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Editorial Reviews
A richly imagined new novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller, People of the Book.
Once again, Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure.
The narrator of Caleb's Crossing is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless and curious, she yearns after an education that is closed to her by her sex. As often as she can, she slips away to explore the island's glistening beaches and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. At twelve, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a tentative secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag, awakening the wrath of the tribe's shaman, against whose magic he must test his own beliefs. One of his projects becomes the education of Caleb, and a year later, Caleb is in Cambridge, studying Latin and Greek among the colonial elite. There, Bethia finds herself reluctantly indentured as a housekeeper and can closely observe Caleb's crossing of cultures.
Like Brooks's beloved narrator Anna in Year of Wonders, Bethia proves an emotionally irresistible guide to the wilds of Martha's Vineyard and the intimate spaces of the human heart. Evocative and utterly absorbing, Caleb's Crossing further establishes Brooks's place as one of our most acclaimed novelists.
Once again, Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure.
The narrator of Caleb's Crossing is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless and curious, she yearns after an education that is closed to her by her sex. As often as she can, she slips away to explore the island's glistening beaches and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. At twelve, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a tentative secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag, awakening the wrath of the tribe's shaman, against whose magic he must test his own beliefs. One of his projects becomes the education of Caleb, and a year later, Caleb is in Cambridge, studying Latin and Greek among the colonial elite. There, Bethia finds herself reluctantly indentured as a housekeeper and can closely observe Caleb's crossing of cultures.
Like Brooks's beloved narrator Anna in Year of Wonders, Bethia proves an emotionally irresistible guide to the wilds of Martha's Vineyard and the intimate spaces of the human heart. Evocative and utterly absorbing, Caleb's Crossing further establishes Brooks's place as one of our most acclaimed novelists.
Related Reviews
"Silence was a woman's safe harbor."
Brooks is thorough and unsparing in this tale of courage in the face of bigotry, the sacrifices made by Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first Native American to graduate Harvard College in 1665. To be an educated man of such a heritage is unheard of at the time, but Caleb captures the affection and respect of narrator Bethia Mayfield and her father, a minister devoted to spreading the word of God to the native tribes in 1660 Great Harbor, a small settlement on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. A secret friendship blooms between the young Bethia and Caleb, who teaches his new friend the Wampanoag language, customs and native plant lore. Cherishing a relationship that exists outside her family's circle, Bethia is thirsty for knowledge and education, restricted by virtue of her birth and profoundly limited in life choices. A temporary respite from societal restrictions and the ebullience of natural curiosity bind Caleb and Bethia together, as well as mutual trust, their histories linked as events place each in the other's orbit at Harvard, their individual futures fraught with hardship and loss.
A stickler for historical detail, Brooks roots her characters' experiences in fact, each chained by expectations to familial demands. Bethia's older brother, Makepeace, of smaller intellect than his sibling, chafes under her insatiable need to examine and understand, admonishing his sister at every opportunity; the Reverend Mayfair finds an audience in the natives, but runs afoul of Caleb's shaman uncle, who is violently opposed to the teachings and singular God of Christianity; and Caleb, preparing for Harvard with the minister and another Indian student, pays the price of his difference and his brilliance, relinquishing the open landscape of his youth for the confined and moldy corridors of academia in Cambridge. Though the novel stresses personal success and ground-breaking accomplishment, a paean to the purity and nobility of the mind, the historical reality is littered with the petty cruelties of racism and a class system that encourages fellow students to treat Caleb with scorn.
While Bethia turns to her God for comfort and forgiveness on a daily basis- sometimes more frequently as need dictates, she cannot help but admire Caleb's beliefs, though guilt-ridden by such aberrant attraction. The God of the colonists is pervasive, unyielding, the arbiter of all thoughts and deeds, those who fall outside the pale judged harshly. Yes, Caleb achieves his laudable goal, but at great personal cost, even Bethia's days made miserable by the demands of changed fortune and meager opportunity. This new country has broken from England, but is rigid in its mores, accommodation to the norm the only way to excel. Their lives entwined through friendship and a passion for knowledge, Bethia and Caleb claim their rightful places in history, but the journey is grueling, somber and perpetually joyless, subsumed by the demands of a society that withholds as easily as it bestows favor. Sadly, Caleb's achievement confers notoriety at the cost of all he holds dear. Luan Gaines/2011
Brilliant First-person Narrative
Be warned all ye of the fundamental Christian theology leanings, your beliefs will be much challenged, contrasted with the Native American beliefs during the early years of settlement in 17th century Massachusetts when this country's long-standing Puritanical bible-thumping would establish itself.
Geraldine Brooks has chosen a teenage young woman, Bethia Mayfiield, as the first-person narrator, who would not normally have been equipped for such a task as the writer of brilliant prose. Many times I have found myself irritated at first-person narratives because I do not believe the narrator would have possessed the language required. But in this book, I find Bethia's writer's voice--a rather sophisticated syntax with rich vocabulary--convincing because the author has provided the reader with the information about her thirst for language and the rather unique and often devious ways in which she gained that knowledge.
She narrates a story that begins in 1660 in Great Harbor on Martha' Vineyard where white settlers--in this case a family headed by Bethia's minister father--share the island with the Wampanoag natives who inhabited that part of New England. It took me a few pages to warm up to the syntax which the author obviously mastered. Unfamiliar vocabulary is easily understood through context. And within a few pages, I found myself speeding up to my usual rather rapid silent reading pace.
The minister has set out to convert the pagan natives to Christianity while his daughter has set out to learn more about these people. And her prose shows how conflicted she becomes--she is filled with Calvinistic guilt--because the natives seem to have a much less hostile attitude toward land and the creatures on it than the white zealots.
