Something to Think About
Storm
By Donna Jo Napoli
# Pgs: 368
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Overview:
A sixteen-year-old stowaway discovers her destiny on Noah’s ark in this riveting reimagining from award-winning author Donna Jo Napoli, available in time for the March 2014 major motion picture Noah.
The rain starts suddenly, hard and fast. After days of downpour, her family lost, Sebah takes shelter in a tree, eating pine cones and the raw meat of animals that float by. With each passing day, her companion, a boy named Aban, grows weaker. When their tree is struck by lightning, Sebah is tempted just to die in the flames rather than succumb to a slow, watery death. Instead, she and Aban build a raft. What they find on the stormy seas is beyond imagining: a gigantic ark. But Sebah does not know what she’ll find on board, and Aban is too weak to leave their raft.
Themes of family, loss, and ultimately, survival and love make for a timeless story. Donna Jo Napoli has imagined a new protagonist to tell the story of Noah and his ark. As rain batters the earth, Noah, his family, and hordes of animals wait out the storm, ready to carry out their duty of repopulating the earth. Hidden below deck…is Sebah.
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Review:
This was an interesting book to read. I have to say that I was rather encouraged to read it after reading through the overview. I mean, think about it; what would you do if it just started to rain? then flood? and the only place you had to go... was up?
Napoli creates this story from an interesting, somewhat unexpected point of view. Not so much from the character herself as from the way the world acts around her perhaps. Maybe the statement above would better be corrected as; Napoli creates this story from an interesting setting, and yet somehow it's more than that.
When I think about religion, with the way that religion and religious figures are portrayed today, sure you think about uppity, strict, know-it-all snobs. Or you think of over purified, holier than thou, kind, wise, everlasting figures. The way Napoli creates it is nothing short of intriguing, interesting, somewhat beautiful. I don't know, maybe it's just the way that everything's portrayed.
I mean, this book isn't exactly emotionally inspiring as with causing me to cry or laugh out loud, so much as just thoughtful, and reflective. Like the still surface of a deep pool of water. Beautiful in it's own way. And blunt. It doesn't go roundabout to describe what it's trying to say. It gets right to the point; direct. Interesting.
There are some aspects of the story that are not so easily appreciated. Because of the way that people view religion --either in high respect or utter disgust-- and how religious people are portrayed today --abuse of power, too high and mighty-- this is a story that may not be so easily understood. One thing that you have to consider about this book is the setting. The time and the place that this book takes place; people are of course going to be different than today. The values especially will change. Religious people back then may have been kind and holy and compassionate, but their versions of kind and compassion were vastly different than what they are today.
There wasn't equality back then, for example, and even so equality is still a struggle for us today as well. The form of justice lied mostly in whether people viewed it as right or wrong at the time, or whether or not you crossed the wrong person. Women weren't safe. Today we have technology and stricter views about how to treat people. Back then it was generalized, and the vast majority chose which people deserve to be treated with respect. That would've been men. And if you're surprised by how Noah and his family act? You need to seriously consider this. It was a different time, and there are multiple different cases throughout the Bible depicting how men acted back then. We weren't just cut and dry; we were bloody, and dealt out our own justices.
Maybe this story doesn't exactly follow the Bible, but there are two other things to consider when reading this book. The first is that this is a fictional novel; it's not supposed to follow the exact story. Think of it as a fanfictional piece; Sebah is an original character, the main character, and so the story must be told with her in mind. The second thing to consider is the size of the story within the Bible and the size of the world, the history of the world, the geography of the world, within which it is told. You can't expect things to be exactly the same, and if you do then perhaps this book isn't quite for you. As it is, I think Storm follows along with the story from the Bible quite well.
It's hard to imagine exactly who Sebah is and what she's feeling throughout the story. Jo Napoli writes this in a way such that I feel emotionally detached from Sebah. I can imagine the things she goes through, I can see the story unfold through her eyes, feel the cold and the wind and the rain. The way she acts gives way to how she feels, some of the things she says, some of things that happen to her. Yet throughout the story I am consciously aware of how seperate we are. I don't, in a sense, become one with the character. I'm drawn into the book, and yet seperate from it. Like having an out of body experience, I can gaze down and see what's happening, and yet I am not a part of it.
Sebah as a character is somewhat unintelligent, which is acceptable given the time period. She nearly jumps to make her own choices, and yet relies dependently upon others who, as Napoli tells, are stronger to survive. It doesn't seem like any of her choices actually effect her. The plot unfurls and she's just thrown into the thick of things. Things happen around her that keep her alive, her reliance on everything else is nearly overwhelming. Because there was such an emotional detachment for me, I never once thought she actually felt the struggle despite knowing that there was one.
This book had a compelling, however predictable, plot line. The weather extremes and the imagery were perfectly depicted and described; I could see it all happening. There were parts of it that I didn't much understand; whether or not that's to be blamed on the book or on my own lack of knowledge about the Bible's "Noah's Arc" has yet to be determined. I suppose one of the questions I had comes from the time line throughout which this book takes place. My own understanding of Noah's Arc, what I've been told all through growing up, is that it rained for forty days and forty nights. After some time passed, Noah sent out one bird (which did not come back) and then he sent out the dove (which came back with an olive branch) to see if there was land. And then it seemed that Noah knew that it was time to get out of the arc. And that's that.
The way this story is told, the time line that is, I'm not quite sure if the details that Napoli used are correct or not. Not that that's an actual problem, though for me it is. I'm actually quite curious; it's killing me to not know. And some of the other parts of the book as pertaining to the relationship between the Bible as it tells this and Storm as it tells this has me confused as well.
