Do You like book In The Shadow Of The Ark (2006)?
A weird interpretation of the Bible story of Noah and the ark. True, the Bible doesn't give a whole lot of detail, so I expected some artistic liberties would be taken. But this was a bit too off the mark for me. In this version, Noah was a sick old invalid who was keeping the reason for the ark a secret, not preaching repentance to the people. And the "chosen" (aka Noah and his family) were just as wicked, if not more so, than the rest of the people. Which is part of the author's point, I think.
—Shelley
So, interesting story about this book. I saw it at a book sale and was like, "Cool, a Noah's Ark book!", and since I had a thing for Noah's ark when I was a kid, I bought it. The author's name sounded familiar to me but I couldn't put my finger on it. It wasn't until I saw the same book on my uncle Vincent's bookshelf in Mexico that I realized Anne is one of my cousins that live in Belgium. So I decided to read this book before going to Belgium in case I might get the chance to meet Anne. Anne was in South America the week we were in Belgium, but it was still a very worthwhile read.This book gets compared to The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, but the only similarity is that they're both Old Testament stories retold from a woman's perspective. If you enjoyed The Red Tent, you'll probably enjoy In the Shadow of the Ark. And if you're like me and didn't enjoy The Red Tent, you'll probably still enjoy In the Shadow of the Ark, because the writing, character development, and theological probing are of much higher quality here. There were a few places where pieces seemed to be missing from the story, but I think a lot of that comes from this being a translation. Other than that, the writing is beautiful, the descriptions so vivid that I can still feel and taste them as I write this. In the Shadow of the Ark bravely challenges the God of the Old Testament and doesn't back down from raising questions about exactly what it means to be God's "chosen." The ending is a little depressing, but you knew there was going to be a terrible flood that wiped out all of creation, right?
—Lacey Louwagie
I enjoyed this book, although it was at times strange, but this may have something to do with translating issues. I am not big one the whole Noah's Ark story, but this was an interesting idea/twist with the way the "Chosen Ones" (Noah's family) dealt with their status, problems and delemas. On one level the way the Chosen Ones happily raped people, treated their people with contempt and disgust, abused people - including their own, and took on concubines, was contradictory and certainly not the way I would have believed righteous chosen Christian people should behave, however on another level - human nature is human nature. I liked the twists and turns towards the end. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but if you start this book, definitely finish it. I was entertained by this book.
—Sianne Morrison
