Fallen

by David Maine, Simon Vance (Narrator)

A provocative epic of a story we know so well— or do we?

Once expelled from the Garden, Adam and Eve had to find their way past recriminations and bitterness to build a new life in a harsh land.

In Fallen, David Maine has drawn a convincing, enthralling portrait of a family-one driven (and riven) by familiar passions and jealousies. The result is a staggering achievement an intimate, hilarious, and utterly original telling of temptation and murder and of exile and loss.

Praise for The Preservationist:

"Inventive re-imagining of the Biblical flood tale for a 21 st-century audience." - People

"An elegant, inventive book... [that] envisions the events in Noah's life with awe and realism." - The New York Times

"A brilliant, kaleidoscopic analysis of the situation...this debut is a winner." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Author David Maine brings motive and inner dialogue to the story, and narrator Simon Vance brings those elements alive." AudioFile Magazine

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Religion, Biblical Fiction, Novels, Mythology

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

I was born and raised in Connecticut but spent much of my adult life overseas, living in Morocco from 1995-98 and in Lahore, Pakistan from 1998-2008. Since 2008 I have been living and teaching in Honolulu. I began getting published in 2004, with The Preservationist, a retelling of the Noah story from Genesis. This was followed by Fallen, which reexamined the stories of Eve/Adam and Abel/Cain. In 2006, my novel The Book of Samson was released. All three books were published by St Martin's Press in the US and Canongate in the UK.

My first non-Biblically-oriented story, called Monster, 1959, was published in February 2008. It generated a lively mix of responses. My next "literary fiction" novel, An Age of Madness, will be forthcoming in 2012 from Red Hen Press.

In my immediate future is the summer 2011 release of an eBook through my agent at Folio Literary Management, and available at all the likely places (Amazon, B&N, the Apple store, etc). The new book is entitled The Gamble of the Godless and it is an epic fantasy in the Lord of the Rings tradition, complete with sorcerers, talking animals, telepathic owls, drug-addicted cheetahs and (of course) a threat to the entire known world. It's all tremendously fun, and although it represents a new direction for my publishing career, it's actually a return for me to the type of books I grew up reading--and loving.

I'd like to thank the readers and reviewers of this site for their many responses, even the negative ones. As a writer, I would much rather have someone read my book and respond negatively to it, than feel no response at all. And of course, thanks for the many positive responses too!

More info about me, my life, my writing and much else can be found at davidmaine.blogspot.com . Come take a look. I'm also on Facebook, so come friend me up. Thanks a lot, and cheers.

Reviews

[David Maine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know it's low-class to rate my own books. But I do, actually, think they're pretty good.

[Donovan Mattole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being inspired by content that has been around for a few thousand years, it is very original and fresh.

I was recently reminded of how much I enjoyed reading David Maine's first book, The Preservationist, and so I went out and picked up everything he's written since. The Fallen didn't disappoint - I love his writing. His style is wry and sparce. In this novel he tells the story backwards, beginning with Cain on his deathbed and ending with Adam and Even's banishment from the garden. I loved it. What you find in the middle is a countdown to that fateful day of mankind when we lost utopia - each chapter revealing the reasons why the events we just learned of occured. It was a nice change that I found quite refreshing. Instead of waiting to find out what is going to happen, you know the ending and instead are reading to find the seeds and events leading up to that moment. What was it that made Cain do what he did? What you find is heart wrenching at times - sparse, but emptional. It is a picture into the first family and there are echoes in each of our families today. They may have been the first recorded family in history, but there were reasons for their dysfuctions and they weren't that different than we are today.

Now, on to Samson...

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler: Abel dies. The story of the first family is not anything new. The technique the writer uses to tell the story is quite novel.

