The Preservationist

by Maine, David

• ISBN13: 9780312328481
• ISBN10: 0312328486
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-01
• Publisher: Griffin

Summary

'Envisions the events in Noah's life with awe and realism, and with a voice that is clear, distinct, and (remarkably, under the circumstances) dry......An elegant, inventive book.' -The New York Times In this original, compelling, and fresh debut novel, Noah's family-his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law-tell what it's like to live with a man touched by God, while struggling against events they cannot control or explain. Noah (or Noe, as he's called here) orders his sons to build an ark, but can't tell them where the wood will come from. He sends his daughters-in-law out to gather animals, but offers no directions, money, or protection. And once the rain starts, the true test of their faith is just beginning. The family is trapped on the ark with thousands of animals-and no idea of how to feed or care for them, or of when the waters will recede. What emerges is a family caught in the midst of an extraordinary Biblical event, with all the tension, humanity-even humor-that implies.

Author Biography

David Maine was born in 1963 and grew up in Farmington, Connecticut. He attended Oberlin College and the University of Arizona, and has worked in the mental health systems of Massachusetts and Arizona. He has taught English in Morocco and Pakistan, and since 1998 has lived in Lahore, Pakistan with his wife, novelist Uzma Aslam Khan.

Table of Contents

Praise for Dave Maine and The Preservationist:

"The Preservationist is funny, tender, intelligent, energetic, irreverent, and worshipful. It is an enormous juggling act of families, animals and faith, and it kept me engaged through every page. I imagine Noah would be enormously pleased with David Maine's novel, I know I was." - Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto

"I loved The Preservationist. It's a funny, convincing amplification of the Biblical story."
- Tracy Chevalier, author of The Virgin Blue

"Once they were strangers to us. Distant as specks. No more! Thanks to David Maine it is in the daily, the ordinary "Noah family" the "what's for breakfast?" the aching feet, the little insults or winks, the slap on the back, the gathering of insects in cupped hands that we know them now as we know ourselves, the family next door preparing to face the unknown, the "I am certain," the magnificent, the awful, the wonderful, the weird, the big. The Preservationist was great. Very moving and enjoyable and clever."
- Carolyn Chute, author of The Beans of Egypt, Maine

"Maine simply, wisely, asks himself what it was like to be there, "when the rain began to fall." For me, the strength of this book lies not so much in its entertaining characters as in the wonderful details of this old brand-new world.¿In just these details, small and large, Maine convinces us that the world Noah worked so hard to save is indeed worth preserving."
- Jincy Willett, author of Winner of the National Book Award

"If, like me, you've always wondered how Noah actually built his ark, and managed to fit all those animals on it, and survived forty days and forty nights of rain and flood, The Preservationist is the book for you. A funny, cheeky, irreverent, wonderfully original first novel, informed both by Biblical history and Dave Maine's joyous imagination."
- Jim Fergus, author of One Thousand White Women

"The Preservationist is delightfully wry and witty, throwing light on man's-and woman's-eternal folly in the name of God and of love. More, this retelling of an ancient tale is a great deal of fun to read, its characters etched with an acid affection that makes them unforgettable."
- India Edghill, author of Queenmaker