In her wanderings she meets a young Wampanoag man, her age, whom she nicknames Caleb and who, by the end of the first section of the novel, has come to live with them so that he might learn the white man's ways--especially the language and the religion. In other words, the same story all of us have known about.
But this is not a trite work, not at all. In fact I suspect it will challenge many readers to rethink some of their own philosophies, especially about the way in which we treat each other and our planet.
I will not reveal the tragedies that these people endure. There are plenty.
The second part of the novel--and it is more than half of it--is set in Cambridge where Bethia has been sent to keep house and cook for a small group of young men including her older (and only living) brother, Caleb and another native young man who study at Harvard College, not at all like the Cambridge and Harvard we know today. She finds time to further enhance her own learning and also to write, often beginning a new chapter with an apology for something she wrote in the last because of the guilt she feels as she struggles with her attempts to play the role of a woman in those times which is at odds with what she wants for herself.
I highly recommend this wonderful novel.
Two People Trying to Cross Societal Lines
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.
I have always felt that Geraldine Brooks is a truly gifted writer but I always have mixed feelings about her books. I really liked YEAR OF WONDERS. I hated MARCH. I loved loved loved PEOPLE OF THE BOOK. So, I approached CALEB'S CROSSING with a little trepidation.
Brooks has a real gift in making history come alive in her fiction. In CALEB'S CROSSING, Brooks fictionalizes the life of first Native American to graduate from Harvard. There is very little in the historical record on Caleb but Brooks manages to flesh out a compelling tale told from the perspective of a young woman named Bethia Mayfield who befriends Caleb and becomes like a sister to him. Using Bethia's point of view was genius as it allowed Brooks to delve into the roles of women in the late 1600's. We see not only Caleb's story but that of a young woman who desires nothing more than to be educated in her own right. Bethia observes as her minister father attempts to convert the Wampanoag while he is ignorant of his daughter's friendship with Caleb and fluency in the native tongue. Caleb becomes a pet project of Bethia's father as the minister tutors him in preparation for entry into Harvard. A year later, Bethia finds herself in Cambridge as an indentured servant where she witnesses the pressures Caleb feels in trying to straddle the gap between his two worlds.
CALEB'S CROSSING is a wonderful book. The juxtaposition between Bethia's experiences and Caleb's makes for a truly compelling story. I'm not sure the story would have been as effective without Bethia's voice. I was completely absorbed by the tale. I think Brooks did an excellent job of demonstrating the pressures put on individuals who were attempting to bridge cultural and societal gaps.
BOTTOM LINE: Recommended. A wonderful and moving tale of two people trying to find their place in the world and the toll these actions took on them.
I have always felt that Geraldine Brooks is a truly gifted writer but I always have mixed feelings about her books. I really liked YEAR OF WONDERS. I hated MARCH. I loved loved loved PEOPLE OF THE BOOK. So, I approached CALEB'S CROSSING with a little trepidation.
Brooks has a real gift in making history come alive in her fiction. In CALEB'S CROSSING, Brooks fictionalizes the life of first Native American to graduate from Harvard. There is very little in the historical record on Caleb but Brooks manages to flesh out a compelling tale told from the perspective of a young woman named Bethia Mayfield who befriends Caleb and becomes like a sister to him. Using Bethia's point of view was genius as it allowed Brooks to delve into the roles of women in the late 1600's. We see not only Caleb's story but that of a young woman who desires nothing more than to be educated in her own right. Bethia observes as her minister father attempts to convert the Wampanoag while he is ignorant of his daughter's friendship with Caleb and fluency in the native tongue. Caleb becomes a pet project of Bethia's father as the minister tutors him in preparation for entry into Harvard. A year later, Bethia finds herself in Cambridge as an indentured servant where she witnesses the pressures Caleb feels in trying to straddle the gap between his two worlds.
CALEB'S CROSSING is a wonderful book. The juxtaposition between Bethia's experiences and Caleb's makes for a truly compelling story. I'm not sure the story would have been as effective without Bethia's voice. I was completely absorbed by the tale. I think Brooks did an excellent job of demonstrating the pressures put on individuals who were attempting to bridge cultural and societal gaps.
BOTTOM LINE: Recommended. A wonderful and moving tale of two people trying to find their place in the world and the toll these actions took on them.
Deeply affecting novel (4.5 stars)
Absolutely stunning book. I read from page 63 to the end in one sitting because I just could not put it down. Utterly lovely and heartbreaking.
Bethia, the narrator, is a strong female voice and beautifully written. The other characters are vividly drawn and just as affecting. The way Brooks has written the book - from three points in Bethia's life, but looking back on what has happened to bring her to that point - is very skilfully done and provides an arc to the narrative that gives the reader a sense of completeness. That she has used the small amount she uncovered about this real man's life oh so long ago to write this book shows her remarkable imagination and her talent for creating lives and whole histories from small kernels of truth.
Caleb and Bethia's lives intersect and cross over one another in both magical and tragic ways, but it is representative of the two very different worlds they come from and what so often happened upon these worlds' meeting. There is a true beauty to their friendship and story that even now, as I am writing this, brings me to tears.
Both characters are struggling to find their place in their ever-changing world. Bethia is trying to balance her identity as a Christian woman with that of a seeker of knowledge who craves and rejoices in learning; her conversations on this topic with others and her own inner thoughts and desires provide us with very interesting insight into how women's education and a woman's place were viewed at the time. Caleb is trying to stay true to the spirits and the Wampanoag way of life, while also finding a place for himself and his people so that they may survive these newcomers and the unstoppable change they bring. The dialogue between him and Bethia regarding their separate religions and traditions, as well as Bethia's own reflections, gives rise to very thought-provoking issues regarding faith, religion, spirituality, and culture. Is it possible to wed two different ways of thinking, two different belief systems? Does an attempt to do so automatically compromise one or both? How do we stay true to ourselves and our history, while also adapting in order to survive?