At first, I hated this book. I did not want to read it and I thought it was awful. About 1/2 way through it became bearable. Towards the end I appreciated what he was trying to do. This story is told in reverse chronological order. By going in reverse chronological order, a boring 2000 year old tale that everyone knows became intriguing. Instead of going in a normal chronology and the story being typical, by going backwards every chapter is a mystery about what events happened in the chapter preceding. As the author turns the chronology "on its head" he also turns the story on it's head so it's not what you thought it would be. The story you thought you new is changed in tone and reason by presenting it in reverse. The structure of the novel highlights the conditions leading up to a man murdering his brother. It's easy to point at Cain as the evil murderer of his brother, but the Bible conveniently leaves out the "why?" that gets to the heart of the story. This novel tries to explain why to a certain extent. It shows that the First Family was very dysfunctional and suffered a lot of trauma. Consequently, that trauma was passed on to Adam and Eve's children. They didn't have it easy outside the garden of eden. At the end of the book you see what they went through and figure how could Cain not have ended the way he did. This technique also points out the absurdity of the story of the creation. How could one family be the foundation of the human race? How could one family invent fire, fishing, hunting, farming so easily. Where did the other people on Earth come from? The author was very clever in the structure of this novel. Also, he was very clever in repeating the themes such as murder, and banishment that appear over and over.

However, there were many aspects of the novel that I didn't like. It was written well, but I was not engaged in the prose. It was choppy and hard to follow. The structure of the dialogue was difficult to read. The language in this novel was a mix of old Biblical sounding words compared with really modern slang and vernacular. The combination didn't work for me. I couldn't tell if the author was trying to make a point or just a messy writer. Also, the characters and dialogue didn't fit with the story. There was an odd mix of omniscience by the characters and naivety. Cain knew the name for "city" before a city ever existed and the characters knew that they had hearts and brains inside them though none had been opened up. But then later in the book, Adam says that water has turned to stone. He was clever enough to create a net but didn't realize water froze when it was cold. I thought this was sloppy writing and felt messy to me. Perhaps, this was the author's intent to show the absurdity of the original Bible story. However, it made the story difficult to read and follow along.

Overall, this isn't a book I would recommend easily. I can't really say I liked it but it really made me think. It was interesting in structure and technique and I really appreciate that.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure where I came across a review for this book, and looking through my e-mail folders, I apparently didn't save the review, but I remember getting this book because I thought the premise was intriguing. Fallen is the story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. What I thought would be interesting would be the way the author might put flesh on that story.

It is an engaging bit of storytelling. The main characters are all given personalities, and rather distinct ones at that. Adam is wishy-washy and must be compelled to action. Eve is assertive, but she is also the evil one. (I get the impression that the author holds a slight Catholic theological underpinning to how he perceives the characters.) Abel is self-righteous, bossy, and a bit lazy. Cain is industrious and headstrong and prideful. It is these personality traits that lead to the first family's ultimate dysfunction. Though I can't say that I wholly agree with the author's speculation, I do find it to be a compelling portrayal.

But perhaps what I liked most about the book was its unique format. I am a sucker for unusual formats such as what you would find in Girl in Hyacinth Blue and Nothing But the Truth. Fallen takes an approach that is similar to that in Hyacinth Blue in that you start at the end and work back to the beginning, though Fallen does it much better. You start with chapter 40 and work back to chapter 1. Very cool. I like how you see the effects before you see the causes. I found that it compelled me forward as I was anxious to see what things in the characters' pasts led to their current actions.

Another bit that I liked about the format is that the book is told in four parts, giving each of the main characters their own section to see the story unfold through their eyes. This was most effective at the transition from Cain to Abel as you watch the murder first through Cain's eyes and then through Abel's.

It's a good book. At times, it gets a bit crass and gritty, but I guess that's to be expected when working through themes of murder and passion and jealousy and, to some extent, irrationality.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hated to put Fallen down. Even when I was frustrated with a character (I'm talking to you, Eve,) I was nonetheless riveted by how the four characters dealt with such issues as temptation, obedience, jealousy, pride, shame, fear and hope all within the construct of their various interpersonal relationships (Siblings, Man-Woman, Father-Son, and Mother-Son.) Having the story told in reverse was just the right mechanism, in my opinion, for revealing to the reader what made each of these characters who they are.

