IN THE SHADOW OF THE ARK, by Belgium author Anne Provoost, tells the story of Re Jana, a young girl traveling with her family to escape the rising water levels encroaching upon the marshes of her homeland. With her mother, who is an invalid, and her father, a shipbuilder who knows his craft well, they are leaving the land of Canaan to find the Builder in the East and the grandest ship of all time.
Their guide on this journey is Alem, a member of the nomadic people known as the Rratika, and Put, his young son half Re Jana’s age. The Rratika are highly disdained by Re Jana’s people for their rough appearance and poor hospitality; but their knowledge of the land employs a sound guide to any seeking travel.
Re Jana’s father is hoping to gain work in the Builder’s shipyard. However, when he inspects the ship and meets the man’s sons, all plans abruptly fall apart. Not only is the ship of an amateurish design to his standards, but the people themselves are the despicable Rratika!
Is it too late to track down wherever Alem disappeared to? Can he be convinced to return to the shipyard and lead them back the way they came? There are two problems confronting Re Jana’s father here: an ever-increasing number of animals are drifting towards the shipyard, making any second journey dangerous; and Re Jana is developing an affinity for the Rratika nearly as strong as her father’s aversion. While he is gone, she becomes involved with Ham, the youngest of the Builder's three sons.
Will Re Jana become Ham’s wife? He is the only son yet to take a wife, an act needing its fulfillment before the ark is done. She certainly captured his heart, as he did hers; but logically, Neelata, the woman who arrives from the city makes for Ham a better match.
So begins Ann Provoost's retelling of the familiar Biblical Flood story. God is displeased with mankind. He has decided to destroy the Earth because every inclination of man's heart is towards evil. Only Noah has found favor in God's eyes, thereby receiving the instructions that will save himself, his family, and the animal kingdom.
I cannot say I agree in total with Provoost's interpretation of the Biblical text. She presents Noah, "the Builder" (his name is never used within her story) as almost a god-like figure to the people, as the one who speaks to the "Unnamable god".
Personally, I never viewed Noah as anyone engendering the level of respect given "the Builder" here. I always saw him as one chided by the people for building an ark where there was no water with which to carry it. I also never saw him as enlisting a team of workers through which to build it. It has always been my belief the project was one undertaken by himself and his sons alone.
Neither of those two views, though, is supported by Biblical text. Before the waters hit, the narrative simply relates what God says to Noah in building the ark, how it is to be constructed, and who is to find shelter within it.
Such stands as one reason why I view IN THE SHADOW OF THE ARK as worth one's time. Though I found myself disagreeing with some of Provoost's assessments for what transpired during the hundred years Noah took to build the ark, I fully acknowledge we are talking about a culture far removed from anything we know today, certain to give rise to many questions as to habits and behaviors.
For example, why, after bathing and grooming her mother in Ham’s presence, did Re Jana go to Ham's tent to bathe and groom him? To these 21st century eyes, such an act upon a man you just met would be the height of impropriety. To them, during those days some three to four millennia ago, it seemed expected.
Also, why did Ham disguise Re Jana as boy, and then why did she bathe and groom his brothers Shem and Japheth? Why did Shem and Japheth beat Re Jana when they learned she was actually a girl?
Were Noah and his sons "righteous"? Or were they merely chosen? Only the righteous will be saved. What is righteousness? Is it blind obedience out of fear? Or is it a true obedience out of love and trust? This theme is too lightly touched upon. I would have liked to have seen it more thoroughly suffused throughout the story.
Provoost also presents Noah and his sons as no better and no worse than the people amongst whom they live. They are merely chosen by God "the Unnamable" as the ones to continue anew the human race. Of this idea, as one who believes the Bible narrative, I must disagree. Only Noah, of all the people on Earth of those days, pleased God. Surely, he must have been an exception man.
Nevertheless, IN THE SHADOW OF THE ARK was still a story that held my interest to the end. It gave me a different perspective on that brief episode found within the early chapters of Genesis. I was particularly impressed with the detailing of when the waters hit. It is as powerful a work of terrifying grandeur as found in literature today. In that one instance, you are there. You are IN THE SHADOW OF THE ARK when the springs from the deep burst forth and the waters from the heavens pour down. You witness the Earth being deluged and mankind being destroyed by an angry God. If you believe you can handle such a trauma, pick up a copy of the book, and see if you can stand the sight of what Noah, "the Builder" saw when the waters came pouring down.
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