I took Caleb's Crossing out from the library, but will want to buy my own copy. It's an emotionally engaging and deeply moving work that I know I will want to reread. Raw as it left me feeling, I know this story will stay with me for many, many days, causing me to question and wonder.
Bethia, the narrator, is a strong female voice and beautifully written. The other characters are vividly drawn and just as affecting. The way Brooks has written the book - from three points in Bethia's life, but looking back on what has happened to bring her to that point - is very skilfully done and provides an arc to the narrative that gives the reader a sense of completeness. That she has used the small amount she uncovered about this real man's life oh so long ago to write this book shows her remarkable imagination and her talent for creating lives and whole histories from small kernels of truth.
Caleb and Bethia's lives intersect and cross over one another in both magical and tragic ways, but it is representative of the two very different worlds they come from and what so often happened upon these worlds' meeting. There is a true beauty to their friendship and story that even now, as I am writing this, brings me to tears.
Both characters are struggling to find their place in their ever-changing world. Bethia is trying to balance her identity as a Christian woman with that of a seeker of knowledge who craves and rejoices in learning; her conversations on this topic with others and her own inner thoughts and desires provide us with very interesting insight into how women's education and a woman's place were viewed at the time. Caleb is trying to stay true to the spirits and the Wampanoag way of life, while also finding a place for himself and his people so that they may survive these newcomers and the unstoppable change they bring. The dialogue between him and Bethia regarding their separate religions and traditions, as well as Bethia's own reflections, gives rise to very thought-provoking issues regarding faith, religion, spirituality, and culture. Is it possible to wed two different ways of thinking, two different belief systems? Does an attempt to do so automatically compromise one or both? How do we stay true to ourselves and our history, while also adapting in order to survive?
I took Caleb's Crossing out from the library, but will want to buy my own copy. It's an emotionally engaging and deeply moving work that I know I will want to reread. Raw as it left me feeling, I know this story will stay with me for many, many days, causing me to question and wonder.
Geraldine Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author of some of my favorite books (March, Year of Wonders, People of the Book), took a small sliver of history and expanded the history into a novel.
The novel is "Caleb's Crossing," set in the 1630's onward. It is narrated by Bethia Mayfield, a young Puritan girl with an unusually brilliant mind. Bethia listens in as her father teaches her block-headed older brother, Makepeace. She learns Latin, Greek, and all the other requirements the university will require of him. Makespeace doesn't.
She becomes friends with Caleb Cheeshahteamuck, a Native American. Caleb loves his people, and yet his inquiring mind leads him to become a student readying for the university alongside Makepeace. Caleb teaches Bethia Native American spirituality, the tribe's reverence for the land and the animals of the earth. She and Caleb throw arguments about the meaning of God between themselves, talk that could result in severe punishment if found out.
Bethia's family endures a series of four tragedies that forever change the course of her life. Caleb goes on to achieve his diploma from Harvard.
While there is no doubt of Ms. Brooks' fine attention to detail in creating character and setting, the very people and times she illustrates in this novel cast a pall of sermonizing and sin across every page. It is an interesting story buried under philosophical arguments and long speeches about spiritual matters. Her descriptions of Bethia's home island and the waste laid to Cambridge by Whites even at this early stage of development underscore the scourges that accompanied "enlightenment" as Europeans instructed and changed the Native people of North America.
The novel is "Caleb's Crossing," set in the 1630's onward. It is narrated by Bethia Mayfield, a young Puritan girl with an unusually brilliant mind. Bethia listens in as her father teaches her block-headed older brother, Makepeace. She learns Latin, Greek, and all the other requirements the university will require of him. Makespeace doesn't.
She becomes friends with Caleb Cheeshahteamuck, a Native American. Caleb loves his people, and yet his inquiring mind leads him to become a student readying for the university alongside Makepeace. Caleb teaches Bethia Native American spirituality, the tribe's reverence for the land and the animals of the earth. She and Caleb throw arguments about the meaning of God between themselves, talk that could result in severe punishment if found out.
Bethia's family endures a series of four tragedies that forever change the course of her life. Caleb goes on to achieve his diploma from Harvard.
While there is no doubt of Ms. Brooks' fine attention to detail in creating character and setting, the very people and times she illustrates in this novel cast a pall of sermonizing and sin across every page. It is an interesting story buried under philosophical arguments and long speeches about spiritual matters. Her descriptions of Bethia's home island and the waste laid to Cambridge by Whites even at this early stage of development underscore the scourges that accompanied "enlightenment" as Europeans instructed and changed the Native people of North America.
... a genuine tale of early colonial historical fiction
Geraldine Brooks has once again immersed us in a historical setting far removed from present day. The time is the last half of the 17th century; the place the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, the main characters Bethia Mayfield, daughter of a minister and Caleb Cheeshaahteaumauk, a Wampanoag Indian. Brooks has an easy talent, no doubt the result of copious research, in creating an authentic feel to this story. The inspiration for the story was Caleb, a real life character who was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College in 1765. Brooks has created this story from the barebones facts known about Caleb.
Both Bethia and Caleb are born on Martha's Vineyard and the first chapters of the story are set there. Bethia is the narrator for the tale and an interesting character. She is intelligent, committed and often guilt ridden for events beyond her control. Brooks brilliantly recreates life for the settlers on the island. Hardships are abundant and loss of life commonplace. A childhood friendship between Bethia and Caleb sets the stage for the events to follow. Bethia's father works at converting the Indians to Christianity. He tutors Caleb, another convert Joel and his own son Makepeace so that they may attend Harvard and become ministers. All three leave the island for Cambridge to continue their education. Bethia, desperate to learn but denied education because of her gender, accompanies them as a servant. Again we are treated to descriptions of life at Cambridge and later Harvard College that ring true.
