Master of the Crossroads

The first book was fantastic and this novel did not disappoint. Professor Bell did not skip a beat between novels. The flow is seamless and his storytelling ability was greatly appreciated! He develops his characters in an intriguing and complex manner. The attention to detail put sweat on my neck and mosquitoes on my arm...! Thank you again Professor Bell!!!

I'm in the middle of the trilogy here, so I don't want to waste too much time writing about the unfinished work, but after 750 pages, let me note that I'm still spellbound by Bell's work. I love the way the title informs the whole work: at each crossroads (and there are many) I marvel at Toussaint's vision. Sometimes he slips out of his carriage or off the road at just the right time to avoid ambush or attack, more often than not in a kind of trance. The crossroads also seems like the meeting of two worlds, whether the spiritual and carnal, the Christian and Vodoun, or European and African. Riau and even Doctor Hebert have some mastery of those crossroads, as do some of the minor characters like Claudine and Moustique. I love the religious syncretism of this novel -- it's at once modern and ancient. Haiti is such a melting pot of culture, race, history, and belief that it's no wonder the stew is still bubbling. Even in poverty and despair, something so rich, so deeply, darkly true is being created that this reader feels compelled to journey there to taste it for himself. The violence and politics continue to shock and delight. I particularly loved the story of Choufleur in this novel -- the kind of character you love to hate -- and the complex portrayal of Elise's new husband, Toquet. As for the many developments in the life of the characters -- births, deaths, victories, defeats, etc. -- one reads them passionately, but after 1500 pages they are threads in a tapestry that's still a work in progress. I'd love to discuss them with others, but I'm moving on. In the meantime, there are the pleasures of Bell's trilogy to savor and enjoy. His writing is so confident, his grasp of the wide sweep of narrative and history so embracing, and his sense of the eternal so inspiring that I eagerly plunge on to The Stone that the Builders Refused.

The depth and breadth of Bell's research indicates a colossal, inhuman effort that would take most people a lifetime, never mind the collation and fictionalisation of it afterwards. Haiti's colonial past is so convoluted it almost defies analysis, especially as much of her written history has been destroyed during centuries of successive sackings and burnings, and climate. The violence contained within is grim and profoundly depressing - the horror, the horror, the horror - but it did happen and is still happening. Don't blame Bell for your revulsion. Use it to help the people who still live in Haiti. I see there's some criticism about `magic realism' in this trilogy, but Bell clearly understands the part Vodou played in the Revolution, that Vodou - a valid religion born of slavery - ultimately helped slaves to overthrow slavery, although more so in the initial uprisings (i.e. Boukman). Today, without Vodou, the French would probably be using Haiti for nuclear testing, not that the average Haitian would be much worse off. To bring the history and Vodou of Haiti together in such a linear historical masterpiece as this trilogy is nothing short of miraculous. Bell is surely served by the lwa, and if he isn't he should be.

Note: This review was published November 12, 2000, in the Seattle Times ...The American Revolution helped inspire the French Revolution, which in turn sparked the Haitian Revolution -- an uprising of Africans against the sugar plantation owners who wrung their fabulous wealth from slave labor. Madison Smartt Bell's projected trilogy of historical novels tells the least well known of these momentous late-18th-century stories.Volume 1, "All Souls Rising," traced the gruesome first stages of the rebellion in the French colony then called Saint Domingue, from 1791 to 1794. One who hasn't read that harrowing masterpiece can still enjoy Volume 2, "Master of the Crossroads," based on events of the next five years. In this novel the revolution is well under way, but the outcome is still uncertain. It's a tumultuous, confusing time. The Spanish, who own the eastern half of Saint Domingue, and the British, who are at war with France, separately hope to oust the French, subdue the blacks, and possess the island known worldwide as the Jewel of the Antilles. Among the islanders, the French blancs, or white colonials, have split into factions: the royalists who want to enslave the Africans again, and the revolutionaries who believe that liberty is a universal human right. Old disputes flare between native-born Haitians and immigrants, between mulatto plantation owners and poorer mulattos, between rivals among the island's 500,000 rebellious Africans and, more broadly, between members of the resident races - 64 in all, according to France's official classification of blends ranging from Blanc to Négre.Toussaint Louverture, whose amazing career Jacob Lawrence memorialized in a series of paintings, is at the center of the storm. Small and tough, formerly a slave, he possesses such extraordinary charisma and talent for leadership that he can force, frighten, mystify, or cajole various factions into agreeing to work for peace. Toussaint unites the armed, roving bands of blacks who seized their liberty and transforms them into a well-disciplined army. A brilliant military tactician, he regularly defeats the English and Spanish forces. His political gifts make him a formidable negotiator with the French and a master at switching alliances at strategic moments. He alone seems committed to protecting, regardless of the race or ideology of their owners, the lives and property that survived the time of bloodbath and burning.Toussaint's motives are endlessly debated in the book. People close to him believe that he is unselfishly devoted to securing liberty and peace for everyone. But rumors that he secretly plans to crown himself King and reinstate slavery multiply. We view him from the perspectives of many different characters, yet he remains a mystery: a presence with a godlike power in crisis, an inscrutable Master of the Crossroads like the voudou deity of crossings and change, Legba. Readers who can tolerate a little disorientation from chaotic historical events swir

I cannot hope to even skim the deep issues and dreams this book inspires, so let me try and keep it simple, and relate to some of the other readers comments/criticisms. This book is deep and profound. That is an understatement. It teleports you 200 years ago, into the midst of one of the most violent episodes in human history. That alone is a feat of no small accomplishment. However, Bell then breaths life into a vast array of characters--black, white, colored, men, women. All with failures and torments and passion. Most of them struggling, just to survive.The story, of course, is tragic. And yet within this inevitable scorching fate, these humans emerge. Their lives are made real, and I began to understand. Issues of race. Issues of religion. Issues of betrayal (the especially poiniant European variety). I understand these issues now as they do, from a strained and extreme view, and yet with a human side, which proves hopeful--as opposed to a sterile academic or "historical" point of view.What is so different about this book for me, and yes, what makes it sometimes a challenge to read, is that no single viewpoint is taken. Rather, these issues are painted in a rich tapestry of the various characters, and from there, the book took on a life of its own for me. I dreamed about this book while I read it, and I still do. There are many profound truths in here, which you cannot say or write with simple words, but truths that these people lived and loved and died by. Riau, Malliert, Claudine, these are all close friends to me now. Friends I will carry to the grave.The metaphore of the "crossroads" I find quite appropriate. The literal meaning is shown us several times in the narrative. The spiritual meaning, of the crossing of African/VooDoo and Christianity is also clearly present. The issue of race-cross is the most profound, and, ultimately, tragic. Hence the opportunity for black and white to mend their tragic meeting (the slave trade) and move beyond that road is missed. Yet another level would be the betrayal by France, and the loss of their colonies. Haiti is really just a case in point. I could go on.Finally, a historical note. As a citizen of the USA, I owe Toussaint and his followers a tremendous debt, despite my white skin. You see, it was no accident that France practically gave us half of the continental US in 1803. They knew they better sell it and quick, since they no longer had a colonial army to defend it.