The Preservationist

by David Maine

Book Overview

"Noe says, -I must build a boat. -A boat, she says. -A ship, more like. I'll need the boys to help, he adds as an afterthought. -We're leagues from the sea, she says, or any river big enough to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312328478
• ISBN13: 9780312328474
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

What biblical fiction should be

Biblical fiction boasts a proud tradition of high literature, perhaps most masterfully seen in Mann's Joseph cycle. Sadly, this fine genre recently seems to have fallen on hard times, now consisting of taking a bible story, adding in a dose of sex and modern sensibility and mixing. Such novels, and they are legion, dilute the power of the original story, offering readers an easily digested mockery. David Maine, beginning here with his novel "The Preservationist" and continuing with his critically acclaimed tale of Cain, "The Fallen" brings the genre back in the direction of its powerful past. Showing both great respect, thought, and considerable humor, Maine delves into the story of Noah, fleshing out the characters with a sensitive eye towards both the narrative and the reader. Most importantly, while making the characters multidimensional and sympathetic, the novel never tries to white wash to ethical complexity of the Creator destroying most of his creation. Readers familiar with the biblical account of the flood will recognize that the story includes a heavy dose of family drama. Maine builds on this deftly, creating tension and an engaging thread that binds the story together. Further credit must be given for the author's excellent use of the midrashic stories that surround the biblical text, often to create great humor. A word must also be said about Maine's excellent use of the character of the Divine. Most biblical fiction either ignores The Creator's central role, a strange betrayal of the original text, or turn the characters into puppets pulled on strings. Far from either of these pitfalls, The Preservationist demonstrates a clever balancing act, turning the story into an interesting and yet strangely familiar tale of the challenges of faith.

A retelling of a biblical tale that explores issues of faith, doubt, and devotion

On the surface of it, there's not much to David Maine's novel THE PRESERVATIONIST. After all, most of us probably knew the plot already, right? The animals came two by two, it rained for forty days and forty nights, and there was a rainbow at the end. What else can be said about the oft-told Old Testament tale of Noah's Ark? A whole lot, as it turns out. From the well-known Biblical story, Maine constructs a fully realized novel that not only explores issues of faith, doubt and devotion that arise from the Biblical text itself but also fully examines the effects of crisis on individuals and families. Since the novel's basic story is already familiar to so many readers, much of the book's richness arrives from the way the story is told, through the voices of its many exquisitely drawn characters. There's Noe, of course --- Maine utilizes the spelling of names from the 1609 Duoay Bible. Zealous, stubborn, sometimes barely in control of his mental faculties, the aged man is alternately pitied and feared by his family. Noe's wife also narrates several chapters, and the narrative plays with the fact that the woman is usually nameless in most traditional retellings of the story. Noe's three sons also play key roles, each with his own part to play not only in the construction of the ark but also in the telling of the tale. Surprisingly enough, the heart of Maine's novel lies with Noe's daughters-in-law, who barely receive a mention in most retellings. These women --- strong, industrious and ingenious --- not only take responsibility for collecting the animal species, but also hold the family together through adversity and ensure the perpetuation of the species. Each of these women is an individual, from the fiercely independent northerner Ilya to the powerful but vulnerable African Bera to the childlike but surprisingly insightful Mirn. For ages, people have had a hard time reconciling how Noah's story could contain literal truths. Maine cleverly, sometimes irreverently, addresses many of the criticisms of the story's plausibility. Despite its playfulness, though, the novel possesses a deep respect not only for the Biblical story but also for the faith that underlies it. As Bera narrates, just when the future seems bleakest for the small band of travelers adrift on an endless sea, "Hope swamps my throat...I hope the waters will fall back and the plants will somehow, impossibly, sprout green in springtime and life will go on as it did before. Except perhaps with less sin, and more approval from God." Hope, faith and love are the real truths at the center of the Noah's Ark story, and THE PRESERVATIONIST gets right to the heart of those truths. --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Fabulous! Not just a retelling of a biblical event.

David Maine has produced a modern masterpiece in what is one of the best books of the year so far. The Preservationist (or The Flood in the UK) is the story of Noah told from the perspective of his family, who are variously confounded, angered, excited, nervous or just plain stoic about his Holy orders. Maine's strength is his stunning portrayal of the women in Noah's life, viz. his wife & three daughter-in-laws. Clearly Maine loves his women and portrays them as storng characters without whom the men would fall apart ion shambles. And most of us know how true that is at any part of time or place. This is a realistically funny, poignant story told with a great sense of good humour about it, and is bound to be of enormous interest irrespective of whether one is a believer or not. A strong recommendation to anyone interested in literary fiction.

A Book for the Non-Believer as well as the Believer

Noe, at six hundred years old, while out searching for a lost lamb, has been chosen; his God, Yahweh, has come to him in a vision and instructed him to build a boat and to prepare for a deluge. Noe, with his wife, must gather his sons together; the oldest Cham and wife, Ilya, Sem and his wife Bera and the youngest Japheth with Mirn. They must build a very large ark to hold two of every living species that they can collect, store provisions before the rains start and be ready for a very long voyage. This first published novel by David Maine is different. Different is good. Therefore, this book is good. However, it is much more - it is a readable, if not a familiar bible story, told in a very familiar style for the 21st century. To explain his reference material, the author notes that "Quotations are taken from the 1914 printing of the Douay Bible, translated by the English College at Rheims in 1582 and first published at Douay in 1609. All names are spelled as in that edition." The reader is right there, inside each character's head, as the trials and tribulations unfold. What are these people feeling? Living at such close quarters, young and old, animals, insects, reptiles and humans, they experience many emotions. The author reveals to the reader what he thinks would be overwhelming the immediate family members in this confinement, especially the feelings toward Noe. During the early part of the voyage, Ilya imparts passionate insight in a modern colloquial reflection: "To be honest, when the rain started I was shocked. I had supposed my father-in-law to be something of a crackpot, though admittedly a compelling one. I never expected him to be right." The morbid conditions of imprisonment in the boat during the deluge "...collecting buckets of dung from the holds" the dangers of firing a cookstove so that "Noe shudders: one solid wave would pitch those coals into the tar...", the foul air, "...the relentless swinging of the boat..." are the no-holds-barred style of Maine that makes his telling of this story so vivid.Sem is delighted that after six months "Just like that the clouds start shredding, sky showing through. I swear I had forgotten what blue looked like, but there it is. I start crying then. We all do." The boat settles into mud and silt. Noe ventures out and on his return commands the family set about releasing the cargo. A marvelous and picturesque representation by the author of what happened next: "The animals bolted, a snarling, trumpeting host. Elephants squelched knee-deep in marshy soil; big cats slunk away like sinners; buffalo and wildebeest lumbered off. Giraffes ambled, zebras trotted, wolves darted. Rhinos stepped carefully, shortsightedly, like old people." How could a reader not be enchanted by Maine's words, believer or not? After a year at their settlement, the human and animal population has thrived and increased; life is good. Noe, while walking in the hills receives another message from Yahw

Just read it!

In The Preservationist, David Maine takes one of the Old Testament's most fanciful, seemingly allegorical episodes and brings it kicking and bleating to life. Maine takes the story of Noah's ark and dares to fill in the gaps, rendering the logistics of Noah's (or Noe's) feat surprisingly credible while grounding the narrative in fresh, earthy detail. What ultimately makes this novel more than a precarious literary stunt is Maine's deft characterizations--the women, in particular, inject the tale with sly resourcefulness and dry wit. The Preservationist is darkly funny and often irreverent, but its timely themes (which address family, faith, and the very meaning of life) pack a deceptively powerful punch.