Without giving away too much of the plot, let me say that I found the last third of the book oddly flat. In it, Bethia now an elderly dying woman, looks back and describes the events that transpired at Harvard and after. The telling is almost rote and, in contrast to the passions expressed in the first part of story, is detached and unemotional. I think in sticking to the known facts of Caleb's life instead of fully creating a fictional story, the ending was stilted and unfulfilling.
Despite the finish, I did enjoy this book. Right down to the prose which is brilliantly created you feel as if you've read a genuine tale of early colonial historical fiction.
Both Bethia and Caleb are born on Martha's Vineyard and the first chapters of the story are set there. Bethia is the narrator for the tale and an interesting character. She is intelligent, committed and often guilt ridden for events beyond her control. Brooks brilliantly recreates life for the settlers on the island. Hardships are abundant and loss of life commonplace. A childhood friendship between Bethia and Caleb sets the stage for the events to follow. Bethia's father works at converting the Indians to Christianity. He tutors Caleb, another convert Joel and his own son Makepeace so that they may attend Harvard and become ministers. All three leave the island for Cambridge to continue their education. Bethia, desperate to learn but denied education because of her gender, accompanies them as a servant. Again we are treated to descriptions of life at Cambridge and later Harvard College that ring true.
Without giving away too much of the plot, let me say that I found the last third of the book oddly flat. In it, Bethia now an elderly dying woman, looks back and describes the events that transpired at Harvard and after. The telling is almost rote and, in contrast to the passions expressed in the first part of story, is detached and unemotional. I think in sticking to the known facts of Caleb's life instead of fully creating a fictional story, the ending was stilted and unfulfilling.
Despite the finish, I did enjoy this book. Right down to the prose which is brilliantly created you feel as if you've read a genuine tale of early colonial historical fiction.
The Crossing of History, Faith, and Life
Geraldine Brooks tends to base her novels on real events, transforming them with her imagination. Her starting point here is Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, a young Wampanoag Indian from Martha's Vineyard, who in 1665 was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, founded a quarter-century earlier. Comparatively little is known about him, other than a few dates and a letter in his own hand, written in Latin, so Brooks was free to fill out his story in any way she wished. So while this may not be THE Caleb, he is certainly HER Caleb, first seen as a bright, agile, and independent boy, the son of the sonquem (chief) of his tribe, later growing into an elegant, enigmatic, and self-contained young scholar, among the most distinguished in his graduating class.
This, then, is his Crossing, from one culture to a totally different one, the master of both. The word has other meanings too. It refers to the physical crossing from Martha's Vineyard, not then the easy ferry ride to Woods Hole but a day-long journey to Boston that was not without its dangers. In a world where death is commonplace and few children live to adulthood, it may also refer to the final crossing, and the faith or fears about what may await on the other side. And perhaps it also refers to the Christianization of the native people that was the necessary first step to any advancement in the colonial world. Like Marilynne Robinson (author of GILEAD), Brooks has always had a strong religious element in her novels. While she does not quite have Robinson's ability to convey religion as a radiant inner light, this is much more than an historical add-on; Brooks' characters live within a world shaped by belief, and measure their actions by those beliefs. Yes, beliefs plural, because Brooks is also an unusually ecumenical writer. The dominant creed here is Christianity; in PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, it was Judaism, and the Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau in MARCH. And even in this Puritan environment, beliefs are nuanced: the island community was set up in reaction to the stricter laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the tension between liberalism and restriction runs through the book. As she had done in her first novel, YEAR OF WONDERS, Brooks stretches to include people whose practices (for example as herbalists or midwives) place them on the fringes of acceptable belief. In CALEB'S CROSSING, she goes further, to contrast Christianity with the animism of the Native Americans; one of the book's strengths is that she remains open to both belief systems, even in an historical context where Christianity triumphs.
Of course, Brooks runs the danger that her story will seem altogether too politically correct, becoming yet another variation on the old theme of the Noble Savage, counteracting historical guilt with a strong dose of cultural relativism. Her solution, I think, is brilliant. She tells the story through the mouth of young woman, Bethia* Mayfield, the daughter of the Christian missionary on the island. Although the Mayfields are based on a real family, the Mayhews, Bethia is an entirely invented character, spunky and delightful, brilliant and headstrong, a perfect foil for Caleb whom she meets on one of her solitary rides around the island when both are about ten. Soon the two become firm friends. It is she who gives Caleb his English name; he in turn calls her "Storm Eyes." Bethia is also precociously intelligent. Eavesdropping while her father tutors her brother Makepeace for the ministry, she develops a good knowledge of Latin, some Greek, and even a little Hebrew. But these are all forbidden pursuits. Puritan custom held that once a girl had learned to read and write sufficiently to handle household accounts her education should cease, lest she shame her future husband by her superior knowledge. This seems so patently unjust that we are with Bethia all the way in her thirst for knowledge. Recruited so willingly as we are to the feminist cause, we take the parallel theme of racial equality in our stride. Although some other reviewers have felt otherwise, I for one never felt pandered to or manipulated.
Brooks' other great achievement is the discovery of Bethia's voice. Although it can be very direct and simple, it has a distinct 17th-century cadence: "They say the Lord's Day is a day of rest, but those who preach this are generally not women. Even on the Sabbath, a fire must be laid, water drawn, victuals prepared, infants washed and dressed in meeting clothes. Those in purse to have a cow must see to it, for no one has preached to the cow that she must not let down the milk that stiffens her udders." It it more than a scattering of unusual words: victuals, in purse, sennight, bever. It can rise to rich poetry, as when Bethia describes her delight in the Greek pastoral poet Hesiod: "It is his night sky I see now, through the seasons: Arcturus rising brilliant from the ocean stream at dusk, Pleiades like a swarm of fireflies, Sirius parching the hayfields on hot late-summer nights, and Orion striding across the winter sky." Taken together, this all creates a remarkably consistent envelope for the story, taking us not only into an historical mindset but also into the thoughts of a remarkable young woman. Her love of words becomes our love of words, and our delight in reading becomes a wish to see her succeed.
