Official Review: Noah's Wife
Posted: 24 Jan 2017, 06:31
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of Noah's Wife by T.K. Thorne.]
Noah's Wife by T. K Thorne is a fictional retelling of the biblical story of Noah's Ark, only this time we follow his wife's tale from child to womanhood. Na'amah, Noah's wife, is on the autism spectrum and seen in this time as mentally deformed. Though visually beautiful, others of her tribe keep their distance, believing she is too different and should have been left to die at birth. Her brother torments her, yet her grandmother tells her she is special and 'marked by Mother Goddess'. Na'amah shows us the world through her eyes, in visions of colour and sound with the awkwardness of one with what we call today, Aspergers.
I can not begin to explain how wonderful I believe this book is. Set in Turkey 5521 B.C the women of the tribe are taught the ways of Mother Goddess and honor her in hopes their crops grow strong, and the men worship Father God who rules the sky and blesses the hunts. Na'amah struggles to believe in the God and Goddess. She sees the world differently and questions everything. Her form of autism means she struggles to hold in these thoughts and often questions everyone's belief in something they can not see and feel. While this sets her apart, what truly disturbs those around her is how she remembers every single detail of each day and stores them in her mind as a series of images, colours and sounds. She knows every sheep, when they are about to give birth, when they are sick or dying and who in the tribe they belong to.
Na'amah longs to be a shepherdess and spends her days with the animals and her best friend, Yanner, who accepts her the way she is. But she is a young girl and must one day marry and have children and run a home, as is expected of her. One day, at the marketplace when she is admiring an exotic white bird, Noah, the tribe Boatmaker, sees her. He asks her father to give Na'amah to him as 'Wife' and promises not to claim her until she is a 'woman'.
This is only the beginning of the story. Over the years of Na'amah's life we watch this wonderfully strong girl face many hardships and trials. There is heartbreak and fear and tragedy. I wanted to climb in to this book so many times and put myself between this girl and the bad men hurting her. Her journey is written beautifully from a simple, yet also complex mind. Every moment of her life will stay in my heart. The times were harsh for women and they grow more dangerous as the people twist the origins of their beliefs for their own powerful gains.
Noah's Wife becomes a tale of inner strength, of how man can turn divine teachings in to a way to hurt and punish. It is a tale of how one young girl who is open to free thought is connected to everything around her through her 'deformity'. She has a connection to the animals and the seasons. This book deserves the full 4 out of 4 rating I am giving it. I have never read a book from the point of view of one with autism, especially during the times before Christ and how it was dealt with back then.
There is far more to Na'amah's story than I can explain. I can only warn that some scenes brought me close to tears, provoked anger and kept me turning the pages hoping she would pull through every hardship placed ahead of her. T.K Thorne's descriptions and hidden meanings are wonderful to read and it is a book I will pick up again in the future. There is no pushing of religion, it promotes freedom of thought and teaches us to question anything we don't understand. It is a book that leaves you thinking for many hours after you finish.
Noah's Wife by T. K Thorne is a fictional retelling of the biblical story of Noah's Ark, only this time we follow his wife's tale from child to womanhood. Na'amah, Noah's wife, is on the autism spectrum and seen in this time as mentally deformed. Though visually beautiful, others of her tribe keep their distance, believing she is too different and should have been left to die at birth. Her brother torments her, yet her grandmother tells her she is special and 'marked by Mother Goddess'. Na'amah shows us the world through her eyes, in visions of colour and sound with the awkwardness of one with what we call today, Aspergers.
I can not begin to explain how wonderful I believe this book is. Set in Turkey 5521 B.C the women of the tribe are taught the ways of Mother Goddess and honor her in hopes their crops grow strong, and the men worship Father God who rules the sky and blesses the hunts. Na'amah struggles to believe in the God and Goddess. She sees the world differently and questions everything. Her form of autism means she struggles to hold in these thoughts and often questions everyone's belief in something they can not see and feel. While this sets her apart, what truly disturbs those around her is how she remembers every single detail of each day and stores them in her mind as a series of images, colours and sounds. She knows every sheep, when they are about to give birth, when they are sick or dying and who in the tribe they belong to.
Na'amah longs to be a shepherdess and spends her days with the animals and her best friend, Yanner, who accepts her the way she is. But she is a young girl and must one day marry and have children and run a home, as is expected of her. One day, at the marketplace when she is admiring an exotic white bird, Noah, the tribe Boatmaker, sees her. He asks her father to give Na'amah to him as 'Wife' and promises not to claim her until she is a 'woman'.
This is only the beginning of the story. Over the years of Na'amah's life we watch this wonderfully strong girl face many hardships and trials. There is heartbreak and fear and tragedy. I wanted to climb in to this book so many times and put myself between this girl and the bad men hurting her. Her journey is written beautifully from a simple, yet also complex mind. Every moment of her life will stay in my heart. The times were harsh for women and they grow more dangerous as the people twist the origins of their beliefs for their own powerful gains.
Noah's Wife becomes a tale of inner strength, of how man can turn divine teachings in to a way to hurt and punish. It is a tale of how one young girl who is open to free thought is connected to everything around her through her 'deformity'. She has a connection to the animals and the seasons. This book deserves the full 4 out of 4 rating I am giving it. I have never read a book from the point of view of one with autism, especially during the times before Christ and how it was dealt with back then.
There is far more to Na'amah's story than I can explain. I can only warn that some scenes brought me close to tears, provoked anger and kept me turning the pages hoping she would pull through every hardship placed ahead of her. T.K Thorne's descriptions and hidden meanings are wonderful to read and it is a book I will pick up again in the future. There is no pushing of religion, it promotes freedom of thought and teaches us to question anything we don't understand. It is a book that leaves you thinking for many hours after you finish.