I don't know. This wasn't a perfect book. I mean. I knew about the "Noah's Arc" plot line before I read this, but having involved Sebah and her own personal problems into this, it was still very predictable. I didn't even feel the need to do a victory dance after all of my predictions came through.
One of the other original characters that's in this story just seems sort of random. Of course, you have to expect that more than one person has to have survived the storm, but honestly-- this character just seems to have washed up on a whim. And the fact that this character who (if you read the story, you'll know who it is) just seems to be able to do everything? Honestly! It's like Napoli was trying to write up a super-hero and we got stuck with him--everything works in his favor. So it seems anyway.
Despite my many critiques about this story, I really did enjoy reading this. Storm gives an interesting take on an otherwise happy-ending sort of Bible story. It was deep and thoughtful and not perfect. I like this book, I enjoyed it, I'm not entirely in love with it although I do adore it. As such, I rate this book a three point five out of five and recommend it to the curious, those that love historical or mythological fiction (although the religious aspect of this book isn't actually all that strong), and those that like different takes on things.
Rest assured that this book is different.
Thanks for reading~
There are some aspects of the story that are not so easily appreciated. Because of the way that people view religion --either in high respect or utter disgust-- and how religious people are portrayed today --abuse of power, too high and mighty-- this is a story that may not be so easily understood. One thing that you have to consider about this book is the setting. The time and the place that this book takes place; people are of course going to be different than today. The values especially will change. Religious people back then may have been kind and holy and compassionate, but their versions of kind and compassion were vastly different than what they are today.
There wasn't equality back then, for example, and even so equality is still a struggle for us today as well. The form of justice lied mostly in whether people viewed it as right or wrong at the time, or whether or not you crossed the wrong person. Women weren't safe. Today we have technology and stricter views about how to treat people. Back then it was generalized, and the vast majority chose which people deserve to be treated with respect. That would've been men. And if you're surprised by how Noah and his family act? You need to seriously consider this. It was a different time, and there are multiple different cases throughout the Bible depicting how men acted back then. We weren't just cut and dry; we were bloody, and dealt out our own justices.
Maybe this story doesn't exactly follow the Bible, but there are two other things to consider when reading this book. The first is that this is a fictional novel; it's not supposed to follow the exact story. Think of it as a fanfictional piece; Sebah is an original character, the main character, and so the story must be told with her in mind. The second thing to consider is the size of the story within the Bible and the size of the world, the history of the world, the geography of the world, within which it is told. You can't expect things to be exactly the same, and if you do then perhaps this book isn't quite for you. As it is, I think Storm follows along with the story from the Bible quite well.
It's hard to imagine exactly who Sebah is and what she's feeling throughout the story. Jo Napoli writes this in a way such that I feel emotionally detached from Sebah. I can imagine the things she goes through, I can see the story unfold through her eyes, feel the cold and the wind and the rain. The way she acts gives way to how she feels, some of the things she says, some of things that happen to her. Yet throughout the story I am consciously aware of how seperate we are. I don't, in a sense, become one with the character. I'm drawn into the book, and yet seperate from it. Like having an out of body experience, I can gaze down and see what's happening, and yet I am not a part of it.
Sebah as a character is somewhat unintelligent, which is acceptable given the time period. She nearly jumps to make her own choices, and yet relies dependently upon others who, as Napoli tells, are stronger to survive. It doesn't seem like any of her choices actually effect her. The plot unfurls and she's just thrown into the thick of things. Things happen around her that keep her alive, her reliance on everything else is nearly overwhelming. Because there was such an emotional detachment for me, I never once thought she actually felt the struggle despite knowing that there was one.
This book had a compelling, however predictable, plot line. The weather extremes and the imagery were perfectly depicted and described; I could see it all happening. There were parts of it that I didn't much understand; whether or not that's to be blamed on the book or on my own lack of knowledge about the Bible's "Noah's Arc" has yet to be determined. I suppose one of the questions I had comes from the time line throughout which this book takes place. My own understanding of Noah's Arc, what I've been told all through growing up, is that it rained for forty days and forty nights. After some time passed, Noah sent out one bird (which did not come back) and then he sent out the dove (which came back with an olive branch) to see if there was land. And then it seemed that Noah knew that it was time to get out of the arc. And that's that.
The way this story is told, the time line that is, I'm not quite sure if the details that Napoli used are correct or not. Not that that's an actual problem, though for me it is. I'm actually quite curious; it's killing me to not know. And some of the other parts of the book as pertaining to the relationship between the Bible as it tells this and Storm as it tells this has me confused as well.
I don't know. This wasn't a perfect book. I mean. I knew about the "Noah's Arc" plot line before I read this, but having involved Sebah and her own personal problems into this, it was still very predictable. I didn't even feel the need to do a victory dance after all of my predictions came through.
One of the other original characters that's in this story just seems sort of random. Of course, you have to expect that more than one person has to have survived the storm, but honestly-- this character just seems to have washed up on a whim. And the fact that this character who (if you read the story, you'll know who it is) just seems to be able to do everything? Honestly! It's like Napoli was trying to write up a super-hero and we got stuck with him--everything works in his favor. So it seems anyway.
Despite my many critiques about this story, I really did enjoy reading this. Storm gives an interesting take on an otherwise happy-ending sort of Bible story. It was deep and thoughtful and not perfect. I like this book, I enjoyed it, I'm not entirely in love with it although I do adore it. As such, I rate this book a three point five out of five and recommend it to the curious, those that love historical or mythological fiction (although the religious aspect of this book isn't actually all that strong), and those that like different takes on things.
Rest assured that this book is different.
Thanks for reading~
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