The novel is not flawless. Brooks has always been better at developing her stories than ending them, and her epilogue, though ultimately very moving, involves a temporary drop in tension. Earlier, when Bethia is faced with a romantic dilemma, I found myself understanding her choice without feeling it. Caleb himself becomes less central as a character as the book proceeds and he gets swallowed up by the cloistered world of Harvard. But Bethia only grows in strength and interest, combining a restless search of knowledge with a deepening understanding of her own place in the world; she is undoubtedly Brooks' finest female creation, and that world is a remarkably complete one. All in all, this is among the best of Geraldine Brooks' novels that have read, far better than PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, and right up there with MARCH, which remains one of my favorite novels of the past quarter-century.
*See the first comment.
This, then, is his Crossing, from one culture to a totally different one, the master of both. The word has other meanings too. It refers to the physical crossing from Martha's Vineyard, not then the easy ferry ride to Woods Hole but a day-long journey to Boston that was not without its dangers. In a world where death is commonplace and few children live to adulthood, it may also refer to the final crossing, and the faith or fears about what may await on the other side. And perhaps it also refers to the Christianization of the native people that was the necessary first step to any advancement in the colonial world. Like Marilynne Robinson (author of GILEAD), Brooks has always had a strong religious element in her novels. While she does not quite have Robinson's ability to convey religion as a radiant inner light, this is much more than an historical add-on; Brooks' characters live within a world shaped by belief, and measure their actions by those beliefs. Yes, beliefs plural, because Brooks is also an unusually ecumenical writer. The dominant creed here is Christianity; in PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, it was Judaism, and the Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau in MARCH. And even in this Puritan environment, beliefs are nuanced: the island community was set up in reaction to the stricter laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the tension between liberalism and restriction runs through the book. As she had done in her first novel, YEAR OF WONDERS, Brooks stretches to include people whose practices (for example as herbalists or midwives) place them on the fringes of acceptable belief. In CALEB'S CROSSING, she goes further, to contrast Christianity with the animism of the Native Americans; one of the book's strengths is that she remains open to both belief systems, even in an historical context where Christianity triumphs.
Of course, Brooks runs the danger that her story will seem altogether too politically correct, becoming yet another variation on the old theme of the Noble Savage, counteracting historical guilt with a strong dose of cultural relativism. Her solution, I think, is brilliant. She tells the story through the mouth of young woman, Bethia* Mayfield, the daughter of the Christian missionary on the island. Although the Mayfields are based on a real family, the Mayhews, Bethia is an entirely invented character, spunky and delightful, brilliant and headstrong, a perfect foil for Caleb whom she meets on one of her solitary rides around the island when both are about ten. Soon the two become firm friends. It is she who gives Caleb his English name; he in turn calls her "Storm Eyes." Bethia is also precociously intelligent. Eavesdropping while her father tutors her brother Makepeace for the ministry, she develops a good knowledge of Latin, some Greek, and even a little Hebrew. But these are all forbidden pursuits. Puritan custom held that once a girl had learned to read and write sufficiently to handle household accounts her education should cease, lest she shame her future husband by her superior knowledge. This seems so patently unjust that we are with Bethia all the way in her thirst for knowledge. Recruited so willingly as we are to the feminist cause, we take the parallel theme of racial equality in our stride. Although some other reviewers have felt otherwise, I for one never felt pandered to or manipulated.
Brooks' other great achievement is the discovery of Bethia's voice. Although it can be very direct and simple, it has a distinct 17th-century cadence: "They say the Lord's Day is a day of rest, but those who preach this are generally not women. Even on the Sabbath, a fire must be laid, water drawn, victuals prepared, infants washed and dressed in meeting clothes. Those in purse to have a cow must see to it, for no one has preached to the cow that she must not let down the milk that stiffens her udders." It it more than a scattering of unusual words: victuals, in purse, sennight, bever. It can rise to rich poetry, as when Bethia describes her delight in the Greek pastoral poet Hesiod: "It is his night sky I see now, through the seasons: Arcturus rising brilliant from the ocean stream at dusk, Pleiades like a swarm of fireflies, Sirius parching the hayfields on hot late-summer nights, and Orion striding across the winter sky." Taken together, this all creates a remarkably consistent envelope for the story, taking us not only into an historical mindset but also into the thoughts of a remarkable young woman. Her love of words becomes our love of words, and our delight in reading becomes a wish to see her succeed.
The novel is not flawless. Brooks has always been better at developing her stories than ending them, and her epilogue, though ultimately very moving, involves a temporary drop in tension. Earlier, when Bethia is faced with a romantic dilemma, I found myself understanding her choice without feeling it. Caleb himself becomes less central as a character as the book proceeds and he gets swallowed up by the cloistered world of Harvard. But Bethia only grows in strength and interest, combining a restless search of knowledge with a deepening understanding of her own place in the world; she is undoubtedly Brooks' finest female creation, and that world is a remarkably complete one. All in all, this is among the best of Geraldine Brooks' novels that have read, far better than PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, and right up there with MARCH, which remains one of my favorite novels of the past quarter-century.
*See the first comment.
I loved this so much that I've read it within 24 hours - and now am so sorry that I rushed through it like that. But it was a wonderful read, as have been all her books - richly researched, with characters that seem to be alive and beautifully written.
