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Ernie's Ark (2004)

Ernie's Ark (2004)

Book Info

Author
Genre
Rating
3.75 of 5 Votes: 1
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ISBN
0345477162 (ISBN13: 9780345477163)
Language
English
Publisher
ballantine books

About book Ernie's Ark (2004)

I've read so many great books lately which are linked stories about small towns told from different people's perspectives -- Plainsong, Olive Kitteridge, Driftless -- but this may be my favorite yet. A Northeast community is being torn apart by a long and bitter factory strike. Lots of "big" themes are covered, like belonging, coming of age, parenting, losing the great love of your life to death, but the author tells each character's story with such respect and tenderness that the insights are never trite. The book just leaves you with this longing in your heart for things to turn out well for these good people, as if they were real people you knew. And such beautiful prose, too. When the young man sees a rare owl: "To his amazement he began to weep, not because he was lonely, but because he had always been lonely, and because there existed in this world legions of creatures and plants and cloud formations that he had never once noticed, or, worse, never even thought to look for."Ultimately, what the book meant to me, was that there is a saving grace possible, in art, in work, in a dog, in forgiveness, a grace which reminds us "there is some life left after everything seems to be gone. Really, there is."

Monica Wood is an author in Maine who did an excellent job of creating characters whose stories intertwine with each other. I grew up near this area of Maine, and I recognized every character in the story and the localities. I started to wonder if Abbots falls was Livermore Falls. (the author is from Mexico, Maine). If Blaine College was Bates College, that Bear Lake was Bear Pond. But even if I wasn't from this area I would tell you to read this story. Ernie builds an ark, a piece of art in his yard for his dying wife. He is not a person of many words but demonstrates his love for his wife. Meanwhile, others around him are influenced by his actions, even though in directly. A strike at the paper plant mill is pulling people apart, even within families. This is a story not of what people say to each other, but of their actions.

Do You like book Ernie's Ark (2004)?

Rating: 4.875* of fiveThe Book Report: Ernie Whitten no longer has a purpose. He's been a pipe-fitter in Abbots Falls, Maine, at the papermill, for most of his life and now he's...retired, unemployed, not working, whatever...BORED. So he decides to build something.An ark. Like in the Bible. Maybe miracles will come with it, for Marie, his sick wife.Nine stories spin in their orbits around this one major event in Abbots Falls, involving town residents both willing and unwilling, and purposeful and aimless, and old and young.My Review: Sparkles like a gem. The writing is delectable, a sensory feast and an emotional powerhouse. The characters are all limned in quick, indelible strokes and the way Monica Wood works is to make you care just this side of too much for each of them, and then moves on to the next one, all before your readerly feet are fully under you. It's a really cool trick, gotta tell ya.I said once upon a time that I couldn't understand why this wasn't a TV series. I still don't get it. Abbotts Falls should be on the airwaves somehow. Don't hesitate to pick this book up. It will pay your attention back many times over.***3/10/2012 KINDLE EDITION IS 99 CENTS TODAY***
—Richard Reviles Censorship Always in All Ways

A very well-written collection of inter-connected stories set in a small milltown in Maine. The paper mill is on strike, disrupting lives and family loyalties. Change is inevitable, and the stories detail how individuals react and adjust to it. One of the characters in particular, Francine, made me ache for her. Early teens, out of place in all places, shunned by her peers and overlooked by most adults, yet sweet-tempered and ever hopeful. And then there's Ernie - who builds an ark for his dying wife - that's right, an ark. The more I think about the stories, the more I realize how well-drawn the characters are. The town may be in trouble, but it wouldn't be a bad place to live.
—Richda Mcnutt

You think you know someone...Yes, Ernie may be an angry guy but oh, the love he has for his wife! You can see that love from the beginning of the story when it tells of how he daily leaves the arts section of the newspaper beside her coffee, because he knows she loves the arts. Just weeks before he is due to retire, the paper mill goes on strike and his wife is sick. Dan Little and his family worked at the mill where their brother Tim is a scab along with the Blake brothers and others. The strik
—Elaine

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