Cloudsplitter: A Novel

By Russell Banks

"Deeply affecting. . . . Like the best novels of Nadine Gordimer, it makes us appreciate the dynamic between the personal and the political, the public and the private, and the costs and causes of radical belief." — New York Times

A triumph of the imagination and a masterpiece of modern storytelling, Cloudsplitter is narrated by the enigmatic Owen Brown, last surviving son of America's most famous and still controversial political terrorist and martyr, John Brown.

Deeply researched, brilliantly plotted, and peopled with a cast of unforgettable characters both historical and wholly invented, Cloudsplitter is dazzling in its re-creation of the political and social landscape of our history during the years before the Civil War, when slavery was tearing the country apart. But within this broader scope, Russell Banks has given us a riveting, suspenseful, heartbreaking narrative filled with intimate scenes of domestic life, of violence and action in battle, of romance and familial life and death that make the reader feel in astonishing ways what it is like to be alive in that time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9780062123183

Russell Banks

Russell Banks, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, was one of America’s most prestigious fiction writers, a past president of the International Parliament of Writers, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and he received numerous prizes and awards, including the Common Wealth Award for Literature. He died in January 2023 at the age of eighty-two.  

Reviews for Cloudsplitter

[meredk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was torn between this rating and four stars, because I found Banks' writing - as always - simply wonderful. But wow, this book was SO long. I think it could have used some editing, especially since there's relatively little action or dialog. And yet, it kept me going so I can't say I was bored. And it really sparked my interest in John Brown and the whole history of the U.S. preceding the Civil War.

[mldavis2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a huge (750p) fictional novel written about the Brown family and John Brown, the abolitionist, from the viewpoint of his third son Owen Brown. It is a study in personality and the slippery slope from religious fanaticism to terror and homicide in the name of anti-slave rebellion. Written somewhat as a memoir of Owen Brown, the only surviving Brown, the book is well written and philosophically rich. From the Kansas uprising to Harper's Ferry, the pace is good and the book is hard to put down. Banks did a great deal of research on the novel, but he also repeatedly asserts that it is a fictional account leading to one of the great events in U.S. history.

[amelish · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

New England Gothic! It piqued my interest in reading an actual biography of John Brown, or something drier, less emotionally fraught, and therefore refreshing. Owen Brown = emo kid.

[stuart10er_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A retelling of the story of John Brown and the decade leading up to Harpers Ferry as-if told by his son Owen who was the only survivor. No real account exists as to why he left or where he went but this novel seeks to explore his life up to the point of the raid. I enjoyed it - but it glorified a terrorist who thought violence was an acceptable way of changing people's ideas and thoughts. In a post 9/11 world the book does not resonate as well as it might have when it was written in 1997.

[bobmoore_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cloudsplitter, the name of the mountain in the Adirondacks that Brown's cabin faced, and where he is buried. An abolitionist who organized a bloody raid on the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, W.Virginia, Brown is credited with adding a spark to the flame that became the Civil War. Much of this fictional biography is excellent - as one might expect of Banks - but as the narrative closes in on the signature event the narrative gets repetitive and I found myself skimming.

[piefuchs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had never heard of John Brown when I picked up this book (Cdn...)- I got it because Russell Banks wrote it. If I were to list the 10 best novels I ever read - Cloudsplitter would be on it, near the top. Now, if I see any proper history about John Brown, I read them.Cloudsplitter is a detailed fictionalization of Brown's life told from the perspective of his son Owen. John Brown's life obviously provides a great framework for a novel, but to emphasize what Banks has done with John Brown ignores the fact that as a work of historical fiction, this is a masterpiece. The details of family life, farm life, economics are all presented in splendid detail. The characters of Owen and John Brown are fabulously (and apparently accuarately) developed.

[davidabrams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[msf59 · Rating: 5 out of 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.” 

