banks brings the reader into the mind of his narrator with an intensity that sustained my interest through the more than 750 pages of this incredible novel. show less

“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 show more 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.” show less

It took me a long time to get up the energy to read this 750 page historical fiction novel about the abolitionist/terrorist/martyr John Brown, but I ended up glad I did. Russell Banks is an excellent writer and had me completely immersed in this family's life and times. The focus of the book is actually Owen Brown, the third son of John Brown. When most people think of this family, they probably think of their time in Kansas and the fight between those who wanted Kansas to be a free state and those who wanted in to be a slave state. And then, of course, the raid on Harpers Ferry. But Banks, instead, explores the growth of the family and their time in the Northeast, meeting other abolitionists, codifying their beliefs, and just trying to show more make ends meet as a large, poor family.

I really liked this approach. I thought it was so interesting to imagine how John Brown and his family came to their beliefs during a time when it was not the norm to actively crusade for an end to slavery. Banks spends 600 pages on this time and a mere 150 on the final, famous events in Kansas and Harpers Ferry. It made the novel unique and presented a more nuanced view of John Brown and his family/followers.

I don't think this book will be for everyone, but if you have an interest in Civil War era, I think it is well worth your time. show less

How historically accurate is this? I've no idea, but I would argue that it doesn't matter. This is more a portrayal of Owen Brown's struggle with his own nature and with his famous father, John Brown, with the underlying theme of sacrifice, especially John Brown's sacrifice of his sons on the altar of his belief.

A thread running throughout is Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Issac; Brown seems willing to sacrifice of all his sons, yet in the end, Owen's survival possibly belies that, and raises doubt of Brown's complete conviction in his success at Harper's Ferry, as it is he who arranges for Owen not to be there.

Another reviewer suggests that this book condones terrorism. Far from it, but it certainly reveals what faith in a cause show more and fanatical determination might look like close up.

Amazing book, beautifully written. show less

Aside from its daunting size (well over 700 pages) this was a treat to read. Owen Brown, the third of John Brown's sons, tells the story of his father's controversial life, beginning with his own childhood. Cloudsplitter opens with a written apology to Miss Mayo, a young Columbia University student who had been rebuffed by Owen after she traveled to his remote mountainside home in Altadena, California in hopes of an interview. After chasing Miss Mayo away Owen is feeling the pressures of mortality, for he is not a young man, and decides to tell his entire story from start to finish. While he is apparently ambivalent to his father's tragic path of life he is also deeply reflective, detailing the process of how his father become of of show more history's most complex antislavery agitators and martyrs. Seeing as how Cloudsplitter is told from the point of view of one of John Brown's sons it is safe to say the story was not meant to be yet another retelling of the famous yet failed raid on Harper's Ferry. It is more accurately an illustration of how one man's beliefs can grow to become the catalyst for one of the most well known events in the anti-slave movement. While Banks' style of writing is, at times, rambling and contradictory (a reflection of Owen's ability to tell the story) he is able to seamlessly weave nonfiction into fiction; reality into imagined to create a vivid political and cultural 19th century landscape. show less

(40) This is quite a book. 760 pages of closely spaced small typeface. It took me forever to read and I often interspersed other reading or only read small chunk. It is definitely fine writing, but dense and slow to develop. This is a biographical novel of John Brown the famous, or infamous abolitionist that conducted the raid at Harper's Ferry that is said to have sparked the Civil War. It is told to us by his surviving son reflecting on his father's actions and his relationship with his father many years later. John Brown is portrayed as a fascinating character - part religious fanatic, part renaissance man, with a dash of loving father mixed in. He seemingly was a courageous visionary standing up and fighting for what was just - the show more end of slavery. But, his zealotry and his egomania along with his bloody actions serve to vilify him.

I have to say, I mostly come down on the side of crazy villain despite the righteousness of his cause - the ends did not justify the means. And interesting Owen's overarching theme that loyalty to family is almost a form of slavery.

Anyway, I digress. The novel is powerful and transformative, but tedious and repetitive at times. Owen is a sympathetic character and one wishes he could have broken free. I think this is an important novel about race from the white perspective - Lyman and Owen's relationship leaves us much to ponder. Will we ever be post-racial in this country? This book suggests we will not.

In any event, if one is ever depressed about the culture of divisiveness in this country; we can feel better at least that it is not the 1850's. A rewarding reading experience that is worth the time commitment, even if it is not always enjoyable. Recommended for lovers of the Civil War time period and historical fiction with gravitas and literary merit. show less

Harper’s Ferry. Bloody Kansas. Abolitionist.

If these words mean nothing to you, you might not appreciate "Cloudsplitter," Russell Banks’ fictional examination of the Civil War radical John Brown. If, on the other hand, you stayed awake during American History 101, this is a rich, many-layered look at the years leading up to the War Between the States.

The image of John Brown that sticks in most everyone’s mind is that of a rumple-haired, wild-eyed abolitionist who led 19 men on an ill-fated raid of the military arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. Brown’s goal was to capture enough weapons to arm the many thousands of slaves he believed would flock to his cause, setting up a stronghold in the mountains of Virginia and thus show more providing a nucleus of support for slave insurrections across the South. When federal troops easily captured Brown and his men, then later hanged six of them, Brown earned himself a place in history as a martyr for the anti-slavery movement.

"Cloudsplitter" is told through the eyes of one of Brown’s many sons. Owen Brown, who at first worships his father, gradually becomes disillusioned with the fervor of the cause and, by the climactic raid, is practically an unwilling participant in an explosive moment in history.

But history is not what Banks is all about in this large, 758-page novel. He is more interested in burrowing inside his characters and turning them inside before the reader’s eyes. As in his other works—"Affliction," "Rule of the Bone," and "The Sweet Hereafter," to name a few—Banks examines the essential role parents play in society. You’ll learn much more about John Brown the father than you will about John Brown the martyr. Needless to say, family dysfunction runs high in the Brown clan.

The novel’s prose and structure are much more formal than his other more contemporary works. Banks tends to keep himself at a distance from the characters, especially the elder Brown. I felt, at times, I was reading a heavy piece of literature penned in the late 1800s. Yet, somehow it serves the purpose. Throughout the novel, Banks wonderfully reinvents the language, making even the archaic nature of the tale and the method of telling something fresh and exciting.

This is literature of the highest order at work and adds yet another volume to Banks’ already impressive shelf at the bookstore. If you haven't already performed your own raid on his novels, you owe it to yourself to get your hands on some great reading today. show less