Welcome to Book Club: The Next Generation. Before I present our next book to be discussed, allow me to get some housekeeping out of the way. You may have noticed that this book choice was not a result of several voting rounds. That is because there has been a decision to have Book Club operate under the purview of DogsOfWar. Dogs will select the person to lead each book group. If you wish to be considered for leading a discussion, email Dogs at CommentsOfWar at gmail dot com and present your book for consideration.
Now that we all are on the same page (heh), allow me to present our next book, The Preservationist by David Maine.
Although it would be easiest to describe Maine’s debut novel as a retelling of the Noah’s Ark story from the Bible, it is much more than a simple reinterpretation. His narrative takes the few chapters about God’s judgment and punishment of his failing creation and expands and adds essential missing characters, as well as filling in the holes and questions left by the incomplete Biblical narrative.
The four chapters of Genesis that relates the story of Noah are full of God’s specific requests of Noah, but the particulars of how it came to be that a man could build such an ark and fill it with all the animals of the world are sorely lacking. Indeed, the entirety of that bit of the tale is, “And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him” (Gen. 7:5).
Maine creates a fanciful narrative of Noe (he uses the spellings in the Douay-Rheims Bible); his long suffering, nameless, though secretly insightful Wife; and his sons and daughters-in-law who, in turns blindly and resignedly, follow him in his seemingly delusional quest. The book follows the family from Noe’s marriage to his Wife through the flood and into the years afterward as they repopulate and reclaim the Earth, changed forever by their experiences.
Most interesting is the creation and development of the characters of Noe’s daughters-in-law, who prove to be essential to achieving Noe’s goals. These women, Bera, Ilya and Mirn, noted only in passing and without names in the Bible, provide practical assistance to Noe and biting commentary on the process.
Published in 2004, The Preservationist is timely not only for its roots in Judeo-Christian lore, but our recently increased obsession with God’s judgment, the Rapture and end of the world prophecy. As the first example of God’s willingness to destroy what he brought into existence, the story of Noah sets the mythological stage for apocalyptic traditions from Mayans to Millerites.
You can purchase The Preservationist at Amazon through the Crasstalk store (or for Kindle
Other titles by David Maine:
