- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd (10 Oct 1985)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0413590100
- ISBN-13: 978-0413590107
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,023,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Noah is a relatively ordinary man. He's a hard worker (he owns the thriving little pleasure boat company, Boating for Beginners), is slightly overweight and has a heart condition. In fact, apart from a bizarre antipathy towards frozen food, particularly Black Forest Gateau, he is Mr. Bog Standard. That doesn't stop him from recognising a good thing when he sees it though. So when he accidentally creates God "out of a piece of gateau and a giant electric toaster", he realises he's onto a winner. Within weeks, he's a cult figure, writes extravagant bestsellers-"Genesis", or How I did It and "Exodus" or Your Way Lies There--and has outlawed refrigerators and Black Forest Gateau. When Noah starts to turn his bestseller into a film, God feels left out and decides to liquidate the world. Noah has less than a week to fill his stage set (the ark) with animals and prepare for a flood. There are three women who find out what he's up to--Desi, Noah's daughter-in-law; Marlene, a transsexual potter, and Gloria, the thoughtful yet slightly unbalanced girl in charge of rounding up the animals. Gloria is the heroine of Boating for Beginners and it is her story that drives the rather fragmented narrative of this surreal satire. Bursting with ideas, Boating for Beginners rewrites religion and philosophy, while taking a pop at romantic fiction. It is perhaps Jeanette Winterson's most overlooked work and although not her best--turn to Oranges are Not the Only Fruit or Sexing the Cherry for that--Boating for Beginners is witty, playful and imaginative. --Jane Honey
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Yes, it's about Noah's ark and the creation, but you don't have to think about the book as the truth! It's just a twist on an old subject made new. I am Italian and I wouldn't consider the text as offensive, it's just a story told by a very crafted author. It's not really for kids, maybe this is more important, unless you children read Northrop Frye....
Brillian and sparkling, very little Jeanette but so much fun!
Brillian and sparkling, very little Jeanette but so much fun!
Format:Paperback
This book is hilarious. Unfortunately, Jeanette Winterson usually states that her first book is "Oranges are not the only fruit", thereby denying readers the opportunity of discovering her truly funny first novel.
Set in Biblical times, the book is a retelling of the Noah story. It is nothing like her later, more literary works. Instead there are puns galore, great characters and plenty of hoopooes.
Set in Biblical times, the book is a retelling of the Noah story. It is nothing like her later, more literary works. Instead there are puns galore, great characters and plenty of hoopooes.
5 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book some time time ago after "Oranges" and thought it was very different but still brilliant. I don't really understand why any reader would find this offensive, after all if you want the story of Genesis as approved by Christians go find the Bible which incidentally isn't written by Jeanette Winterson. Winterson's books are hardly conventional and always have a differnt take on the subject material, this is no different. If an entertaining, thought provoking read that'll have you pondering the origins of Noah, God and a bit more is what you are after, then buy it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This is lame
I love Jeanette Winterson's novels. I think she's the most amazing writer who has moved me to outright laughter and actual tears. But this book is lame. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2003
Provoking and hilarious
This is a fabulous book which takes a healthy poke at the story of Noah and post modernist western views all in one fair swoop. Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2000
brilliant
boating for beginners has sometimes been described as a "comic book for children". this is doing complete injustice to this brilliantly crafted novel. Read more
Published on 16 May 2000
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