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Jul 23, 2008

Emily rated it:

fantastic. deliciously anachronistic and playful and yet deadly serious. findley wrote biblical people as PEOPLE, and not as eons-removed, idealised prophet-gods, as they naturally come across in the bible. he wrote angels as having fears and loves and moral scatteredness. he wrote singing sheep and a drunken piano. he wrote protagonists i didn't always like or agree with, and antagonists i could understand. he wrote well and simply.

i'm looking forward to finding more of his books. More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2011

Calista rated it:

I'm hesitant to call a book like this one of my favourites. I love a tale about a popular story that takes a different point of view or twist, and the narrative itself was constantly enthralling and a joy to read. My main beef with this book is that something violent happens to one of the female characters, possibly the most horrible thing I've ever read happening to someone, and I almost put the book down right there and didn't finish reading. I guess it's a good indication of how much I love t More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 13, 2011

Joanne rated it:

What a creepy, scary, fascinating and disturbing book. I can't say that I liked it - only that I was compelled to finish it. It is both devastating and thought-provoking. It's like a cross between Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, and Crake and Oryx with a little Poisonwood Bible thrown in for good measure. On another level it reminded me somewhat of the Slave Narratives (the true stories on which Lawrence Hill based The Book of Negroes) in that it depicts horrific abuses of power and control w More...

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Sep 27, 2010

Regine rated it:

It's one of my greatest frustrations that Canadian Literature has become almost synonymous with the name "Margaret Atwood." Every reading list that I've ever seen about Canadian Lit has been dominated by Atwood: "The Handmaid's Tale", "Alias Grace", "Oryx and Crake", etc. It's not that there's anything wrong with enjoying Atwood, (although I can't name many people that do), it's just that her work offers a very limited scope on what Canadian literature is More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 10, 2009

kingshearte rated it:

"Not Wanted on the Voyage is the story of the great flood and the first time the world ended. It is the story of who went on the ark and who was left behind. It is also the story of a divided family: of Noah, the tyrannical patriarch and God's magician; of his sons and their wives - Japeth and his victimized wife Emma; Shem the Ox and Hannah the survivor; the inventor Ham and Lucy - the enigmatic disturbing woman who is not what she seems. And finally it is the story of Noah's wife, Mrs. No More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Cindy rated it:

This book is written by one of Canada’s most beloved writers, Mr. Timothy Findley. In his version of the great flood you’re transported into biblical times, a world where Noah or Mr. Noyes is a misogynistic pig, whom I became to truly loathe, his wife that likes her drink and their offspring, one which is blue, and let us not forget the talking animals .

This story casts a different light on one of the most beloved tales from the bible, not the one young Christians are exposed to and fall in love More...

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May 29, 2009

Larry rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2012

Daniel rated it:

One of the trippiest books in CanLit. There are moments where you'll want to pull your hair out with frustration...alternating with moments of gorgeous black humour, and what seems to be a rather interesting inversion of the approach of George Orwell's "Animal Farm". The novel's main problem is that it might have too many targets at which to hurl its ironic torpedoes...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 12, 2008

Wendy rated it:

I can't recommend this to my students (be warned) because of some fairly graphic images, but it is so well written and such an interesting idea of Biblical "fiction." Could warp your head, but only if you let it. Oddly similar to Julian Barnes History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. Only this one came first.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2009

Lisa rated it:

Best of my BBRLM for June 08 was Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findlay (8). I discovered this Canadian writer in the English language bookshop in Paris on my first trip and have enjoyed everything he’s written so far. NWONTV is a fictionalised (and somewhat blasphemous) account of the Ark (as in Noah’s), showing all the problems and jealousies and discomforts and downright unChristian values that underpin the story. Yahweh is a cantankerous old fool, selfish, demanding and disagreeable. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

Steve rated it:

Biblical mythology meets post-modern realism replete with a colorful list of characters.
Dr. Noyes (Noah) has a Mengelian like penchant for experimentation.
Japeth, his oldest son, takes on a blue tinge after narrowly escaping becoming the main course
to a band of ruffians. Mrs. Noyes, a proto-eco-feminist, gin craving, Dr. Doolittle who can talk to the animals.
And a rebellious LGBT angel by the name of Luci are just some of the Flavoured characterizations you will
Find in More...

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Sep 13, 2008

Lisa rated it:

Four stars only because I sobbed my eyes out reading this wonderful, but gut-wrenchingly sad book. Cat lovers especially be warned.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Amber rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Mar 30, 2011

Geoff rated it:

This was fantastic. The story telling was dark, funny, and very clever. Mythological and biblical, but somehow original. Blasphemous and endearing. The book condemns cruelty, authoritarianism and dogma as much as anything. Rich with allegory, although at times the existence of the allegory is more obvious than the meaning. Truly enjoyable and ready for discussion. The storytelling really was the strength and brilliance of the piece -- I'd contrast this to Charles Dickens who writes brillian More...

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Nov 08, 2011

Graceann rated it:

Not Wanted on the Voyage took a while to gain steam, but once I was drawn into it, it was difficult to put down. There were issues raised that I will be thinking about for a long time to come.

Noah, a faithful yet thoroughly unpleasant and repulsive man, and his family are visited by Yahweh, who has been harassed and abused in His journey throughout the world. Yahweh is old and frail, and disgusted with what has happened to His creation. In the course of trying to cheer his guest u More...

