Synopses & Reviews
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
Synopsis
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
Synopsis
"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 warrant a boat.
This conversation is making Noe impatient. -I've no need to explain myself to you.
-And when you're done, she says carefully, we'll be taking this ship to the sea somehow?
As usual, Noe's impatience fades quickly. -We'll not be going to the sea. The sea will be coming to us."
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 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.
About the Author
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.
Reading Group Guide
1. Who is your favorite character? Why? Who is your least favorite?
2. In the original, Biblical version of the story, only God, Noah and his sons are mentioned (and only God and Noah perform any specific actions). Does this [male] writer do a good job of creating convincing female characters?
3. Who is "the preservationist"? Explain.
4. How does the book's structure contribute to its pacing and emotional resonance?
5. The chapters jump back and forth between 3rd and 1st person narration. Is this effective?
6. The book starts with Noe and ends with Mirn. Is she the right character to be given the last word, or would you have preferred someone else?
7. According to Father James Martin, a Catholic priest quoted in USA Today, the current trend of Bible-oriented books is "theology lite... some is nourishing, most of it isn't. But it's easily digested and makes few demands." Is this a fair criticism?
8. How does each character grow and change through the course of the novel and what are some lessons each of them learned?
9. Do you think any of these lessons have relevance to things we need to learn today?