Fallen

FALLEN by David Maine is interesting on several levels. First, it's very well written. Second, its author dares to be both philosophical and funny. Finally, it's told backwards. The book tells the biblical story of brothers Cain and Abel. It starts with Cain as an old man, reflecting on the meaning of life, and ends with the fall of his parents in the Garden of Eden. Because Maine takes us through the saga in reverse, his irony and clever humor catch us off guard in the way we think about the stories we know by rote: After Adam tells Abel how God created man, Cain makes sense of it by explaining to Abel that the tale is just a metaphor. Cain also finds fault with Adam's version of the fall of man: "This whole story makes no sense! Why would God create a perfect place and then allow the Devil in it, just to trick you? Why tell you not to do something when He could have just removed the tree, and so avoided the problem completely?" In Cain's world, the demanding, judgmental God does not come across well. Cain's is an interesting point of view, in that he and his family are "all the people in the world." When he runs into a stranger, he can't figure out "where they come from ... people like us, only not us. I mean not our kin. It's confusing." The book is about faith and guilt, doubting and accepting. The language is often pretty: "The rainy season comes, bringing with it long gray afternoons and lingering twilight as the sun pokes its fingers through the cloud's spent tatters, filling the landscape with ghostly golden pyramids." This is a really thought-provoking book. It asks the questions many readers of Genesis have asked: Why did God show disfavor to Cain when Cain worked so hard? Who are Cain and Abel going to marry? And there are not always answers.

Even the world's very first family was seriously dysfunctional, or so argues David Maine in his imaginative, insightful second novel, FALLEN. In Maine's debut novel, 2004's THE PRESERVATIONIST, he focused on the Old Testament story of Noah's flood. Now, with FALLEN, Maine returns to the Book of Genesis from the very beginning, exploring the story of Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, as well as the story of the world's first murder, when Adam and Eve's oldest son Cain killed his brother Abel. In Maine's novel, Cain is bitter, angry and resentful, yet oddly sympathetic. Cursed to wander about until the end of his days, marked by God with a mark that ostensibly keeps him from harm but actually reveals his true identity (and its accompanying dread) to all he meets, Cain lacks any support beyond his small family. As Cain's history is revealed, Maine grounds the young man's hatred of his father in larger family dynamics. Abel is the family golden boy, beloved by both God and by his parents. Cain, on the other hand, is despised for his skepticism and for his murder (according to Eve) of his stillborn twin brother in utero. Cain's crime can't be forgiven, perhaps, but Maine makes it possible to understand the circumstances that lead to such a shocking event in human history. Although FALLEN lacks the multiple voices that enriched THE PRESERVATIONIST, it is no less compelling. What is most impressive is how Maine weaves, from a few short verses in Genesis, a fully fleshed novel that expands on the Biblical narrative while still remaining true to its source. Chances are that many readers will return to the original text after reading Maine's retelling. The structure of Maine's novel is also inventive; in 40 chapters divided into four parts, Maine tells the story in reverse chronological order, beginning with a middle-aged Cain in exile and ending immediately following Adam and Eve's loss of paradise. Each section begins with the same chapter title as the last chapter in the previous section, and other chapter titles ("The Stranger," "The Conversation," "The Proposal") are repeated throughout, giving the impression of a highly structured poem, like a sonnet. The creativity and elegance of this approach reflect Maine's admirable control of his prose. The result of this reverse chronological approach is a stunning and surprisingly emotional account of humans' ultimate and inevitable failings. We're reminded of the wider implications of Cain's crime in a disturbing scene where a young boy admits that he, too, committed murder solely because he was inspired by Cain's own actions. FALLEN, and the ideas it inspires, will resonate with all thoughtful readers, regardless of their religious beliefs or affiliations. --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

More than anything else, the story in Fallen is the story of marriage. Yes, it is traditionally known as The First Marriage, although there is never a ceremony in Genesis, nor is there any implication of one in Fallen -- a gentle, implied reminder that ceremonies are invented by man, not created by God. Adam and Eve, as those of us know who have been married for a long time or perhaps multiple times, present a marital prototype. Love itself, particularly sexual love, is a bewildering thing. And it is not enough. Only through shared experience, hardship, the struggle to survive, and the development of respect and admiration for one another, does a true marriage evolve. And, since we are not God, we are uncomfortable with perfection. That, coupled with the little spark of creativity that comes with being human, can certainly lead to trouble of our own making -- as in the case of Eve. The plot structure works the way human memory works. You know what I'm talking about: Some incident on a Tuesday morning, triggered by nothing in particular, takes your mind backwards, and you stop working the crossword puzzle in favor of an interior exploration of a chain of events. This happened, and before that, that happened, and before THAT ... and you find yourself re-experiencing childhood traumas, ancient hurts, smug little victories, horrible mistakes, and, sometimes, much, much worse -- as in the case of Cain. Readers who like the idea of Creation will be intrigued by Fallen because, with no proselytizing, and perhaps unintentionally, the author supports the notion that, if God is God, then God created everything -- lucious food, laughter, love, orgasms, ingenuity, pride, boredom, ingratitude, jealousy, terror, vengeance, and even His own outrage. Fallen is not a difficult book to read, it IS a difficult book to put down, and impossible to stop mulling over after you read it. Whether or not you live by the Old Testament, you will be struck by the truth in this story -- a story of human weakness and of human tenacity.

While it remains a mystery who arranged the dust into the shape of that first man, after reading Fallen, I am convinced that it is David Maine who has breathed life into him, and all the flesh of his flesh. Weaving backwards, Maine begins with Cain as an aged, dying man and ends with the expulsion from Eden. He does not so much rewrite the stingy narrative but adds to it, writes in between it, swells it, and truly makes the word flesh. With an unparalleled elegance, Maine explores everything that the original author refused to reveal and the mythical characters upon whom Western civilization is based become painfully and wonderfully human. Adam is sincere, inadequate and afraid of rabbits; Abel is exasperating, innocent and bad with numbers; Cain is brooding, clever and tragically sensitive; Eve, with her "red hair spilling crazily across the green moss," Eve is like fire... passionate, exquisite and breathtakingly brave. Traveling backwards, working towards that fateful night, when under the thunder struck sky, Adam knew Eve and Eve knew hunger, Maine tells an incredible story of love, family, and learning to walk after the fall. Much like the mark on Cain's forehead that it opens with, Fallen will brand you forever, burn inside of you, heartbreakingly beautiful and unforgettable.

David Maine's narration of the story of Cain and Abel in his latest masterpiece, "Fallen", is perhaps as precious as the age-old biblical tale from which he draws inspiration. Once again, Maine revamps the seemingly familiar religious text into an accessible, heart-warming and witty account of two brothers struggling to understand each other. Captured in varying first-hand narratives, Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel offer individual perspectives about the value of love, sin, and one's inherent responsibility to God ultimately shedding a whole new light upon the Garden of Eden and the aftermath that ensues.