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Adam & Eve

Sena Jeter Naslund

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Mar 30, 2019 Ra rated it liked it

Shelves: scribd

I am at a loss to understand what the author was trying to say with the story.

Lucy is recently widowed and while dealing with the grief of losing her scientist husband she is approached by a scholar who knew her husband to smuggle some ancient writing out of Egypt.

Lucy is not a Lara Croft, yet she is plunged into intrigues that are worthy of a superhero. She now holds both this ancient secret, and the last of her husband's work. Both of which apparently threaten the "literalists" those whose in I am at a loss to understand what the author was trying to say with the story.

Lucy is recently widowed and while dealing with the grief of losing her scientist husband she is approached by a scholar who knew her husband to smuggle some ancient writing out of Egypt.

Lucy is not a Lara Croft, yet she is plunged into intrigues that are worthy of a superhero. She now holds both this ancient secret, and the last of her husband's work. Both of which apparently threaten the "literalists" those whose interpretation of the scripture does not accept any argument or judgment. Some reviewers said the characters representing those, especially the Rabbi who was portrayed most clearly, were mere caricatures, but they served as representative bad guys, both religious and secular defendants of old mindsets and ideas.

In the course of trying to outsmart this old guard, Lucy is stranded in a place she calls Eden, located somewhere in Mesopotamia. And there is an Adam there who is also stranded for his own different reasons.

I kept reading to find out what is going to happen, while thinking at the same time that the novel took on too many strands of subjects without dealing with any of them properly. There are elements of coming to terms with grief, recognizing that what you know of your partner might not be their true substance, the role of art in the evolution of thought and humanity, and the tension between religion and spirituality. In the end it boils down to one question, is the quest for truth of ultimate importance or should we just be happy with believing whatever gives us comfort?

This I think was the take-home question for Lucy and the single pivoting point where her character developed. I am not sure about the rest.

The book still merits three stars for its thought provoking ideas and discourse. The story itself was lost between magical realism and an interpretation of a near-reality in a not-so-distant future.
I was not sure whether to suspend disbelief for the magical realism of it, or shake my head dismissively at the poor interpretation of reality. I ended up lost between the two options, suspended myself, like the guy on the orange parachute (what was HIS point anyway ?) . ...more

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Jul 22, 2010 Juliana Philippa marked it as to-read

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Shelves: n, contemporary-fiction, coverx-flowers, indie-next-2010, title-has-girls-name, world-middle-east-iraq, year-2010, title-has-boys-name, title-has-palindrome, published-in-09september

Mar 18, 2023 Lorri marked it as to-read

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