The amazing thing about Geraldine Brooks is how different her books are. This one is as different from "March" and "People of the Book" as night and day. What they have in common is the lyrical writing and the ability to draw you into the story. The writing is superb. Even though it's only 300 pages long, it is not a book you sit down and read straight through. The writing is so magical and the Puritan vernacular so true to life, you just want to take your time and wallow in it. Listen to this passage, "This morning, light lapped the water as if God had spilt a goblet of molten gold upon a ground of darkest velvet." Perfection.
The story is fascinating and so timely. I just read the first native American is graduating from Harvard this year since Caleb. What a long road we still have to come. The effect of Caleb's crossing is so graphically written that I actually felt it. It reminds me of the saying to be careful of what you wish for.
Do yourself a favor and read this book for the story and the writing.
The story is fascinating and so timely. I just read the first native American is graduating from Harvard this year since Caleb. What a long road we still have to come. The effect of Caleb's crossing is so graphically written that I actually felt it. It reminds me of the saying to be careful of what you wish for.
Do yourself a favor and read this book for the story and the writing.
This is a beautifully written book. The characters are heart-felt and the plot fabulously engaging. Like many others, I just devoured the book in a few sittings. The plot is somewhat unrelentingly grim - not surprising given that it is effectively a story about first contact between two different peoples, mentally an ocean apart. Still, the brilliance of the book is that the story arc never becomes depressing, even given the series of tragic events that define the lives of these young people. The interaction between the Native American tribes and the New England Puritans was lovingly done; with just a touch of moralization. But the book (thankfully) never gets overly preachy. Overal, a great work of historical fiction, built on a solid factual foundation.
Just an off-hand comparison that might be of interest: this is one of the best books I've read in the past couple years, along with "Just Kids" by Patti Smith. The two are very different books, but at their heart, they're both coming of age books that track a life-time of non-conformity and deeply affecting relationships between a young man and woman coming together and shaping each other's lives. Very different style of writing, but both quite brilliant and there's a certain sameness in the underlying story.
Can't recommend highly enough.
Just an off-hand comparison that might be of interest: this is one of the best books I've read in the past couple years, along with "Just Kids" by Patti Smith. The two are very different books, but at their heart, they're both coming of age books that track a life-time of non-conformity and deeply affecting relationships between a young man and woman coming together and shaping each other's lives. Very different style of writing, but both quite brilliant and there's a certain sameness in the underlying story.
Can't recommend highly enough.
Outstanding novel and a must read.
Caleb's Crossing is extremely well written and though somewhat disturbing it was a worthwhile read. The language and thoughts of the time and the feelings so well described.
This author certainly deserves the Pulitzer for this. It was well earned. I highly recommend this book for all. The history of that time is covered well with authenticity.
Anne Lebrecht
Simply Poetry: A collection of poems
The Daughters of Nora Crawford
This author certainly deserves the Pulitzer for this. It was well earned. I highly recommend this book for all. The history of that time is covered well with authenticity.
Anne Lebrecht
Simply Poetry: A collection of poems
The Daughters of Nora Crawford
Caleb's Crossing, Bethia's Crossing...
Geraldine Brooks always amazes me with the variety of voices in her novels. Her latest book, Caleb's Crossing, is told through the eyes of a minster's daughter, Bethia Mayfield, who lives in the wilderness of Martha's Vineyard in the 1660s. The Caleb in Caleb's Crossing is the first American Indian to graduate from Harvard. Based on a true story, Brooks takes the few facts that are known about Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk and weaves them into a heart-breaking, heart-warming, moving tale.
Caleb's Crossing begins when Bethia is a young girl. While wandering the island to gather clams for her family, she happens upon a Wampanoag Indian. Bethia can speak his language, and they soon develop a unique friendship. She calls him Caleb and teachers him English. Caleb calls her Storm Eyes, and teachers her of the natural world on Martha's Vineyard. Eventually, Caleb crosses over to the English-life and Harvard College, abandoning his Indian ways. While Caleb is becoming more English, Bethia often looks longingly toward the beauty and joy of Caleb's culture. She stumbles upon a Wampanoag religious ceremony that consists of dancing, singing, drums and rattles. "The pawaaw was calling upon his gods, praising, thanking, beseeching. The drums beat in tempo to the rhythm of my heart, which seemed to be swelling at the sound. I felt my soul hum and vibrate in sympathy with his prayers. There was power here; spiritual power. It moved me in some profound way. I had striven for this feeling, week following week, as the dutiful minister's daughter at Lord's Day meeting. But our austere worship had never stirred my soul as did this heathen's song."
Geraldine Brooks' prose is beautiful and she captures so well the trials and tribulations of Bethia Mayfield. Formally educated until she was nine, she doesn't understand why she can't continue her studies--especially since she is much brighter than her slow-witted older brother. Instead, she is being groomed to be a dutiful, Christian wife. Suffering many personal losses, Bethia looks upon them as punishment for her sins. Yet this observant girl tries to reconcile what she's been taught with what she sees. "I pick up scallop shells in diverse colors and sizes--warm reds and yellows; cool, stippled grays--and reflected on the diversity of God's creation, and what might be the use and meaning of his making so many varieties of a single thing...It came to me then that God must desire us to use each of our senses, to take delight in the varied tastes and sights and textures of his world. Yet, this seemed to go against so many of our preachments against the sumptuary and the carnal."
Geraldine Brooks has become one of my favorite novelists, and Caleb's Crossing is the equal to her other works of fiction, including her Pulitzer Prize-winning, March.
