⇒ Descargar Gratis Cloudsplitter A Novel Russell Banks 9780060930868 Books

Cloudsplitter A Novel Russell Banks 9780060930868 Books

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Cloudsplitter A Novel Russell Banks 9780060930868 Books

Although Russell Banks’ epic novel about the abolitionist, John Brown, comes with all the trappings of historical fiction (detailed pedantry, forced dialogue, etc.) it still engages you by the liveliness of its central subject. Adopting the relatively obscure perspective of his son, Owen Brown, Cloudsplitter is both about the political revolution as well as the more personal question of what it means to live under the shadow of another. As religious language and metaphor is heaped upon scenario after scenario, ultimately culminating in the famous siege at Harper’s Ferry, Banks takes you along a journey in the great tradition of Twain, and to a lesser extent, Hawthorne. While not a great book, Cloudsplitter is a genuinely entertaining story.


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Cloudsplitter A Novel Russell Banks 9780060930868 Books Reviews

though John Brown was a patriot and supported better treatment of slaves, he was also a bully. According to the author, Brown wound up in several lawsuits, in bankrupt, and foreclosure. While his good treatment of slaves, he didn't help his own family much by putting them at so much risk of losing their family home and farm. Which did happen per the author. And he had no head for good business and kept losing at business ideas also. Russell Banks wrote a great novel which I suspect he researched well. .
It took me a while to get engaged in this novel, but as the story progresses the author presents many thought provoking ideas in the process of fleshing out the persona of a 19th century religious fanatic who is obsessed with freeing the slaves. For me, John Brown turns out to be a tragic figure. A man who convinces himself that terror is a useful weapon in the fight against injustice. The narrator, number 3 son Owen provides an intimate perspective on family life for a conductor on the underground railroad and the power of personality in carving a life out of the frontier. If you're a history buff, you'll enjoy learning more details regarding the Kansas / Nebraska wars as well as the famous raid on Harper's Ferry.
The book is an interesting novelistic look at John Brown and what led up to the raid on Harpers Ferry, told from the point of view of one of his sons. It tends to get repetitious and had far too many sermons for my tastes. Still, an inside look at a history I knew little about. However I got the book on and it was a mess. Typos on just about every page. The word 'man's' was spelled 'manis' through out the book. Then in the last quarter the entire Harpers Ferry section was repeated twice. I think this is a terrible disservice to the author and all his hard work. There is no justification for a book to be sold and go out to the public in this condition.
I have studied John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, VA, in school but never knew more than superficial information. This novel is told by his 3rd son, Owen, who was his "right-hand man" in the war against slavery. It begins during his boyhood & progresses through the raid, with lots of details that the casual student has never heard of. Sometimes it was hard to remember that it is a novel, not nonfiction. For instance, I wasn't aware that John Brown & his sons were involved in the War in Kansas in the late 1850s before planning & executing the raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. There are also lots of details about the Brown family's work with the Underground Railroad & freed blacks living in upstate New York, where their family farm is now a historical sight. Overall, a good read & extremely educational.
This book was too long at 756 pages but I could neither skim a few pages or jump ahead. Russell Banks describes everything, giving no more value to the mundane than the extraordinary. It is in this factual way Banks reimagines the life and times of John Brown as described by his third son, Owen. Owen takes us into the Adirondacks, through Ohio and out to Kansas and finally to Harper's Ferry. Each environment is meticulously described. As you read, you feel the wind or rain, see the stars in the heavens or the light of dawn. Owen tells us everything he feels about his father, love,fear, disgust and admiration. By the end of this very long book, I had felt all that Owen felt about his father and like Owen, had very mixed feelings.
This was a marvelous journey that never unravels the mystery of human nature, never dumbs down the complications of being part of a family and certainly never explains the convoluted path America has taken in trying to deal with our racist and shameful past. This is not a perfect book but a painfully honest exploration of America in the 1850s as imagined by Russell Banks's rendering of Owen Brown.
Although Russell Banks’ epic novel about the abolitionist, John Brown, comes with all the trappings of historical fiction (detailed pedantry, forced dialogue, etc.) it still engages you by the liveliness of its central subject. Adopting the relatively obscure perspective of his son, Owen Brown, Cloudsplitter is both about the political revolution as well as the more personal question of what it means to live under the shadow of another. As religious language and metaphor is heaped upon scenario after scenario, ultimately culminating in the famous siege at Harper’s Ferry, Banks takes you along a journey in the great tradition of Twain, and to a lesser extent, Hawthorne. While not a great book, Cloudsplitter is a genuinely entertaining story.