Adam and Eve Review

Adam & Eve : a novel by Sena Jeter Naslund

Book Description from Harper Collins website

Due out September 28. 2010

What happened to Eden?

The New York Times bestselling author of Ahab's Wife, Four Spirits, and Abundance returns with an audacious and provocative novel that envisions a world where science and faith contend for the allegiance of a new Adam & Eve.

One of the most imaginative and inspired writers of our time, Sena Jeter Naslund masterfully uses her craft to lay bare the poignant complexity of humanity—the passion and despair, the ignorance and frailty, the genius and resilience that define us. From Victorian London to civil-rights-era Alabama, from nineteenth-century New England to revolutionary Paris, her novels offer profound insight and startling truths about human experience. Now, with Adam & Eve, she delivers her most ambitious and encompassing tale to date.

Set against the searing debate between evolutionists and creationists, Adam & Eve expands the definition of a "sacred book," and suggests that true madness lies in wars and violence fueled by all religious literalism and intolerance. A thriller, a romance, an adventure, and an idyll, Adam & Eve is a tour de force by a master contemporary storyteller.

My review:

I loved this book. I’ve never read any of her other books, but this one was lyrical and she painted a picture as if she were applying paint to canvas.

Both Lucy and Adam experience a rebirth of themselves while in “Eden” and discover life again and are able to learn to love again.

Memorable passage:

The old man was like a mountain spring, and the words from his lips

Flowed unceasingly over jagged rocks and smooth, flat stones, over

toads and watercress. Minnows swam in his words, and then a

gigantic whale whose passing was interminable. Yards and yards

of gray whale blocked Adam’s vision like the passing of a freight

train at a rural crossing, till finally the way was clear and that

moving assemblage no longer blocked the vista.

I think that anyone who reads this book will be moved and understand how Lucy & Adam become whole again after the tragedies in their lives. If you like literary fiction then this is a book you must read.

This book was sent to me ARC was sent to me from the publisher free of charge for review.

Happy Reading!

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