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Eve

by Elissa Elliott (Goodreads Author)

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 678 ratings · 178 reviews

BONUS: This edition contains an Evediscussion guide.

In this mesmerizing debut novel, Elissa Elliott blends biblical tradition with recorded history to put a powerful new twist on the story of creation’s first family. Here is Eve brought to life in a way religion and myth have never allowed–as a wife, a mother, and a woman. With stunning intimacy, Elliott boldly reimagines...more

Hardcover, 432 pages

Published January 27th 2009 by Delacorte Press

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Apr 12, 2011 Baobhan rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent or Ann Chamberlin's Leaving Eden

I couldn't help being reminded of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent while reading Eve: A Novel of the First Woman. It's inevitable, I guess. Both books take place in Biblical times and retell popular Genesis myths from a decidedly female point-of-view. The main difference between them is that Eve -- unlike Jacob's daughter, Dinah, the heroine in The Red Tent -- is a prominent figure in Biblical myth, not just a name mentioned in passing. That is both a blessing and curse, I think. With a name so reco...more I couldn't help being reminded of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent while reading Eve: A Novel of the First Woman. It's inevitable, I guess. Both books take place in Biblical times and retell popular Genesis myths from a decidedly female point-of-view. The main difference between them is that Eve -- unlike Jacob's daughter, Dinah, the heroine in The Red Tent -- is a prominent figure in Biblical myth, not just a name mentioned in passing. That is both a blessing and curse, I think. With a name so recognized as that of Eve's, and a myth so widely known as that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, an author has less freedom to expand, but also more material to draw inspiration from.

In Eve, Elliott attempts to explore so many themes -- the relationship between man and wife, the relationship between mother and child, loss of faith, urban growth vs. rural preservation, jealousy and its repercussions, etc -- that she fails to fully explore any of them and the story as a whole ends up scattered and unfocused with some large, glaring omissions of much-needed information. For a good chunk of the book we're led to believe that Adam and Eve, along with their children, are the only people on earth. Then, BAM! One day a group of Sumerians show up and build a large, bustling city nearby. Ignoring actual history for a second, if, in the context of this book and the myth it's inspired by, Adam and Eve are the first two people on the face of the planet, and their children haven't yet gone forth to multiply, where, exactly, did the Sumerians come from? Were they created by their own gods? Did they evolve via natural selection? Were they the spawn of Lilith, perhaps? How can you present the reader with a group of people so pivotal to the events that take place in the latter-half of the book -- a group of people with generations of rich, varied history behind them -- and not give the reader a clear answer as to where those people came from? Did I miss something?

Eve struggling with her faith in God also didn't ring true for me. I mean, it's not like she ever really needed faith in God to begin with, right? Believing in the existence of something isn't a question of faith when that something shows up in the garden he created for you on an almost daily basis. I don't need faith to believe that my husband exists, not when he talks to me and makes love to me and snores by me as frequently as he does. He's a very real part of my very real existence and I can't just wake up one day and start doubting that he's really here, as much as I might like to when he leaves coffee rings on the kitchen counter for the too-many-times-I've-lost-count time. I can understand being angry at God for kicking you out of his naked tea party because you had the gall to eat a cookie off of the cookie platter uninvited, but to start doubting his actual existence? Color me puzzled. (And hungry. I like cookies.)

But my biggest disappointment is in Elliott's generic, one-dimensional depiction of Cain. I was hoping for a bit more depth to the world's first bad boy. I'll admit, it was a selfish want, as Cain is one of the Biblical figures that interests me the most. (Other favorites include Salome, Judas, and, yes, Satan himself, make of that what you will. Personally, I think it would make for an interesting dinner party. Or naked tea party, perhaps.) I'm not saying he needed to be reframed as some kind of innocent, wide-eyed hero; that's Abel's job and he does it nauseatingly well. But I would have liked to see some believable internal conflict and a realistic exploration of how jealousy and resentment can, in some cases, lead to something as extreme as murder. Instead, we get a Cain who's just bad from birth. That's it. He's destined to kill his brother because he killed butterflies as a child and hated to mind his mother. In Elliott's hands, Cain and Abel are little more than the Goofus and Gallant of the Biblical age.

And yet, as you can see by my rating, three stars = liked it. I liked some of it, anyway. It was a fine, but flawed, effort, and maybe I'm just picking at its flaws because my hands are blistered from working under the IV hood all day and I can't physically pick at much else right now.(less)

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Dec 28, 2008 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-fiction

Thanks to my membership at Bookbrowse.com I got an advanced reading copy of Eve. I loved, loved,loved it.

