In The Shadow Of The Ark

Rating:
Summary: Clever and powerful reworking of a biblical tale
Review: Do you remember the biblical tale of Noah's ark? What comes to mind? Do you picture a bearded old man, surrounded by sheep, cattle, horses, and dogs? Do you imagine the man floating in a sea of water, protected from the rains in the shelter of a wooden ark?

In her new book, IN THE SHADOW OF THE ARK, Flemish author Anne Provoost shatters the traditional image of Noah and his ark. Provoost provides a clever spin for the biblical tale by re-imagining this time-told story through the eyes of a young woman named Re Jana.

Powerfully written in beautiful prose, the story transforms readers into Re Jana's world. Re Jana and her family have lived on the waters of the marshes for years amongst skilled fishermen and shipbuilders. After a terrible accident that leaves her mother crippled, the family decides to travel to a city in the middle of the desert. They have heard rumors about a builder, named Noah, who is creating a massive ship. Re Jana's father, an expert boatmaker, seeks work from these desert peoples who are curiously constructing the huge boat. These people, however, are not like Re Jana and her family. Called "Rattika" they are wanderers and are accustomed to a life very different from the marsh people.

In an effort to find her place among these new people, Re Jana offers her skill to find "good water" for the Builder's family. Along with her water, Re Jana washes the Builder's sons with her sponges and oils. A relationship develops with Re Jana and the youngest son, Ham. Reality breaks the intensity of their love. Through Ham, Re Jana finds out the true purpose of the massive ark. The Builder's god has chosen the Builder and his family to collect all the animals on earth. A massive flood will wash away everything and everyone but the "chosen." Another woman has been selected to be Ham's wife. The future for Re Jana and her family looks bleak.

Provoost does an amazing job transporting the reader into this apocalyptic biblical world. The strength of the character Re Jana is clear. She is a true heroine and we are rooting for her on every step of her challenging journey. Through the use of beautiful language and powerful emotions, Provoost creates a masterpiece. Along with the characters and their struggles, the reader is also confronted with the philosophical questions of the biblical tale. IN THE SHADOW OF THE ARK is an impressive novel that both teenagers and adults will enjoy. It also wouldn't be surprising if this book serves as the basis for a majestic Hollywood epic.

--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: A book of Biblical proportions
Review: I discovered this Provoost novel at the Wal-Mart here in the Hill Country and was shocked to see it salted into the romance titles. But after reading it, I guess that the romance element is central.

Yes, this is a shade of Anita Diamant's "Red Tent" and there is even a red tent in the story line, the tent of the Builder, i.e. Noach, and his sons and their entourage. And there is a touch of Tracy Chevalier here, as Provoost takes license in creating a story line around the famous creation of the ark. As Chevalier creates stories around works of art, Provoost creates the primitive and stark reality that must have surrounded the mythic tale of Noah fulfilling his command to Jehovah God.

The forbidden love story that runs the length of the novel, the attachment of Ham, Noah's youngest son, to ReJan, the marsh dweller's daughter, is key to the larger-than-life tale. There is almost a Jean Auel quality to this story. For how can anyone truly know how things must have been during those early Biblical days, much less during the times of cave dwelling man?

Curious behavior includes the reverence of Noah for his "shaman" messenger in the guise of a dwarf, who sees into the future of the sinful tribes of man and forecasts the doom of the Unnamable's flood. How equally curious is the paralyzed and beautifully naked mother (who "talks" with her one good eye) of ReJan who so skillfully controls both ReJan and her father, the master ship builder who aides Noah and his myriad workers in the ark's construction. There is an air of mysticism that parallel's any early civilization's relation to nature and the powers that govern the success and failure of man versus the elements. The very magic of ReJan's grooming hands which clean and groom the weary bodies of Noah's sons, with special oils and water, hold hypnotic sway over the bodies of the Rrattika, the wandering tribes who have accepted the task of being chosen to survive the flood's doom. There is power in this girl and her small family who leaves the marshes for the quarry land of rocks and dust, the site of the almighty shipbuilding.

Not being chosen for one of the ark's saved occupants makes ReJan's family's life even more stressful. And the intrigue of being desired, actually loved by Ham, against his father and brother's commands, adds tension to the plot line. With the advent of even more complex ties to Ham's chosen wife, and to the best divined spring water, ReJan becomes not just the forbidden but the necessarily desired, the most valuable of the unchosen. Ham risks almost everything to have her with him, even the process of special hidey hole building within the massive ship, executed by none other than ReJan's father.

Suspense builds and Provoost almost overwhelms the reader with the detail of the actual loading of the ark with all the animal species which have fled to the quarry location. And as the ark fills and the rains come down, the massive destruction and brutality of exclusion of the mobs of people who have believed themselves to be included in the ship's roster is excruciating to read. The agonies of riding in that great vessel, so filled with penned up animal and human flesh and battered without by the most spectacular of natural disasters are vividly executed by Provoost. Nieuwenhuizen's translation of the Dutch text lacks nothing in making the English language reader feel saturated in the doom of this madman's journey.

The women of this novel are the strong, diverse and colorful characters, to say the least, but the animal-like behavior of all the people, even in their determination to follow their god is fascinating. This book certainly presents another view of this ancient saga. And I am glad I found the book, bought it, read it, and, thereby, chose not to miss the boat. I do recommend this novel and will look for Provoost's other novels that have been translated into English. I truly look forward to her "The Rose and the Swine" which has yet to be made readable for the likes of me. Its synopsis on Provoost's web cite is intriguing.


Rating:
Summary: Compelling, Powerful, Wonderful
Review: I have no idea why this book is classified as a "Teens" book. It should be a bestseller. It is outstanding in its depiction of what it must really have been like to be compelled by higher powers to build an Ark in the face of ever darkening weather. The sons and daughters of Noah (including an adopted daughter), the tribulations they go through as they await the completion of the Ark, as they board the Ark, as they ride out the Flood, and as they disembark into a new world, are conveyed with a vibrant, sensual, fecund imagination that amounts to genius.