(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004)
Hardcover, 230 Pages, Fiction
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
From the Cover: In this brilliant debut novel, Noah’s family (or Noe, as he’s called here)—his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law—tell what it’s like to live with a man touched by God, while struggling against events that cannot be controlled or explained. When Noe orders his sons to build an ark, he can’t tell them where the wood will come from. When he sends his daughters-in-law out to gather animals, he can offer no directions, money, or protection. And once the rain starts, they all realize that the true test of their faith is just beginning. Because the family is trapped on the ark with thousands of animals—with no experience feeding or caring for them and no idea when the waters will recede—what emerges is a family caught in the midst of an extraordinary Biblical event, with all the tension, humanity, and even humor that implies.
My Review: On a message board I belong to everyone has recently been talking about David Maine’s book The Preservationist. So, after a number of the participants gave it favorable reviews and talked about how wonderful it was, I decided to head to my local library and see what all the fuss was about. To paraphrase Joe Quimby, “If that is the way the wind is blowing, let it not be said that Bryan Terry does not blow” … or something like that.
After spending all of one day reading Maine’s book, I am happy to report that I completely understand what all the fuss is about. (By the way, that’s one day to finish the book … it’s that good.) What I was expecting when I picked up the book was a modern retelling of the story of Noah’s Ark. What I didn’t expect was a “period piece,” so to speak. Maine has told the original Biblical story in such a way as to humanize the miracle of the flooding of the Earth. This is a book about what individuals do in the face of something more powerful and overwhelming than themselves.
The Preservationist tells its story in chapters that jump from the points of view of Noe’s family—his wife, his three sons, his three daughters-in-law (all in the first person voice) and occasionally from Noe himself (told in the third person voice)—all of which makes for a very interesting and beautiful narrative. Often in Ark Narratives (is that a genre?) Noah/Noe is the protagonist and it is his point of view through which the Reader experiences the flood. Maine’s technique puts a human face on the flood by giving us rotating narratives from all-too-human characters.
I like to consider myself a religious person, I have faith in God, I go to church, and try to live my life according to God’s commandments. My particular brand of religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is known for/stereotyped as being pretty Conservative with a capital “C” and for being pretty strict in their beliefs. However, I’d like to think that The Preservationist fits into my Church’s concept of the flood and what went on (much like Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt fits with my perception of the Savior). Just because a book is written on a Biblical story (especially something as big as Noah or Christ) by someone who is not of your faith doesn’t mean that the book should be shunned. I’m not saying that the LDS Church is condemning Maine’s book, far from it, I’m just pointing out that many in the Church (individually and personally) would possibly avoid this book because it is a Biblical story not written by an LDS author and that would be a shame, because Maine’s story is a wonderful tale of faith and belief and family in the face of something much bigger then any individual … does that make sense?
So I guess the bottom line here is that regardless of your religious traditions, beliefs or faith, or maybe even in spite of all that, David Maine’s The Preservationist is a beautiful book and one that everyone needs to read.
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