Here's the basic premise: What was Eve's life like after Eden?

The story goes back and forth in time and is told in 4 voices: Eve's and her daughters, Naava, Dara and Aya. Oddly, Naava's is always told in the 3rd person, while the others are in 1st person.

Eve is portrayed very realistically and not always sympathetically. Like a real person, she has strengths and weaknesses. Naava is mostly p...more

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Mar 18, 2009 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought about giving this book five stars, but I feel like that should maybe be reserved for all-time favorites. So let's just call this 4 1/2 stars. I absolutely loved this book. I felt really attached to the characters and the story from the very beginning, and couldn't wait to get back to the book every time I had to put it down. I loved the concept of the book -- a fictional telling of Eve's life after the expulsion from Eden. The chapters rotate between the voices of Eve and her three dau...more

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Apr 12, 2009 Terence rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, religion-general

In Eve: A Novel of the First Woman I was hoping to read a provocative account of the Abrahamic religions' mythical genetrix. Unfortunately, it's a fairly predictable, by-the-numbers, Christian apologia. I will give Elliott points for making Eve's and Adam's succumbing to Lucifer's temptations plausible but all the major characters - Adam, Eve, Abel, Cain, and the daughters Naava, Aya and Dara - are too broadly drawn and are "types" rather than real people. Elliott also can't seem to decide wheth...more

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Jan 01, 2009 K rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-was-asked-to-read

i did not care for this book. i found the writing to be insipid...the characters' voices (Eva and her daughters, Naava, Dara and Aya) all seemed the same. i did not find that they were truthful to the time or the atmosphere. i found myself thinking, are they really saying these things and in this way? i didn't care for any of the characters, save Aya, and i couldn't bring myself to care about them. I am so disappointed in Eve, i had hoped it would be similar to The Red Tent but it was just so po...more

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Jan 17, 2009 Tina added it

Thanks to Goodreads I won an advanced copy!

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the way Elissa Elliot took the "skeleton" of this old story and as she said bulked it up with "fictional fat".

I could identify with the characters. I could understand Eve's feelings of abandonment by Elohim. That loss of companionship and intimacy with Him was confusing for her and shook her faith. In my opinion, a believable scenario. Believable enough to care for and empathize with the characters.

Overall, a very g...more

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Dec 31, 2008 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have to agree with Barbara about this book. It was a fast read and I should have slowed down to really absorb everything. Overall, this was a good book. I was worried about it becuase I haven't read the Bible yet, or because I didn't know much about Adam and Eve and their family. I liked all the characters, especially Aya who was disabled. I was super suprised that Eve kept questioning the existance of God throughout the book too! And how she would go back and forth from being submissive to be...more

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Feb 10, 2009 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

From the AP:
¶ "Eve: A Novel of the First Woman" (Delacorte Press, 421 pages, $24), by Elissa Elliott: Tossed from the Garden of Eden for a seemingly insignificant act _ eating a piece of fruit _ Eve is adrift.
¶ What did it mean? Why was the punishment so harsh? And then, where is God? Does he still exist? Does he remember her?
¶ Drawing on scholarly studies of Genesis, Judaism and Mesopotamia, and written in the easy-to-read style of "The Red Tent" and "Queenmaker," Elissa Elliott's first novel o...more From the AP:
¶ "Eve: A Novel of the First Woman" (Delacorte Press, 421 pages, $24), by Elissa Elliott: Tossed from the Garden of Eden for a seemingly insignificant act _ eating a piece of fruit _ Eve is adrift.
¶ What did it mean? Why was the punishment so harsh? And then, where is God? Does he still exist? Does he remember her?
¶ Drawing on scholarly studies of Genesis, Judaism and Mesopotamia, and written in the easy-to-read style of "The Red Tent" and "Queenmaker," Elissa Elliott's first novel offers a fresh and insightful vision of the life of the first women.
¶ For starters, Elliott questions whether Eve was in fact first. Two decades after their expulsion from the Garden, Adam and Eve encounter technologically advanced Mesopotamians.
¶ This raises plenty of questions: Did God create these people as well? Did another god create them?
¶ It also causes trouble as Eve's eldest children become enamored with the urban culture and its many gods. They pray to idols. They want to make sacrifices.
¶ The outcome, of course, is no surprise: God favors second son Abel's sacrifice because it is made with a pure heart. Enraged, his brother Cain murders Abel.
¶ The twists and surprises _ which won't all be given away here _ come in Elliott's imagining of the family dynamics that create an angry fuse for God's lightning to strike.
¶ Cain is jealous of Abel, who escapes to the hills with his sheep and younger brother, Jacan. Eldest daughter Naava is vain. Second daughter Aya is self-righteous. Eve trades her third daughter, Dara, to the Mesopotamians. All seek Adam's attention and approval, but he is a distant father, too busy keeping the family sheltered and fed to worry much about their spirits. And Eve wallows in the past, mourning the tragedy of the Garden while failing to see the one building before her.
¶ Like many of the best novels, "Eve" works on two levels. Elliott's plot is action-packed, but her story also raises spiritual questions about free will, creation and the human relationship with God.
¶ Adam and Eve re-enact their relationship with God with their children, allowing them to make their own decisions, grieving the consequences and casting them out.
¶ In doing so, Eve finds the answer she has been seeking: It was not that God stopped loving her but that she stopped recognizing his love.(less)

