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In THE PRESERVATIONIST, Dave Maine tells the story of Noe who has been called by God to build a boat and collect two of every animal on earth to be saved from a coming deluge. The magic comes in subsequent chapters being told from different characters points of view: Noe; his wife; his sons Japheth, Cham, and Sem; and his daughter-in-laws Bera, Ilya, and Mirn. THE PRESERVATIONIST does not deal with matters of faith or historical fact. Instead the author simply, wisely, asks himself what it was like to be there, "when the rain began to fall." He imagines the world before Abraham, before God became involved in international politics, or, for that matter, in organized religious practice. In details small and large, Maine convinces us that the world Noah worked to hard to save is indeed worth preserving.… (more)
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Whether or not that was Maine's purpose
In his first novel, Maine takes up one of the most famous of these, that of Noah and his family. Within the Bible, the entire account, from introduction of his lineage to the recession of the water and expansion of his family takes no more than a couple of chapters. Maine takes those couple of chapters and blows them up into a fully realized, brilliantly characterized novel.
Not only does he manage to bring to life all of the ethos that a family forced to live as such would face, but also of the individual reactions and interactions, of Noah's sons and their wives, of the strict God fearing life he leads and the stress this puts on his family, but also of the pain he saves them through his sacrifices. His family's perspective is just as important though, from the youth of the youngest son to the weary devotion of his wife, Noah's tale is told again and again through a half dozen perspectives, each of them fresh in their own way and brought to life in Maine's special voice.
His work does not end with the tale of the flood, or the pain of recovering these animals, the shear cost of Noah's endeavors, the giants from the north unknown to anyone but God and Noah as his extension on earth. His newest novel tells of Samson and the previous one of Cain and Able.
The true strength of Maine's narration comes in that he's capable of retelling some of the oldest stories on earth, ones no one would be surprised at the ending of, with a fresh and interesting voice that makes them impulsively readable. And that is the talent of a true novelist.
While retelling the (yeah, it's in the bible...) original story Maine gives Noah's family a voice and a life. The key question: What is it like to live with a man touched by God? The answer: More trouble than fun.
I read it in one go. Rather
I will look out for David Maine to see (and read) what he does next. The Flood is his first novel and I do think he has storyteller-potential.
The story is told from different
The book starts with Noe receiving God’s message about the impending flood, through time on the ark (although that word is never used) and then onto the period afterwards, when the family are dispersed to repopulate the earth, which was less familiar territory for me as I think my school teaching of this tended to end with the flood receding.
I thought this was a great book. I found it very funny in place (there is a great discussion on how the animals should be kept on the ship) and it was just as much about how families react in crisis as it was about religion. However, I would be cautious in recommending this as some people may be offended by some of it (there is a lot of “rutting” in the book) and towards the end, there are questions asked about religion. So despite it being based on a Bible story, I think it might be enjoyed more by the less religious.
Though common depictions of Noe's ark are of happy animals, smiling side by side on the deck of a wooden ark, the reality of such conditions would undoubtedly be a horse of a different color (except those horses probably didn't make the sailing.) Maine has considered what building an ark, gathering the critters, lassoing the righteous ( in this case, Noe's family) into all the tasks at hand, and then the actual journey.
Told through the eyes of Noe, his wife, and their sons and daughters-in-laws, it makes an interesting story, one to tell the grandkids for sure, as the sons often comment. There were some moments of poetic beauty for me in the turn of a small phrase, such as, "This part of the ship is as black as the Devil's laugh.' (p 135). There were others, peppered throughout the text, in between the grumbles and problem-solving of Noe et al, little golden nuggets of delight, in a tale that was generally very interesting.
I really liked how the various personalities of all the family opened to the reader, and the roles Maine depicted for each. I tried to squelch my questions and concerns about everything from an angry god wiping out a world, to the genetic implications of all existing human life springing from the loins of Noe. But I do enjoy a good retelling of Biblical tales, fleshing out the words handed down over all these years, and adding a spin of practical realism and practical magic.
This book was wishlist fulfillment from a friend at Tor Books. Thank you, Paul!
Oh, and lots of "rutting".
This is basically, the tale of Noah or in this version Noe.
Love what the author has done with it. Each chapter tells the story of The Flood from their perspective: Noe's instructions from Yahweh and how he goes about making it happen, his wife's patience, his sons
Not a challenging read (only took a day), but enjoyable and different perspective on the old Bible story.
When the flood begins and people are drowning, Ilya asks if everyone else will be drowned: "Praise God, I hope so.
--That's disgusting.
--They were sinners.
--So are we all."
"Only a man could call a child filth. No woman could look on a dead infant and feel such happiness.
--Ilya said Sem.
--And only a man's god would show love for his creation by destroying it.
Noe's face had clouded over no less than the sky--Take care in tempting God's wrath woman.
I wanted to say, what can he do that he hasn't done already."
While the Biblical roots are present in this novel, and the ethical and moral complexity of a God who destroys are considered, the book is also a family drama. It also deals with some of the practical details that are glossed over in the Bible--how did they get the animals from all over the world; how did Noah, a poor man, obtain the means to build the ark; how did they get rid of the animal poop on the ark; and most of all how do you survive cooped up with this family through 40 days of rain.
I have mixed feelings about this story. I liked the book in the respect that it examined and explored the more practical aspects of the whole Noah and the Ark story -- about how exactly one would go about gathering all the species of animals, how to decide to arrange them on the boat so that they wouldn't kill the humans or each other, how to pack enough food for both animals and people, how to dispose of all the waste, etc. All those things that one just sort of takes for granted when retelling the story of Noah but doesn't typically think about in too much detail. I enjoyed the humor for the most part, although I felt some of it was somewhat vulgar and unnecessary to the story. I didn't care for Noah's characterization. In my head I've always thought of him as an old but wise and faithful man, but in this he was characterized as a grumpy, pigheaded and somewhat chauvinistic character, and that kind of ruined my image of him. There were parts of this story that I thought needed elaboration, but on the flip side, there were parts that I thought were unnecessary. Overall, I liked the concept, but think it could've maybe been executed better. Not a bad book, but not necessarily a great one either.
Readers familiar with the biblical account of the flood will recognize that the story includes a heavy dose of family drama.Showing both great respect, thought, and considerable humor, Maine delves into
Granted, you pretty much know how the story ends. But I enjoyed Main'es take on this folklore.