Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks


finished 5/20 .......... contemp fiction ......... rating 7.5

I was quite disappointed with this novel. The whole thing was too fictionalized for my tastes. It was hard to buy the story of a narrator who, according to the historical evidence, died prior to the events - this made the whole tale seem quite surrealistic and not at all believable. Then I had a time with some of the "facts," but I did find out that, yes, Brown did go to England and so on. Most of Banks' research was pretty thorough, I think. But still, with all that dialogue and psychological investigating I was pretty put out.

Banks did do a good job of portraying Brown as a distant and obsessed man and the issues involved with Kansas were clear. Finally, in the last 100 pages, Banks redeemed the book and in the scene at Harper's Ferry it all came alive. I can understand the acclaim now - but it took 650 pages.

Posted: Sun - May 20, 2007 at 05:35 PM        

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