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Feb 10, 2013 Leya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book

If you search the reviews on Amazon about this book you'll find that it runs either hot or cold. Either you love it, or you dislike it, there's even one that calls this book blasphemous. And who can resist reading a book that is considered blasphemous? Ok, I'm making light of someone's opinion, but you're reading a fictionalized account of the first woman, and the main point is: it's fiction. There's no way for us to really know what happen then, but speculating cannot hurt any in my opinion.

It'...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Jessi Hafeman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Elliott is a very insightful and intelligent writer. Eve's journey is powerful, heart tugging, and very realistic in nature. She is not spared by the author, her story is given brutally honest truths about the hardships of motherhood, the choices a mother makes, and how her life continues to be shadowed from guilt regarding her choice of taking a bite from the forbidden fruit. The language is careful and true to the time period things are set in. I never felt lost by the setting or the mindset o...more

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Aug 10, 2009 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biblical-fiction, ancient-worlds

Eve: A Novel of the First Woman by Elissa Elliott

Genre: Biblical Fiction

Many people know the story the Bible tells of Adam and Eve: Adam was the first man, Eve was created from his rib, they were expelled from Eden for eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they had 2 sons (Cain & Abel) and Cain killed Abel. That is about where the Bible’s version of this story ends. Elissa Elliott picks up where the story leaves off and creates a very detailed back story for these first people....more Eve: A Novel of the First Woman by Elissa Elliott

Genre: Biblical Fiction

Many people know the story the Bible tells of Adam and Eve: Adam was the first man, Eve was created from his rib, they were expelled from Eden for eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they had 2 sons (Cain & Abel) and Cain killed Abel. That is about where the Bible’s version of this story ends. Elissa Elliott picks up where the story leaves off and creates a very detailed back story for these first people. She uses the story from the Bible as the backbone for her story about Eve.

This book is told from the viewpoints of Eve and her three daughters, Naava, Aya, and Dara (something never mentioned in the Bible). Each of their perspectives gives a unique look at the world around them. Naava is the eldest daughter who does everything to improve her own place in the world, sometimes creating problems for her family at the same time. Aya is the second oldest daughter and she has a deformity to her foot. Despite this condition she is a necessity to the family as she is the cook and the healer. Dara is the youngest, part of a set of twins, and she is used by the family as a go-between for the family and the newcomers. Eve is questioning if God exists because he hasn’t come to them since they were expelled from Eden. These females tell the stories of the men in their lives as well. Cain, the eldest, has a temper and is questioning the presence of God. Abel, the second oldest, does anything to help his family and believes that he can hear the voice of God, which really upsets his older brother. Jacan, Dara’s twin, follows Abel’s lead and is learning the ways of tending to the herds and listening to God. Finally there is Adam. He is the strong, quiet presence – always believing in the presence of God.

This book takes place at three different periods of time. Most of the story takes place in the months leading up to the death of Abel at the hands of Cain. During this time they meet the newcomers to the area and their presence and influence severely disrupts the pattern of the family. Through Eve’s retellings we learn of their life within the Garden of Eden, what led up to their expulsion from that Garden, and their travels to the place where they eventually settle down. The third period of time is very late in life right before Eve’s death. Naava has come back to see Eve before she dies.

I was very interested in reading this book because the early Bible stories are very interesting and create a great backbone for a novel. Elliott does an amazing job of weaving what is written in the Bible with her own story of the family. Her characters are very real and all of them have a distinct personality. As the story was coming to an end I realized that I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to know more about this family and what would happen after Abel’s death. I found that during reading this book I would look things up in the Bible to get an idea of what the back story was. I learned a lot during this process. I now can’t wait to read other books from this genre and can’t wait to see what this author comes out with next.

