For those who missed the beginning of the show or just want a bit more information about the book featured in this week's edition of Interrobang, here's the written review. -- ‽

Not Wanted On the
Voyage

By Timothy Findley

One of the greatest and most enduring stories of all time is
the Biblical saga of Noah and the Ark. The Great Flood. When God became
disgusted with the evils of the world and sent down a deluge to “cleanse” the
Earth of everything he deemed unfit to walk on the face of the planet. Start
again. Hit the reset button with a whole lot of rain.

It’s a
simple story, right? God comes down to Earth, tells his faithful servant, Noah,
to build a gigantic boat, to collect a male and female of every animal species
in the world, load ‘em on board, and wait. Then, when the whole world is an
ocean, everything—and everyone—dies. All except Noah, his wife, his sons, and
his sons wives. And two by two…the animals who came.

Timothy Findley’s Not
Wanted On the Voyage takes this oversimplified and condensed story and
irreverently injects it with humanity—with personalities, relationships, and
the inevitably complex interactions between the main players in the tale.
Between Noah and his wife Mrs. Noyes. Between Mrs. Noyes and her cat, Mottyl.
Between the sons and wives—Ham, Shem, Japeth, Hannah, Emma. Between the tired
Yaweh and Noah. Between the angels and demons, and the Devil.

It’s a
strange story—angels are identified partly because they have webbed
extremities; the reclusive and nervous but kindhearted Unicorn makes an
appearance, as do the Fairies; Japeth—one of Noah’s sons—is blue, from head to
toe, including all the bits in between; Mrs. Noyes has taught her flock of
sheep to sign hymns and other songs; she sneaks gin behind her brutally
oppressive husband’s back, sitting sipping in a rocking chair watching the
sunset with Mottyl on her lap.

Mrs. Noyes,
incidentally, is an amazingly well crafted character. She is full of
imperfections and contradictions, and these bring her to life. The story is of her
intolerable situation, a time when her husband—whose contempt for his
wife is only tempered by devotion to his God—is supposed to save the world, and
her, and her sons, from complete annihilation. It is excruciating. Tragic.

The book is
exquisitely written. Findley has won the Governor General’s award for
literature and while it wasn’t for this book, it should have been. The story is
epic, heart-wrenching, painful, and filled with unexpected beauty. It should be
a must-read on every Canadian’s list of homegrown books. Get it. Read it. It’s
bizarre, Biblical, savage, and wonderful.