I appreciated most that I could have one opinion of a character based on one book, only to change that opinion to something completely different when another's point of view is revealed. I disliked and yet loved all four. (Well, maybe I didn't love Eve, but I could empathized with her dislike of her own need to nag and the matter-of-fact need to get on with things like survival. If not for spoilers, I could go on and on for all four characters.)

The longer I muse on Fallen, the deeper my appreciation grows. Through the author's retelling of the first humans, all those traits that make us human are fittingly examined and, in some cases, their origins questioned. This is the first book by David Maine that I have read, but I already put The Preservationist on hold at my library, because I can't wait to read more of his work.

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a religious person in the slightest, I was a little leery of this book. But once I started reading it, I was instantly sucked in. The book tells the story of the first family, but telling it in a wonderfully real way. The story begins with Cain on his death bed, and every chapter jumps you back farther in time. You’re constantly learning what led to the events you just read, which makes for a really interesting read. We look back through the life of Cain, then the lives of Cain and Abel and their family, then Adam and Even alone, and the book ends with Adam and Even getting kicked out of Eden. Maine also leaves out most of the religious aspects of the story as well, which can’t be entirely easy. But God is a minor character, really only important in that he was the one who kicked Adam and Even out of the garden. The story instead focuses more on the reality of the situation – two virtual newborns thrust out of paradise into a harsh land with no idea how to survive. The book describes wonderfully and realistically what it could have been like, the nitty gritty of it all, and follows the family as it learns and grows. Really interesting.

[Jaymi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, written in reverse, was really entertaining and inventive. Every chapter seemed to allude to something that you didn't quite understand yet, but that would be outlined in the next chapter (that actually had happened previously). It sounds confusing but it was just interesting. I suppose that when telling a tale we all know, you have to find a way to make it interesting. I think David Maine did just that. It added dimension and depth to the age old story of Adam & Eve and their family.
The writing style, and most specifically the quoting, was a little hard to get used to because he doesn't use proper punctuation. Some of my book club friends were annoyed by this, but I felt like it made sense to tell the story of the "first" people without all of the proper grammar skills. They were not refined people and that was how I felt this writing style was also trying to be.
I enjoyed this book and definitely would recommend it to friends for a quick read over a weekend.

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story of Cain & Abel & Adam & Eve (after their banishment from The Garden of Eden) is necessarily even more imaginative than The Preservationist, because there's so much less detail in the biblical account. This one, with its more serious themes of fratricide & banishment & disinheritance (both God's of Adam & Eve & theirs of Cain), lacks much of the humor that was integral to The Preservationist, but it has the same wit & keen insight couched in the same spare, precise prose. Here the story is told backwards, with each chapter (40 of them, a good biblical number) about a time preceding the previous one. Through the characters' memories, Maine skillfully drops hints about earlier events but also introduces surprising developments in nearly every chapter. And his method heightens our sense as readers of how events shape later events. This is a work of genius.

[Kat Gilmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the storytelling element of this story. I love the author's way with words that weave around you as you read it. I listened to parts of this book on audio and other times I read the book. The audio was so nice to hear the author's words out loud around you. The author's word choice,metaphor and storytelling is literary and beautiful. I would read a recipe book if he wrote it. The story itself is a clever retelling of the Adam/Eve and Cain/Abel story. He gives these biblical characters life. Building on what little the bible tells of these characters, he creates a family, a couple, a sibling relationship that are recognizable and tragic. I havent read a book in a while outside of classic literature that uses such care with language.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This goes in reverse from Cain's death to the moment after Adam and Eve must leave Eden. So the novel's first half spins backwards to the first sibling rivalry. Maine must have studied midrash, the old Hebrew tales which grew out of the spare original tellings in Genesis of these powerful, painful, puzzling, primordial predicaments, e.g., a notion that twins were part of the first family, and how, puzzlingly still naturally, others pop up, join the clan to proliferate and populate the city of Henoch.

The telling of later stages has its moments as "urban civilization" while a glimmer hints at progress towards flocks, farms, and fortification. Cain must live among those from whom his sign signals avoidance, yet protection, the doubled curse leaving him unable to be killed, yet hating to live at all.

I found the second section of the narrative, with the exiled progenitors, more engaging. Maine excels at retelling the aftermath, how for months and years, the couple must wander, bickering, coupling, she always pregnant, he always preoccupied. She goads him to become a hunter, while he fumbles and fumes. They keep procreating, as if programmed to never stop. After all, their Maker never left them with instructions. Their desperate struggles to fend off hunger, figure out how to keep a fire going and a spear poised to hit its mark, and the sullen resentment they carry out of the Garden enliven their human condition, and without any preaching or pomp, Maine succeeds in the difficult attempt to restore wonder and woe to these very first of the biblical stories we return to.

[Candice Roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over dramatized story of Cain and Abel from the bible.
It's about all the unspoken words that should have been said.
Had their communication been better they may have ended up being a positive story.
However that was not the case and as a result one brother dies and the other can't run from his past wrong doings forever.
Self-reflection for said actions eventually occurs but forgive may never be obtained.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book blew me away.

I knew the story of Adam and Eve - and that they had two sons - and that one killed the other because he was jealous. But - for me - David Maine brought this story and these characters to life in such an unexpected, real way.

Before - I'd just accepted the moral of the story - and what was being implied by the way in which it was told.

Now - I have a different perspective to explore and delighted to discover that there is a plausible alternative tale. Sure - one that still ends up the same way, but one that took me on a completely different journey. Recycling at it's absolute best.

The structure of this story was cleverly interesting. And each individual was given a real, flawed, depth of character. I was surprised at the end who I did and didn't like (I wasn't fond of God in particular).

In places I felt as if I was peeking in on a real (albeit very well known) family's life. How deliciously naughty!

This is a book that I will read many times in the years to come.

[Nurture Waratah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a religious person, nor am I Christian, but that did not prevent me from enjoying this novel. Beginning with the final days of Cain and moving back in time to Adam and Eve's banishment from the Garden, this book portrays the dusty old Bible stories in a brand new light. Breathing life into these well-known characters in a way no Bible story ever could, Maine reminds us that few people are truly evil and that we all have the potential to commit terrible acts.

The names in this book are all familiar - Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, God - but their personalities are far more fleshed out and sympathetic than those portrayed in Genesis, and I was left with many more questions than I began with. Was Adam and Eve's crime truly so great as to deserve permanent banishment? How long should a man be punished for the sins of his youth? And just how just is the Christian God really?

Whether you are Christian or not, this is an extremely well-written and entertaining read that you will be unable to put down and I will be recommending it to everybody I come across.

[Lauren Noel Ottwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected this to be ground-breaking, but wasn't impressed.

Resentment of God and his will are perfectly legitimate emotions. He's not that great.

A second race of people, not descendants of Adam, suddenly appear as spouses for the sons of Adam, but their mysterious origin is never explained. Wondering then how their descendants happen to qualify for the blood/grace of the Last Adam? A good storyteller knows that when you're working with a limited cast, you can't suddenly pop people out of nowhere to help you fill a plot hole.

(Here's a thought, what about the way genetic mutations multiply with each new generation, which means the further back you go, the less problematic a brother-sister marriage would be?)

There was death before sin (see Adam & Eve eating eels in the Garden).

There was no sex before sin? Really? And now it's "no substitute for paradise," but "it's what we've got"? Really?

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Maine brings intrigue and mystery to one of the most familiar stories in the Bible: the story of Adam and Eve and their sons, Cain and Abel. The momentum of this story comes from the fact that it is told backwards, beginning with Cain about to die and rewinding all the way to Adam and Eve's first night after leaving Eden. It really was the perfect way to tell this story--rather than watching everything unravel, we begin with a disappointed Cain on his death bed and explore the reasons behind his choices, tracing his choices all the way back to the fateful decision his mother made in Eden. The book explored theological questions without becoming preachy and gave fictional ideas to Biblical characters without seeming irreverent. Although I wasn't hooked on the book immediately, I found I enjoyed it more and more as I read...

I'm excited to get my hands on a copy of The Preservationist, which is supposed to be an even better story about Noah & the ark.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story beautifully, and accessibly fleshes out the well-known Biblical passages from Genesis regarding the first humans. The early trials of Adam and Eve's survival, and the story of Cain's murder of his Brother Abel are presented in a very accessible, and relatable way. The way the characters seem so completely human, having the same thoughts and feelings any of us might, and even using modern language to express everything was extremely refreshing. Adam and Eve's trials are not unlike what real early humans might have gone through in learning to live and survive in this world. This book shows us how the story of Adam and Eve fits as a mythology of early man. I also enjoyed examining the relationship between the first humans and their God--it's a strange and complicated relationship--something that some people might say even today.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually picked up the book because it was in a group of many other 'must read' books. I read the in-cover synopsys and i got intrigued - i wasn't disapointed! I am facinated by the stories in the first testament, and as a matter of fact i own 3 different versions of The Bible for Children. The story takes you on a journey backwards about Cain's life, only to end with Adam and Eve's struggles to survive after the ban from Eden. The story presents the consequences first, only to show you how everything got that way in the next chaper. Great page turner. I picked it up to read it again, and ordered David's other books too.

[Nancy Devlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed!

I had never read a book by this author but when I came across it, I was intrigued by the plot of it. It was a little confusing at first as it reads backward in time meaning Cain being old and then it goes back to Adam and Eve and their fall from Eden. I know this isn’t a historical book but it does kind of retell the Bible story of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. I liked how the author created the story based on the Bible Stories. It did make me think of what life would have been like once they fell from Eden. A great read!

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story (one most of us know) is told in reverse chronological order. This made it so hard for me to keep track of what was going on (even though I have a general sense of the story) and this was totally distracting.
And, even if the story was told in real time sequence, I'm not sure I would have been crazy about the book.

[Robyn Roscoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I've read before, but was inspired to read again after listening to a podcast comedy-dramatization of Adam and Eve and the Fall from Eden (on This American Life). I enjoy novels like this that take a small bit of familiar story and minor characters from a historical text, and spin an entire story and world from that. Along the lines of The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) and The Children of Jocasta (Natalie Haynes).

This novel tells the stories of Cain, Abel, Adam, and Eve in a unique way - backwards. Starting with Cain as an old man, the novel works backwards through Cain's life post-murder, then Abel's life from his murder back to his childhood, then Adam's life as a father, and finally Eve's life back to their expulsion from Eden. Even though this is a well-known story, Maine manages to bring new dimensions to it by treating the characters as humans, with thoughts and doubts and failings.

Maine is neither preachy nor contemptuous, focusing on the characters instead of the myth or mysticism of the original story. The confusion and suffering of Adam and Eve as they first make their way through the world is made very real through his descriptions. Cain represents the skeptic, critically questioning the origin story in way that most would and do: "This whole story doesn’t make 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?" Abel, the favoured but doomed second son (well, actually the third), is the goody-two-shoes that put everyone's teeth on edge with his, "you should"s, insufferably receiving God's and Eve's unwavering favour without doing much to earn it. Cain is a bit psychotic, but there is an element of Abel that makes the homicide somewhat justified. Cain and Adam are alike, with the exception of Adam's devout fate (a trait shared with Abel) as compared to Cain's critical thinking. As they each grow older, both take note of how there are no people older than them, and they pause to wonder (as most do when considering this origin story), where did all these other people come from?

The writing is fluid - both narrative and descriptive - and the flow backwards maintains some element of suspense despite the familiar characters. I enjoyed this re-reading, and highly recommend the book. Of Maine's other books that I've read (which is most of them), this is my favourite one; his other bible re-tellings (Noah, Samson) are also good.

[Doctor Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fallen tells, in novel form, the stories of Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel in reverse time order, starting with Cain's struggle with the aftermath of his murder of Abel. We begin with the consequences -- Cain's guilt and his life of exile -- and work our way backwards. Unresolved (purposely so, I think) is why Cain develops the way that he does and why he commits an act so unthinkable to his father.

Interestingly, predation and sex mark the differences between life in the Garden and life afterwards. Immediately after Eve shares the apple with Adam, they fall into sex together (no mention in this book whether they had sex prior to the apple). Upon leaving the Garden, they find themselves reduced to predation for food, just like the animals around them. The birth of Cain is from struggle and pain, as it is for the animals around them as well. Cain himself is constantly troubled by ill-temper, a difficult presence for his own mother and father.

Cain is stung by jealousy of Abel's ease and favor, both with their parents and with God. God rewards Abel's seemingly natural (God-given?) gift as a herdsman while disdaining Cain's offerings from the fields. Cain resists subordination in any form, to God or to his parents.

Cain's isolation and disassociation from his parents climaxes with his coming of age sexually and his participatory witnessing of his parents' lovemaking.

Eventually exiled from his father's house -- the book clearly shows the parallel between the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden and Cain from his parents' house and land -- Cain only grows more distant and more difficult, culminating in his murder of Abel.

In the aftermath, Cain is left to pick up the pieces just as Adam and Eve had to do after leaving the Garden. Cain has not been exiled from a Paradise, but from his family and the community of other people.

A good, provocative read.

[Ktmholm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This re-imagining of the Adam and Eve story is unusual in that it goes backwards in time. Beginning with the elderly Cain and his family, each chapter goes a few weeks, months, or years earlier, portraying Abel’s murder, the arguments between young Cain and his father, the growing family, and eventually the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and their struggle to survive. We follow the pair as they learn new skills, learn to appreciate each other, and make a new home, though life still isn’t easy.
The author introduces ideas that aren’t in the Bible (after all, this is fiction), including other families who can intermarry with Adam and Eve's children, and a possible first murder (spoiler: it isn’t Abel). I found the story both creative and plausible, and particularly enjoyed the chapters from the viewpoint of the more cynical Eve.

[Elijah Franks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at a library book sale, spiked my interest. I like how it’s written backwards, and I like the creativity around how the characters were actually feeling and thinking etc. since not all of those details are in the Bible story. I’m not religious but it was an easy enough story to get through, although not terribly exciting (I don’t think that’s all on the author though lol). If it was any longer I think I would’ve given up on it but it was pretty good.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is told backwards which makes it hard to follow during the less known story, (or just much more Maine's imaginary story) of later day Cain, but easier to fall in as the story becomes before the Cain and abel story in the Bible. Very insightful in how it deals with a small society ,(the first family), figuring out never before happening norms.

[Susan Katz · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, and it started out fascinating. But then it started jumping around in time, and I had difficulty figuring out the chronological order of events, and finally gave up after 113 pages. It just wasn't good enough to expend that much energy trying to sort it out.

[Karl Goerz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had just finished reading Steinbeck's "East of Eden", and was glad to continue with the Cain and Abel theme. What a story for any author to tackle. I wonder what it would be like to read this novel "backwards".

I found this Similar to "The Garden" Elsie V. Aidinoff.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fallen is a thoughtful telling of the aftermath of the Garden of Eden, into the life of Cain. The amazing thing here is that the story is told working backwards, and it hangs together perfectly. Maine deals with Adam, Eve and the family as people, which I appreciated. All in all, recommended.

[Danyel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very insightful and surprisingly delightful read. Well written and easily read it "breathes life" into a very well know biblical story.

[Nisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the concept. I wish there were more. I feel like the book only scratched the surface.

[Sarah Krehnke · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written backwards and jumped around to much. I do not like the way he portrayed the characters. He wrote in unneeded details and left out important ones.