5 out of 5 stars!!! (less)

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Apr 25, 2011 Nicole rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this entire book. The flashbacks to life in the Garden, the temptation of the forbidden fruit, and their consequent expulsion were really interesting and well written. Unfortunately, that was only about 15% of the book. The rest of the story fell into repetitive and self-absorbed reflections. The story is written from the viewpoint of the women in Eve's family, but they each fall into a female stereotype that was really cringeworthy. It was as though Eve produced all the...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn't dislike this book, but I didn't love it, either. I love biblical fiction, and I was really looking forward to reading this book. I think, though, that I was too distracted by details to fully enjoy the story.

I expected Adam and Eve to be more primitive and discover new things. I was hoping to see the world as if everything was brand new. Instead, they all seemed to already know things- like how to take care of animals, raise children, cook and weave. When they stated the names of the c...more

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Mar 06, 2010 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: brothers, family-relationships, fiction, historical-fiction, library-books, read-in-2010, reading-challenges, remarkable-reads, sisters, women, young-women

Eve is a beautifully written re-imagining of one of mankind's oldest stories. Elliott's writing is exquisitely lyrical, weaving a fascinating story from the multiple points-of-view of Eve and her daughters. I picked up Eve at my library and read it completely for enjoyment, not as someone who has studied the Bible in-depth. Personally, I found it to be an incredibly compelling piece of historical fiction.

Elissa Elliott's writing is delicious! Her prose is expressive and graceful - this is a wom...more

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Oct 15, 2009 Apzmarshl rated it 2 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

Elliot takes poetic license as she delves into the mysterious lives of Adam and Eve. The story is told by Eve and her daughters; Naava, Aya, and Dara. Eve tells about the Garden, her relationship with Adam and her children and the undoing of Cain. Naava is a self centered beauty. Aya is the caregiver. Dara is young, sweet, easily swayed and somewhat overlooked.

Elliot had some great nuggets of wisdom interspersed with eh. I didn't really like any of the characters except maybe Aya. By th...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, parker-book-club

First of all, I never in a million years would have picked this up if it wasn't chosen for my book club. In general, I avoid bible spinoff books.

I have to admit, the beginning of this book was a struggle. For about the first 150 pages, almost nothing happens. There are multiple levels of flashbacks that talk about where Eve is now, starting to explain how she got there, and some things about getting kicked out of the garden and the immediate aftermath.

Once things started happening though, the ot...more

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Jun 26, 2009 Robin-Taine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, biblical

Eve, a novel of the Biblical story of the garden, is a gutsy choice for a fictional narrative. The author calls the Biblical story a skeleton, but really, the bible gives us only a few bones of the life of Adam and Eve. This novel attempts, from the perspective of Eve and her 3 daughters, to tell the story of the garden and of the weeks leading up to the murder of Abel by Cain.

There were a lot of things about this book that I liked. First, and perhaps most importantly to me, was the thoughtful...more Eve, a novel of the Biblical story of the garden, is a gutsy choice for a fictional narrative. The author calls the Biblical story a skeleton, but really, the bible gives us only a few bones of the life of Adam and Eve. This novel attempts, from the perspective of Eve and her 3 daughters, to tell the story of the garden and of the weeks leading up to the murder of Abel by Cain.

There were a lot of things about this book that I liked. First, and perhaps most importantly to me, was the thoughtful and respectful way the author treated the Biblical context of the story. She did not reduce the story to myth or God as figurative. She tells the story as though it is a piece of truth (which, as a Christian, I certainly believe). Her theology, while not solid, is well thought out, and she writes of God in a sound and, again, respectful manner. Although I don't agree with all of her conclusions regarding the Garden of Eden, the garden (and flight from the garden) are my favortie parts of the story. I also like the originality of telling the story of Eve. I don't think I've ever seen another novelization of the garden story which is what compelled me to pick up the book in the first place.

Once outside of the garden, the rest of the story, unfortunently, is not as well thought out. The storyline is very thin, the pace very slow, and at some point the book just seemed wordy but pointless. The three daughter's voices all sound alike and there is very little depth to any of the book's characters. To top it off, the writing at times is just plain bad. My favorite example is when this first family discovers that other people exist and a group come to visit. Among this group is a prince. The oldest daughter, Naava, begins to primp and her sister, Aya, wants to know why Naava is bothering since the prince "could have any woman he wanted". Corny writing, yes, but since these girls have never met a man other than their father and brothers, how do they even know what a prince is, never mind that he would have many women available to him? This prince plays a major role is the events of the book, which just prolongs the sense that the author has not truly thought out the plot or characters.

