Saturday, April 9, 2016

Noah's Wife

Cover image for Noah's wife
Noah’s Wife
by Lindsay Starck
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2016, 387 pages, General Fiction

Moving to a small coastal community where she plans to revive its congregation at the side of her minister husband, Noah's wife is challenged by the resistance of eccentric new neighbors, her husband's internal crisis and flooding rains that drive out scores of wild animals from the local zoo.

I really liked this modern retelling of the biblical story of Noah, told from many different perspectives. Starck makes the story her own, and the updated setting and varied character viewpoints brings out different themes and messages from the original tale.

For those who don’t like overly religious novels, let me assure you this is not one of those books. While religion is a main theme in the book, it is not the thing that drives the narrative, and it’s not what solves the problems in the end. The writing style reminded me a lot of books by authors like Haven Kimmel, Barbara Kingsolver, and Sara Gruen.

I listened to the audio version of this book, and the narrator did a good job of giving each character a different voice.

MB

No comments: