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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
The book is only the beginning. But I’ll start there since this is a review.
The Ark presents a form of fiction that while not rare, is perhaps underutilised. I am talking about epistolary fiction, fiction told through letters or documents. There are examples of the form stretching back six hundred odd years and smattered over all kinds of genre but if you were looking to write a novel it’s not the form I’d immediately choose.
Why?
I think it’s a form that battles against the audience’s expectations and experience. It demands quite a clever bit of structuring from the author and the nature of its communication - essentially stop-start, (a document is experienced as a complete thing in and of itself and has to be written as such to attain verisimilitude) has the potential to break the readers flow.
Essentially it has to look and read like the real thing while delivering the same level entertainment expected of structurally easier formats.
I am, however, glad that Smith took up the challenge. The Ark is a fairly big diversion from the work she’s previously published and I think she’s done well, very well.
In terms of story she delivers an interesting and timely scenario.
It reads like an eco/survivor-thriller and it is. The challenges presented by the form don’t seem to have hampered delivering a tense ending. The beginning is perhaps slower than your normal thriller but this is necessary to build the tension and get the reader reading between the lines.
One of the advantages of the form is that we, the reader, have different perspectives presented to us. We begin to create one perception of the book’s reality based on the narrative explored in one set of emails, only to have that impacted or even undermined by revelations in other communications. The reader is caught in a game trying to decide which character is presenting the most accurate state of affairs. In that sense it’s perhaps more akin to a murder mystery thriller but without Hercule or Miss Marple to hold our hands.
So narratively, The Ark worked very well for me. The production of the book, raised the bar further. If you are going to set a story in 2041 that occurs in cyberspace, then aside from say… presenting the story as an App (which Smith also did) you have to give the reader some small sense that they are not reading a book, you have to transcend the book to some extent.
I did read my version in ebook form (I'm not sure if there is a paperback) which does a great job normally of simulating a standard paperback. To break down that sense that we were reading a book though, Smith has designed the documents we read to appear as emails (ie not just text with address headers), blogposts, newspaper extracts, etc. Aside from verisimilitude it generates, this choice gives a literal change of scenery.
To have left the project there, would have been fine. A nice terse future thriller, that makes some quiet comment on ecological issues and presents the reader with some variety in their narrative consumption.
Smith went further giving us an expanded interactive multimedia experience and for that you can checkout thearkbook.com yourself.
The Ark presents a form of fiction that while not rare, is perhaps underutilised. I am talking about epistolary fiction, fiction told through letters or documents. There are examples of the form stretching back six hundred odd years and smattered over all kinds of genre but if you were looking to write a novel it’s not the form I’d immediately choose.
Why?
I think it’s a form that battles against the audience’s expectations and experience. It demands quite a clever bit of structuring from the author and the nature of its communication - essentially stop-start, (a document is experienced as a complete thing in and of itself and has to be written as such to attain verisimilitude) has the potential to break the readers flow.
Essentially it has to look and read like the real thing while delivering the same level entertainment expected of structurally easier formats.
I am, however, glad that Smith took up the challenge. The Ark is a fairly big diversion from the work she’s previously published and I think she’s done well, very well.
In terms of story she delivers an interesting and timely scenario.
It reads like an eco/survivor-thriller and it is. The challenges presented by the form don’t seem to have hampered delivering a tense ending. The beginning is perhaps slower than your normal thriller but this is necessary to build the tension and get the reader reading between the lines.
One of the advantages of the form is that we, the reader, have different perspectives presented to us. We begin to create one perception of the book’s reality based on the narrative explored in one set of emails, only to have that impacted or even undermined by revelations in other communications. The reader is caught in a game trying to decide which character is presenting the most accurate state of affairs. In that sense it’s perhaps more akin to a murder mystery thriller but without Hercule or Miss Marple to hold our hands.
So narratively, The Ark worked very well for me. The production of the book, raised the bar further. If you are going to set a story in 2041 that occurs in cyberspace, then aside from say… presenting the story as an App (which Smith also did) you have to give the reader some small sense that they are not reading a book, you have to transcend the book to some extent.
I did read my version in ebook form (I'm not sure if there is a paperback) which does a great job normally of simulating a standard paperback. To break down that sense that we were reading a book though, Smith has designed the documents we read to appear as emails (ie not just text with address headers), blogposts, newspaper extracts, etc. Aside from verisimilitude it generates, this choice gives a literal change of scenery.
To have left the project there, would have been fine. A nice terse future thriller, that makes some quiet comment on ecological issues and presents the reader with some variety in their narrative consumption.
Smith went further giving us an expanded interactive multimedia experience and for that you can checkout thearkbook.com yourself.
rating: 4.5
I knew about this book from my second year of the architectural degree. It was for one of our assignments which is also my favourite assignment so far, and our task is to design a museum that represents the life in The Ark and tell its story. My approach was to create a significant landmark of the museum as a memorial to the people who previously contributed to The Ark and attract and educate more people to learn about the historical and cultural elements of the seed bank. My classmates and I had the pleasure to meet the author - Annabel Smith, in person and have her go through the background story of The Ark, and it was an intriguing experience to have the book author herself share with us about the book.
Recently I have decided to pick this book up and reread it. It is totally a blast! I enjoyed it so much more than when I was reading it for an assignment (considering all the stress I have had when designing a museum out of a book and, of course, the deadlines). I love the plots and how it's written in the way we read from people's message/email; it makes the whole reading experience more exciting and easy. I can relate to the people in The Ark more now than ever because their situation is somewhat similar to the Covid-19 situation we are in now. Can you imagine if we had the "secret community" hideaway until the Covid-19 is long gone? That would be incredible!
I wish there are more chapters after finishing the book; I am thrilled to know what happened to Ava's sister - Tillie, and also what happened to The Ark when it got discovered after decades, wish there's more to read!
Love this!
I knew about this book from my second year of the architectural degree. It was for one of our assignments which is also my favourite assignment so far, and our task is to design a museum that represents the life in The Ark and tell its story. My approach was to create a significant landmark of the museum as a memorial to the people who previously contributed to The Ark and attract and educate more people to learn about the historical and cultural elements of the seed bank. My classmates and I had the pleasure to meet the author - Annabel Smith, in person and have her go through the background story of The Ark, and it was an intriguing experience to have the book author herself share with us about the book.
Recently I have decided to pick this book up and reread it. It is totally a blast! I enjoyed it so much more than when I was reading it for an assignment (considering all the stress I have had when designing a museum out of a book and, of course, the deadlines). I love the plots and how it's written in the way we read from people's message/email; it makes the whole reading experience more exciting and easy. I can relate to the people in The Ark more now than ever because their situation is somewhat similar to the Covid-19 situation we are in now. Can you imagine if we had the "secret community" hideaway until the Covid-19 is long gone? That would be incredible!
I wish there are more chapters after finishing the book; I am thrilled to know what happened to Ava's sister - Tillie, and also what happened to The Ark when it got discovered after decades, wish there's more to read!
Love this!
‘The Ark’ is no ordinary novel, and to say I read it doesn’t quite sum up the experience of this book, as it is an experience more than a read.
It’s written in epistolary form—emails, minutes of meetings, and news articles. There’s also a website, thearkbook.com, with video of inside the Ark and audio of conversations. Also on the website, you can upload your fan fiction. Together, the book and the website create the world of the Ark, and add a whole new dimension to its enjoyment.
The book is set in the year 2041-2043. The ‘Ark’ itself is a facility set up in a bunker at the base of Mt Kosciusko to store billions of seeds under the National Arboreal Protection Facility. It’s where the seeds will be kept until the Earth can regenerate back to health and they can be replanted. It is the only way plant life will survive.
The outside world is in Chaos and twenty-six people, mainly scientists and their families, have been chosen to live together inside the Ark in this top-secret mission. The residents are soon told by the Project Manager, Aiden Fox, that the Ark’s time-delay locks will be activated for their own protection, and they will be locked inside the bunker for sixty days.
Through emails and letters, whose servers have creative trade names such as ‘Gopher’ and ‘Parlez vite’, the reader learns of the dispute between Aiden and the company that owns the Ark, SynBioTec. SynBioTec don’t support the locking of the Ark, and the reader begins to wonder what’s really going on. Who is right—SynBioTec or Aiden? Is Aiden all that he seems?
The book is divided into sections that concentrate on a different character. I particularly liked the section on Ava, the wife of one of the scientists, who suspects early on that Aiden is dangerous, but even her husband won’t believe her. Aiden, of course, cares about Ava, and is deeply concerned for her mental instability. he sends this ‘Gopher’ to the doctor:
Ava eventually needs time in the ‘Vitality Compact’ where she is treated for a ‘non-critical, non-contagious condition’. Gradually, more people in the Ark develop a non-critical, non-contagious condition requiring treatment …
This book is a clever in its creation of a futuristic world. I love the means of communication the group uses. For example, minutes of meetings are taken through the voice recognition software, ‘Articulate’, which has been ‘organising your thoughts since 2016′. Not only does it decipher the words used, but also the emotions conveyed, like ‘compassionate’ and ‘regretful’.
This book is a study of manipulation, power and corruption. The tension builds and things inside the Ark become more sinister. I’d liken it to George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’.
It’s written in epistolary form—emails, minutes of meetings, and news articles. There’s also a website, thearkbook.com, with video of inside the Ark and audio of conversations. Also on the website, you can upload your fan fiction. Together, the book and the website create the world of the Ark, and add a whole new dimension to its enjoyment.
The book is set in the year 2041-2043. The ‘Ark’ itself is a facility set up in a bunker at the base of Mt Kosciusko to store billions of seeds under the National Arboreal Protection Facility. It’s where the seeds will be kept until the Earth can regenerate back to health and they can be replanted. It is the only way plant life will survive.
‘The Ark Manifesto
The Ark exists to protect the seeds. The seeds are protected to enhance the future of human life on earth. Without our protection, the seeds cannot survive. The seeds do not have higher value than the lives of those who protect them, rather the relationship is symbiotic: each nurtures the other …’
The outside world is in Chaos and twenty-six people, mainly scientists and their families, have been chosen to live together inside the Ark in this top-secret mission. The residents are soon told by the Project Manager, Aiden Fox, that the Ark’s time-delay locks will be activated for their own protection, and they will be locked inside the bunker for sixty days.
Through emails and letters, whose servers have creative trade names such as ‘Gopher’ and ‘Parlez vite’, the reader learns of the dispute between Aiden and the company that owns the Ark, SynBioTec. SynBioTec don’t support the locking of the Ark, and the reader begins to wonder what’s really going on. Who is right—SynBioTec or Aiden? Is Aiden all that he seems?
The book is divided into sections that concentrate on a different character. I particularly liked the section on Ava, the wife of one of the scientists, who suspects early on that Aiden is dangerous, but even her husband won’t believe her. Aiden, of course, cares about Ava, and is deeply concerned for her mental instability. he sends this ‘Gopher’ to the doctor:
‘Alex, a delicate matter—I’m concerned about Ava’s mental state—I think all the pressure from Longrigg is making her a little unstable. I know your wife is friendly with her—I’m wondering if you might plant the idea for Darya that Ava might benefit from some counselling with you.’
Ava eventually needs time in the ‘Vitality Compact’ where she is treated for a ‘non-critical, non-contagious condition’. Gradually, more people in the Ark develop a non-critical, non-contagious condition requiring treatment …
This book is a clever in its creation of a futuristic world. I love the means of communication the group uses. For example, minutes of meetings are taken through the voice recognition software, ‘Articulate’, which has been ‘organising your thoughts since 2016′. Not only does it decipher the words used, but also the emotions conveyed, like ‘compassionate’ and ‘regretful’.
This book is a study of manipulation, power and corruption. The tension builds and things inside the Ark become more sinister. I’d liken it to George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’.