I have struggled how to rate this book; at moments I wanted to give it 4 stars and at other times, maybe 2. So I've compromised at a 3. Eve is great subject matter but it often seemed the author's concept of this story was too big for her to handle.(less)

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Nov 21, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: GREAT for a church book club or any book club

Somehow, I managed to read a review of this book early enough that I was one of the first at my library to request it! Score! This was a great book. If you liked The Red Tent, you'll love this one. This novel takes the Garden, Cain and Abel, and Adam and Eve and puts them in a perspective that you've most likely never thought about before. They were real people, with real emotions, thoughts, actions. I found this book fascinating and an easy read. Once I picked it up, I didn't want to put it dow...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's difficult for me to review this one. There were things I liked and things I didn't.

To summarize, the author takes the Biblical story of Adam and Eve and then uses her imagination (with help from other books and historical information) to fill in the "how" of what happened - how Eve was tempted, how she and Adam were expelled from The Garden, how Cain came to be full of rage and kill Abel, etc. The story is mostly told from the points of view of Eve and her daughters. To my knowledge, the B...more It's difficult for me to review this one. There were things I liked and things I didn't.

To summarize, the author takes the Biblical story of Adam and Eve and then uses her imagination (with help from other books and historical information) to fill in the "how" of what happened - how Eve was tempted, how she and Adam were expelled from The Garden, how Cain came to be full of rage and kill Abel, etc. The story is mostly told from the points of view of Eve and her daughters. To my knowledge, the Bible doesn't mention Eve's daughters, but it does say that she and Adam had several other children, so this would be an example of the author using her imagination to fill in the story.

When I first started reading, I was caught off guard by the language used - some of the words didn't feel right or seem appropriate for the time-period, however I'm certainly no etymologist, and after reading the author's Afterward and her explanation of why she made some of the word choices she did, I felt a tad more forgiving.

Also I would describe many of the thoughts and conclusions of the characters as being "American" in nature or possibly too mature for the time period - so although I enjoyed that I could empathize with certain emotions or thoughts, it felt...a little off. Does that make sense? According to the Bible, during Eve's time on Earth, people lived much longer than they do now, so maybe this is where the author felt she could take some liberties with the maturity of thoughts?

So. What did I like? I really enjoyed the description of The Garden and life with Elohim (God) there, and the detailed unfolding of events that showed how evil could seep into the lives of the family over time, even with their good intentions. I found it intriguing to see how each person's choices and longings and faith affected the other family members. The Biblical account has always left me with so many questions, and to be truthful, I've not always felt so fond or forgiving of Eve. It's not that I think this fictional book can answer my questions, but after reading this and rereading the beginning of Genesis a few times, I felt more aware of how Adam, Eve, and especially Cain could've gotten to the point that they did.

There were some slow spots where Eve droned on a bit, but there were also several gripping scenes, especially ones involving her children, where I couldn't put it down.

This book won't be for everyone. If you read it, definitely read the Afterward.

(less)

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Oct 31, 2011 Natalie Rodriguez rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone and Everyone!

Recommended to Natalie by: Found it on my own

This may very well be one of my favorite fiction concerning the stars of the old testament, and I read alot of biblical fiction! The tale is centered around Eve and her daughters, all except Naava being told from a first person POV. Like the author cautions, she used the creation story told in Genesis as her skeleton and gave it some literary meat and fibers to fill out the gaps. Although this is her debut novel, she is a pro from the begining. The way that she describes life in Eden, to the won...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Laura (booksnob) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, humanities-reading-list, literature

Everyone knows the timeless story of Adam and Eve and the tragic story of their children Cain and Abel.

Get ready to re-imagine and gain a new perspective.

Eve is an old story told with a creative twist where ancient history and Jewish traditions are woven into the story and the readers learn of what everyday life is like outside of the Garden of Eden. Elliott's book is told from Eve's perspective on what happened that fateful day in Biblical history and Eve's story interweaves with the stories o...more

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Mar 25, 2010 AC Shaynower rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-2010

I managed to read this rather long book in one weekend, thanks to two ten-hour train rides. Thank God that it's interesting, or else I would've just slept and missed my stops.