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Jun 14, 2008

Katie_marie rated it:

When reading a book I tend to prefer the first 3/4 of the book over the climax and denouement. The bulk of the book before the crisis builds the characters. It tends to set a rhythm and establish grooves that the characters fit into. To bring the book to a close these balances are disturbed.
Its general premise is taken from Genesis and the story of the flood but little other than the water, animals and names are parallel with the Bible. I was almost turned away at the beginning by the fant More...

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Jul 26, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

a rather whimsical and unorthodox version of Noah's voyage and the great flood. it exposes the flaws of male hierachy and the vengeful wrath of the biblical version of God.It was interesting and exposed humanity with its greed and ego.Noah was portrayed as a very limited individual with far too much power and no capacity too use it in a humane way.His wife and sons were just minions to achieve his objectives. the remainder of the world was nameless and therefore did not really exist. i found th More...

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Aug 19, 2009

Tiffany rated it:

I think this is my second favourite Findley novel. I really didn't enjoy it so much as I was engrossed in it. I didn't "enjoy" it because no character in it is enjoyable. The situation of the flood is not enjoyable. But really, would Noah's life with the family on board the Ark for so long with no-where to go be enjoyable? A trip with a family in a car for a length of time can get quite testy... Still, this is a must-read for any fan of Findley's work, or of the modern work of literatu

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Jan 08, 2010

Sarah rated it:

Having read (and disliked) The Telling of Lies , oh, I don't know, in that year known as Y2K that seems so long ago, I anticipated a rough relationship with this book, another choice for Canada Reads 2008. I was so so so wrong. Like the computer glitch that was said to be capable of ending the world, the distaste never arrived. The lovely feline on the cover was the initial reason I carried this book everywhere I went, but soon I was so engrossed in the story that I was reading it in every spar More...

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Nov 17, 2010

Garlan rated it:

This epic retelling of the Flood and Noah's Ark defies any easy description. It is at times humorous, dark, and tragic; filled with both despair and hope. Findley is not kind in his depiction of Noah as a zealot and despot and he also paints blind adherence to religion as a greater evil to mankind (and animals) than some of the characters we have come to associate with evil. The story grows from an idyllic setting where Noah and his family live somewhat peacefully to their life aboard the Ark More...

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Sep 20, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

This book was amazing. Recommended by a friend who had read years ago after a conversation that we had had. It's the author's re-telling of what "really" happened on the Ark, and how the family that was chosen got there. My favorite character happens to be the Cat, Mottyl. Lucy comes in at a close second.

Before you start the book, please ask yourself if you are open-minded enough to be ok with a re-telling of the biblical story. Because this isn't anything like you've ever r

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Feb 01, 2011

Rorie rated it:

What a trip of a book! extremely imaginative and funny. I really felt sorry for everyone who had to deal with Dr. Noe and thought that he was drawn so well, so dislikable. One of the most interesting aspects of this book was how it was not easy to place it in a particular era. The portrayal of God the old man and Lucie the androgynous fanciful creature/angel are the stand outs but each of the characters even the cat are very well done.

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Apr 24, 2010

John rated it:

Not my kind of book. Takes an incredibly dramatic and apocalyptic Bible story and modernizes it by adding all sorts of quirkiness and dysfunction, such as faeries, unicorn sex, etc. This is a book for people who take pleasure in all things irreverent and think that being disrespectful is automatically clever. God shows up as a character in the story, and, not surprisingly at this point in the novel, he is incredibly lame.

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Dec 14, 2009

Gef rated it:

To say this is an imaginative twist on the Noah's Arc myth would be an understatement. God is old and a little senile it seems, Noah is irritable and ill-tempered to the point of villainy, and everyone else on his elaborate piece of driftwood is held hostage by his holy plan of survival. There was so much symbolism and nuance to this tale, I'll likely have to read it a couple more times in the future just to properly soak it all in.

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Apr 28, 2009

Andrew rated it:

If the story of Noah's Ark actually happened, this is probably the most accurate account of how it did. This book is very dark and scary, talking about life on the boat and the endless days and nights of rain. Noah becomes a little fascist and his wife ends up being the protagonist. The story is narrated by Noah's wife's cat, who she has to sneak aboard the ship. Pretty wild book.

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Jun 09, 2011

Meghan rated it:

A classic in the genre of satires which take well-known stories, myths, legends, and give them more human characters -- both the good and the bad. In Findley's hands, Noah and his sons take on more of a tyrannical and evil-patriarch persona than one could have imagined from the Bible. It turns into almost a dystopia along the lines of Margaret Atwood's latest novels.

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Jan 01, 2011

April rated it:

I read this for one of my high school English classes, and absolutely fell in love with it. It is essentially a modern re-telling of the Great Flood, and of Noah's Arch, written in a way that made it seem more...crude? I'm not quite sure how else to explain it. I've read this book a few times since high school, and have definitely enjoyed it each time.

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Feb 27, 2010

Cathy rated it:

I read this book many years ago and I really enjoyed it. I'm a Timothy Findlay Fan. After reading the review, I think I need to read it again, because I have forgotten so much. I generally don't like to re-read books, but I think this one merits it. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11016...

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Apr 17, 2010

Victoria is currently reading it

This is such a special novel. I can't recommend it highly enough to all my colleagues. A magical take on the story of Noah, told from the perspective of Mrs. Noah (called Noyes in the novel) and her cat Mottyl. Deeply disturbing, imaginative, funny, irreverent, and brilliant. This man knows his apocrypha!

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Jun 29, 2010

treehugger rated it:

uggggg hated this book. At first it seems like an ordinary if boring book but it gets more and more disturbing as you read. It's supposed to be about the time of Noah, leading up to getting on the arc but this is no Noah we ever heard about, yuck.

3 comments like

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