I read this book with blinding speed hoping against hope for a least some semblance of romance, unrequited or not, to come to fruition between Bethia and the titular Caleb. Instead I was left wanting…However, when I read some reviews from other readers on the book, though many of us felt that same, I number of people praised the book for not delving into 'sappy romance'. As if that would have ever been the case in the capable hands of Geraldine Brooks!
Let me digress:
For me, this book I would rate a 4/5. I would agree with most reviews I have read that the first half of the book is very strong. It is engaging and compelling, and Bethia's strength grows throughout the novel, though she always read so much older than the initial 12 she is. However, the book ends up veering off into a direction I did not enjoy, and it was also the main criticism I have seen of the book. For all that it is called Caleb's Crossing, the story leaves him in the dust by the end.
Caleb who? Bethia, who used to sneak out to see him all the time and whose mind was totally distracted by him at all times (like any first love, deep infatuation), doesn't even talk to him by the end. Literally, he gets almost no written dialogue by the end of the story. Now, I think it wise that a story based on a real historical person (Caleb) by told by an invented character, but Bethia, who starts to strong and so intriguing, really flattens out by the end. She suddenly, to me, became "middle aged", even though she is like 17/18 years old when she marries Samuel (Caleb being 16 when he enters Harvard). And she literally just leaves Caleb behind for this other person! I think one could read this as her maturing and leaving off a childish crush to find a more mature love with someone of equal mind to her, and in turn, Caleb focuses his attention totally to his studies, so it shows he is moving on as well. But do they not miss each other?
When they are in Cambridge together, they hardly even speak to one another, though they live in the same place. I know there are social mores at the time that would have frowned upon this, but they, who were always prone to secrecy, never even ATTEMPT to continue their friendship. I can't believe that Bethia didn't move to Cambridge in part to remain close to Caleb. That she didn't go to work at Harvard in order to keep an eye on him. But this is never addressed, and I found it rang false.
There were little moments of romance between them that maybe sparked my imagination too much? I am so curious to what others think. Little touches between them, that alighted their romantic connection. Caleb's jealousy of Noah Merry giving attention to Bethia. Makepeace straight up calling out Bethia's feelings for Caleb. She calls Caleb her brother, and it is a lie to even herself for a while because she does admit, that when they are riding her horse Speckle together, and he puts his hand briefly on her waist, that she does feel more than just brotherly affection for him. And that was right before she finally tells Makepeace that she will go to Cambridge! I cannot think that her romantic feelings did indeed influence her decision.
Maybe she is an unreliable narrator? These pages are supposed to be her own true account of her live written over the course of a year and then decades later as an older woman. She admits to many societal and religious transgressions. But maybe there was still one she could not bring herself to write about – the love she really held for Caleb? Her desire for him, even if eventually it diminished? I think not ultimately…she seems honest in most of her recounting and wanting to purge herself of all these things. I wish we had Caleb's account then…
Ultimately though, the unsatisfactory romantic elements in the book aren't so much the problem as much as the absence of Caleb himself. By the end, Bethia's story is not interesting enough to me on its own and I missed her friendship and connection to Caleb. She does show her true friendship to him in the end, but the gaps in between are large. It is like she herself forgets how important he is to her until the end? But more than anything, I miss his voice. It is largely gone by the end of the story and the novel suffers for this.
So to end, I just want to ask if anyone else felt the same way in missing Caleb by the end? and if I am alone in wanting more ROMANCE fulfilled in someway (even if unrequited) from this book?
by Im_ArrangingMatches