Caleb's Crossing begins when Bethia is a young girl. While wandering the island to gather clams for her family, she happens upon a Wampanoag Indian. Bethia can speak his language, and they soon develop a unique friendship. She calls him Caleb and teachers him English. Caleb calls her Storm Eyes, and teachers her of the natural world on Martha's Vineyard. Eventually, Caleb crosses over to the English-life and Harvard College, abandoning his Indian ways. While Caleb is becoming more English, Bethia often looks longingly toward the beauty and joy of Caleb's culture. She stumbles upon a Wampanoag religious ceremony that consists of dancing, singing, drums and rattles. "The pawaaw was calling upon his gods, praising, thanking, beseeching. The drums beat in tempo to the rhythm of my heart, which seemed to be swelling at the sound. I felt my soul hum and vibrate in sympathy with his prayers. There was power here; spiritual power. It moved me in some profound way. I had striven for this feeling, week following week, as the dutiful minister's daughter at Lord's Day meeting. But our austere worship had never stirred my soul as did this heathen's song."
Geraldine Brooks' prose is beautiful and she captures so well the trials and tribulations of Bethia Mayfield. Formally educated until she was nine, she doesn't understand why she can't continue her studies--especially since she is much brighter than her slow-witted older brother. Instead, she is being groomed to be a dutiful, Christian wife. Suffering many personal losses, Bethia looks upon them as punishment for her sins. Yet this observant girl tries to reconcile what she's been taught with what she sees. "I pick up scallop shells in diverse colors and sizes--warm reds and yellows; cool, stippled grays--and reflected on the diversity of God's creation, and what might be the use and meaning of his making so many varieties of a single thing...It came to me then that God must desire us to use each of our senses, to take delight in the varied tastes and sights and textures of his world. Yet, this seemed to go against so many of our preachments against the sumptuary and the carnal."
Geraldine Brooks has become one of my favorite novelists, and Caleb's Crossing is the equal to her other works of fiction, including her Pulitzer Prize-winning, March.
A brilliant novel set in colonial America
The year was 1660, the place an island now called Martha's Vineyard. The "college at Newtowne," a theological seminary across the bay much later named Harvard University, was 24 years old and sported a student body of 33 young men. The following year a brilliant young Indian, Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, matriculated as a student there. This brilliant historical novel tells the tale of Caleb's "crossing" from his life as a chieftain's son in the untamed expanse of what was then simply called "the island," to the ranks of the educated elite in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Harvard's first Indian graduate. As Geraldine Brooks writes, "He stood shoulder to shoulder with the most learned of his day, ready to take his place with them as a man of affairs."
Caleb's story is told through the eyes of Bethia Mayfield, the young daughter of the preacher on the island and granddaughter of the breakaway colony's founder. At the age of 12, she and Caleb meet on one of her rebellious wanderings across the island. They become fast friends over time.
Bethia is entirely a construct of Geraldine Brooks' fertile imagination, and she contrives to put the young woman in position to observe Caleb's transformation almost constantly. However, virtually all the other characters in this novel are based on historical figures, some of them loosely (as is the case of Bethia's family), some of them, including Caleb himself, hewing accurately to the known facts.
Caleb's Crossing is history told as it should always be: vivid, engrossing, and emotionally honest. In relating Caleb's story, Brooks paints an indelible picture of the early decades of colonial life in Eastern Massachusetts. She casts a bright light on the troubled, and eventually tragic, relationship between the colonists and the Indians, and explores an aspect of that history much less commonly discussed: the rebellion of so many colonists against the rigid, narrow-minded regime of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
This is the fourth of Geraldine Brooks' extraordinary historical novels. Unlike so many other writers in that genre, she has no favorite period, no fixation on a narrow subject, but ranges through the centuries and across the globe to find the most arresting topics to tell. And arresting they are! Every one of her earlier novels -- Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague (2002), March (2006), and People of the Book (2008) -- is both an adventure and a revelation to read. Brooks, an Australian-born former foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, has a preternatural ability to relocate herself to an earlier time and an unknown place.
(From malwarwickonbooks.com)
Caleb's story is told through the eyes of Bethia Mayfield, the young daughter of the preacher on the island and granddaughter of the breakaway colony's founder. At the age of 12, she and Caleb meet on one of her rebellious wanderings across the island. They become fast friends over time.
Bethia is entirely a construct of Geraldine Brooks' fertile imagination, and she contrives to put the young woman in position to observe Caleb's transformation almost constantly. However, virtually all the other characters in this novel are based on historical figures, some of them loosely (as is the case of Bethia's family), some of them, including Caleb himself, hewing accurately to the known facts.
Caleb's Crossing is history told as it should always be: vivid, engrossing, and emotionally honest. In relating Caleb's story, Brooks paints an indelible picture of the early decades of colonial life in Eastern Massachusetts. She casts a bright light on the troubled, and eventually tragic, relationship between the colonists and the Indians, and explores an aspect of that history much less commonly discussed: the rebellion of so many colonists against the rigid, narrow-minded regime of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
This is the fourth of Geraldine Brooks' extraordinary historical novels. Unlike so many other writers in that genre, she has no favorite period, no fixation on a narrow subject, but ranges through the centuries and across the globe to find the most arresting topics to tell. And arresting they are! Every one of her earlier novels -- Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague (2002), March (2006), and People of the Book (2008) -- is both an adventure and a revelation to read. Brooks, an Australian-born former foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, has a preternatural ability to relocate herself to an earlier time and an unknown place.
(From malwarwickonbooks.com)
I've read several of Geraldine Brooks' novels, but her newest is absolutely outstanding. Her command of the English language and ability to express it in the Puritan vernacular left me breathless with appreciation for her genius. She has created a truly memorable heroine in Bethia who I will not forget for a long time. The rest of the characters are equally well drawn and full of life. For lovers of fine novels and exquisite prose, read this book.
A universal tale rooted in historical accuracy
Geraldine Brooks's latest historical novel, CALEB'S CROSSING, opens with a facsimile of a letter written by Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk to the English benefactors who sponsored his education at Harvard University. Written in Latin, faded and nearly indecipherable, the letter nevertheless confers an air of authenticity to a story that might otherwise seem too outlandish to be true.