Eve is about what you expect...Eve, the "first woman" (though the author, in a stroke of artistic liberty, gave the First Family a city to make trouble in) and her and her daughter's struggles from the time in the Garden to the summer that Cain killed Abel, and a little afterwards but no real detail is put into what happene...more

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Apr 28, 2010 Danielle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, historical-novel, religion

This was not an easy book to read. I knew it probably wouldn't be after attending a reading and discussion with the author, Elissa Elliott. She admitted that she wrote this book as a way to explore questions she had regarding the book of Genesis, God, and tragedy. And most of us know how this is going to end.

I could have read this book quickly, just as a nice novelization/piece of fiction. The book can work that way. However, it doesn't take much to really think about what is being proposed. Ne...more

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Apr 15, 2010 Rukmini rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was very excited when I first came across this book and read the description on the book jacket because it reminded me of two of my favorite books - The Red Tent and The Poisonwood Bible. Unfortunately, this book didn't measure up to either of those two. Like The Red Tent, Eve is an attempt to fictionalize events that happened thousands of years ago (the birth of Adam and Eve, the temptation in the Garden of Eden and their subsequent expulsion, and their difficult life on Earth). Like The Pois...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Kristi rated it 1 of 5 stars

I keep hoping to find a wonderful adaptation of Eve, but once again it falls short. I like how its reading is eye opening and allows my mind to realize new perspectives of the story. However, I let my feelings help guide me to what I feel is truth or embellishment. I did not care for the feeling that this book brought. I hold so much more reverence and respect for the first family, it is hard to believe some of these ideas.

Of course, I will not discourage others to read it. I cannot judge since...more

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Jan 26, 2009 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I received an advanced reading copy via a Goodreads giveaway. This is Elissa Elliott's first novel but she provides a well written protrayal of Adam and Eve. Told mostly from Eve's prosepective the author weaves a tale of Eve's life. Her banishment from the Garden of Eden and how it greatly affected her throughout the rest of her days. She struggled with her belief, her marriage and her children. For the most part I found it believable and fascinating. The anger and guilt Eve felt towards God ar...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Mrs. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: from-giveaways

I won this novel on goodreads.com, and am glad I had a chance to read it.

Many of us have heard the story of the first people on Earth, created by God to live in the Garden of Eden. Many of us know that Eve was tempted by the Devil to try the Forbidden fruit, and that she and Adam were expelled from the garden because of this. We also know the story of the murder of Abel by Cain - the children of Adam and Eve. But we know little else.

The author did her research (the afterword was really interesti...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Janice Herrington rated it 3 of 5 stars

I know this made me think more about the day to day lives of Adam and Eve after they were banished from the Garden of Eden, and that was very important to me. The dialogue, however, was almost mechanical and there were other flaws that almost made me stop reading it. I kept waiting for the author to explain where these other people came from. Although Adam and Eve lived a long long life I felt like the description of their home and gardens and livestock were much more developed than could have o...more

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Feb 09, 2009 Brianna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm not a scholar of the Bible, so I couldn't really tell you which parts were Biblically accurate and which parts the author took literary license on. But I can say that Elliott breathed life into the mythical/Biblical figures of Eve and Adam. And I really enjoyed that.

It makes me wonder, now, why I never thought to wonder how it would feel for someone to belong to Eden and then have it ripped away as a result of choices they made.

Eve is both primitive and familiar. And I found the author's c...more

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Feb 06, 2009 Rick rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very entertaining and rewarding read. Although the topic deviates slightly from scripture, it is very respectful. Like reading the bible, there are lessons to be learned and applied to our lives today. Naava's chapters were presented in the 3rd person, rather than Aya, Dara and Eve's which were all told in the first person, which I think was an interesting choice. Although I was a little fatigued at Eve's obsession with the Garden, it makes sense and really enlightens us to what may h...more

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About Elissa Elliott

I’ve been a voracious reader since I was a child. Growing up as the oldest of seven, reading was my escape. It was my travel to faraway places and to different cultures. I think it was Mark Twain who said, “We read to know we’re not alone,” and I agree wholeheartedly.

I went the scientific route, graduating from UCLA with a biology degree and a masters of education. I taught high school math for tw...more

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Quotes from Eve

“Belief is not always easy.
It is equal parts doubt and astonishment and gratitude and confusion. And then you see how deeply colored the sky is, how the grass is so sharply fragrant, how the fields are a dazzling gold, and you have to step back and breathe in this wild fabulous world. We live in the space of abundant questions and inadequate answers. How else can we live?” — 8 people liked it

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Eve

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