[gramrock · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found the book fascinating esp. after my visit to Harpers Ferry. Descriptions of people,places, and events are specific at times, but one must remember it is fiction. Nevertheless, it gives one a pretty good look at the politics of slavery in the 1850s and what appears to be a well researched and kind picture of John Brown.At times I wished the book had fewer than the 758 pages, but wouldn't know what or where to cut so can't really complain about the length of time it took to read.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

work of fiction that tells the story of John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame. The story is told by his Owen Brown. It was interesting, good work of prose but it was a bit of work to get through. It was a refresher of history that I did not have much recall. The author is pretty adamant that it was a work of fiction, but if this is anywhere near the truth, this family suffered from mental illness. Another thought I have on this book is that while John Brown may have been passionate about antislavery, and claimed to be hearing from God, he was twisting scripture to fit his need and another point is he may have been fighting for blacks, he did not understand blacks. This may this be the John Brown of the book and not the real John Brown but he was violent and judgmental and did not follow the scriptures commandment to love others. I do think this is a work of prose and not one of plot. Characters were developed in general. The story goes back in history as it is being told in the present old age of Owen who is the narrator. As the narrator, I mostly found Owen to be unlikeable. He had a lot of issues. The son seems to think everything is about him and that his dad liked a black man more than he liked his son (Owen). Famous people mentioned in the book include Frederick Douglas, Nathanial Hawthorn (the sister-in-law in the book was not a real person), Grimke Sisters. Quotes: "Ameria is a Christian nation. She is indeed, he said, or ought to be. It was surely meant to be." Pg 383"negroes did not need white people to love them" page 413"The matter of deference and sameness", "If you yourself are not a victim, you cannot claim to see the world as the victim does", "Amongst negroes, a white man is always white. Page 420The author writes about people on the fringe of society, marginalized people. The Brown family especially Owen was such a person. Owen Brown was the third son of John Brown. He managed to escape from Harper's Ferry and according to info on line he served in the Civil War for the Union Army. He died at 64 of pneumonia and was living in California.

[gofish8 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Banks takes on the voice of his 19th Century subject to great effect. I found this book to be a completely immersive experience. An enormously insightful musing on the relationship between a son and a powerful father. Also, if you love the Adirondacks, this book will take you there.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel is a historical novel in sheep's clothing. What, you may ask, do I mean by that? The title of the novel, Cloudsplitter(1998, finalist for Pulitzer and PEN/Faulkner), suggests that this may well be a biographical novel depicting the life of John Brown, and to a certain extent it is just that; but it is primarily a historical novel about the the antebellum period in America focusing on the Abolitionist movement and John Brown's role in that movement. The insights into the different aspects of abolitionism provide fascinating reading. For example, in his portrayal of Brown in Cloudsplitter, Russell Banks shows how Brown is more interested in the mighty sword than the ringing word. After listening with his son, Owen, to one of Emerson's talks in Boston, Brown walks out on the Sage of Concord while the sophisticated crowd applauds wildly: "That man's truly a boob!" Father blurted. "For the life of me, I can't understand his fame. Unless the whole world is just as foolish as he is. Godless? He's not even rational! You'd think, given his godlessness, his sec-u-laahr-ity, he'd be at least rational," he said, and gave a sardonic laugh. The book is filled with such detail about abolitionism and this makes it a worthwhile read. However, I found that, in spite of its length, the novel ultimately disappointed in its limited portrayal of the most famous episode in Brown's life, the raid on Harper's Ferry. Thus the reader who picks up Cloudsplitter expecting all the details of the life of the epynomous historical figure may be, as I was, somewhat disappointed by the end of the book.

[doggroomer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was really hard to get through the first half of this book. Tedious, to say the least, with some amusing anecdotes peppering it to keep my interest. But, come on, this is Russell Banks - who isn't capable of writing a book I don't like... As the book progresses, we learn so much about the inner workings of the Brown family, and poor Owen's mind. It was a fascinating book. Well worth the effort of getting through the 1st half.

[amerynth · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Sprawling historical novel that follows the tale of Owen Brown, the son of John Brown, the abolitionist that led the raid at Harper's Ferry. The story is really bogged down in pages and pages of useless detail (nearly 30 pages describing the family's financial situation in Ohio....) that quickly becomes repetitive. Oddly enough the novel suffers from the opposite problem too, it jumps to a new storyline with no build up whatsoever. (Owen suddenly beats up a man on his farm, for no apparent reason, then suddenly is in love with the man's wife a few pages later -- a wife he's never spoken to in nearly 500 pages of text.... a few pages later he wasn't in love after all. The book really needs a good and thorough edit.

[George · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book prompted me to do further research on the life and times of John Brown.

[earthwind_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Awesome detail. If you do not appreciate total tiny descriptions skip this.