As if Brooks needs additional historical credentials. In her previous novels, including the beloved YEAR OF WONDERS, she has aptly proven her ability to blend historical accuracy and outstanding research with contemporary perspective and genuine storytelling skills. CALEB'S CROSSING is no exception.
The novel opens in 1660, in Great Harbor (now Edgartown), Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts better known today for its summer cottages and presidential vacations than for its pre-Revolutionary history. But, Brooks reminds us, the Vineyard is as steeped in history as the rest of the United States. Settled by the Wampanoag Native American tribe, Martha's Vineyard is also home --- far more recently --- to a handful of English colonists. Some of them seize on the land's limited potential for farming; others grab onto the potential for whaling. For young Bethia Mayfield's father, the son of a wealthy landowner who operates much of the island like a feudal estate, the attraction is a spiritual one. His mission is to convert the natives to Christianity, a task he's finding more than a little frustrating.
Almost as frustrating to Bethia's father is the task of educating his slow, obdurate son Makepeace. Bethia, who's as sharp as a tack, easily learns history and languages just by overhearing her father's tutoring of her dim-witted older brother, even though she's forbidden to actually learn them herself. She even picks up the notoriously difficult Wampanoag language, a fact she keeps secret from her father but that she uses to her advantage when she meets the compelling Indian boy she re-christens "Caleb." Caleb may be destined to be a powerful prophet and healer for his people, but to Bethia he's also both an enticing Other and a genuine friend. She teaches him English, and he teaches her the lore of the island and a growing skepticism for the absolute rightness of her father's Christian religion. But when smallpox decimates Caleb's tribe, he embraces Bethia's father's teachings as a means to become a different sort of scholar and healer.
After a series of tragedies threatens to destroy Bethia's family, she finds herself accompanying not only Makepeace but also an increasingly scholarly Caleb to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the recently-founded Harvard University pledges to instruct both English and Native young men. What all of them find there is far from what any of them would have expected, and an older, wiser, more sober Bethia eventually comes to reflect on those times with a perspective burnished by loss.
Bethia and Caleb's stories share interesting parallels, particularly when viewed through a contemporary reader's lens. Caleb's maleness trumps his native background, giving him opportunities that Bethia will never see for herself. And, of course, there's the modern-day reader's somber knowledge that the na
As if Brooks needs additional historical credentials. In her previous novels, including the beloved YEAR OF WONDERS, she has aptly proven her ability to blend historical accuracy and outstanding research with contemporary perspective and genuine storytelling skills. CALEB'S CROSSING is no exception.
The novel opens in 1660, in Great Harbor (now Edgartown), Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts better known today for its summer cottages and presidential vacations than for its pre-Revolutionary history. But, Brooks reminds us, the Vineyard is as steeped in history as the rest of the United States. Settled by the Wampanoag Native American tribe, Martha's Vineyard is also home --- far more recently --- to a handful of English colonists. Some of them seize on the land's limited potential for farming; others grab onto the potential for whaling. For young Bethia Mayfield's father, the son of a wealthy landowner who operates much of the island like a feudal estate, the attraction is a spiritual one. His mission is to convert the natives to Christianity, a task he's finding more than a little frustrating.
Almost as frustrating to Bethia's father is the task of educating his slow, obdurate son Makepeace. Bethia, who's as sharp as a tack, easily learns history and languages just by overhearing her father's tutoring of her dim-witted older brother, even though she's forbidden to actually learn them herself. She even picks up the notoriously difficult Wampanoag language, a fact she keeps secret from her father but that she uses to her advantage when she meets the compelling Indian boy she re-christens "Caleb." Caleb may be destined to be a powerful prophet and healer for his people, but to Bethia he's also both an enticing Other and a genuine friend. She teaches him English, and he teaches her the lore of the island and a growing skepticism for the absolute rightness of her father's Christian religion. But when smallpox decimates Caleb's tribe, he embraces Bethia's father's teachings as a means to become a different sort of scholar and healer.
After a series of tragedies threatens to destroy Bethia's family, she finds herself accompanying not only Makepeace but also an increasingly scholarly Caleb to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the recently-founded Harvard University pledges to instruct both English and Native young men. What all of them find there is far from what any of them would have expected, and an older, wiser, more sober Bethia eventually comes to reflect on those times with a perspective burnished by loss.
Bethia and Caleb's stories share interesting parallels, particularly when viewed through a contemporary reader's lens. Caleb's maleness trumps his native background, giving him opportunities that Bethia will never see for herself. And, of course, there's the modern-day reader's somber knowledge that the na
What I love about Geraldine Brooks' books is her ability to create such a multidimensional character to speak through. This is second book I have read by Brooks and she is quickly becoming a favorite.
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Bethia's father attempts to convert the local tribe but he is pitted against the tribes Shaman who's powerful magic has the minister questioning his own convictions. The Minister comes upon the idea to educate the young Caleb in the European tradition, and he eventually is at Harvard studying Greek and Latin. His education is supported by wealthy Patrons as a kind of experiment to see if the wild Indian can be educated. Bethia at the same time manages to go along with Caleb to Harvard she as an indentured servant. She is not sure of her fate but does not want to become a farm wife. Ms. Brooks makes great use of the characters of Caleb and Bethia, both outsiders to illustrate how a repressive dominate culture uses religion to control others who do not always fit into the main stream.
The book is packed full of historical fact and outlook. The story of Caleb is actually thinly based on fact, and Brooks has taken this smaller sliver of history and developed a heck of a story. I look forward to finding Ms. Brooks past books and finding more great reading.
I just finished another wonderful historical ficton novel "The Bridge at Valentine" Set In 1880's Idaho with a main female character that has a lot in common with Bethia.