The Preservationist

The Preservationist struck me at first as another attempt by a new author to find success in the endless field of Biblical exploitation. Too many authors these days take and pick what they may from religious text merely to garner an automatic audience.

Whether or not that was Maine's purpose doesn't really matter though, as this book was incredibly well written and a wonderful beginning to his apparent career as expander of old testament short stories. And if that Bible is anything, it is that, the collection and quick recount of hundreds of short parable like stories telling of violent, tumultuous encounters between God and man.

In his first novel, Maine takes up one of the most famous of these, that of Noah and his family. Within the show more 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. show less

This is a retelling of the Biblical story of Noah's ark. It is narrated alternately by Noah (Noe), his wife, his teenage son Sem,and his son Cham's wife Ilya. Noe comes across as stern and distant, and thoroughly disliked. His belief in God seems misplaced. Ilya states, "The distruction of the known world isn't anything a sane person can look upon without terror. But what left me truly cold, genuinely afraid, was Noe's reaction to it all. Which was. in a word, jubilation."
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 show more 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. show less

The Flood is a retelling of the Bible story of Noah and the ark. The original story is a good one anyway (whatever your beliefs, it is hard to deny that the Old Testament has some great stories) but the author has managed to bring the characters to life.

The story is told from different perspectives, which anyone who has read my other reviews will already know is something that I love when it is done well, as it is here. So we see the flood from the point of view of Noe’s wife, his three sons and their respective wives. There is also the occasional chapter written in the third person thrown in for good measure which shows us Noe’s story, but at more of a distance than the others.

The book starts with Noe receiving God’s message show more 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. show less

The Old Testament tells us "Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God." David Maine allows the reader to journey with Noe (quotes and name spellings taken from a more recent printing of the 1609 Douay Bible) from the time of Yahweh's calling to the end of Noe's days.

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 show more 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! show less

A somewhat humorous take on the story of Noah's Ark. Maine did a fantastic job of bringing the chracters to life and giving them vivid personalities, and while I knew everything was going to turn out ok from the beginning, I still eagerly devoured the pages to see what would happen next. A great blending of an old story and some well-known characters with Maine's mischievous creativity and crude humor. A very enjoyable novel.

The Preservationist is a fictional account of the story of Noah....basically from the point where Noah hears God telling him to build the ark and gather animals, up to a year or so following the end of the flood and the redistribution of his family in order to begin to repopulate the earth. The story is told from alternating viewpoints including Noah's, but also from those of his family including his wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-law. It's meant to be humorous and a bit over the top, and it is.

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 show more 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. show less

An interesting book. Each chapter is narrated by a different character in Noah's extended family. A bit irreverent, even bawdy, at times, but still managed to convey enough spirituality that I had to admit the author must understand something about God, whether he in fact believes in him himself or not.