This is a book of interwoven stories about folks in a mill town in Maine. There's a strike and the town is suffering both due to the lack of wages but also the usual angst and pains that are part of life. This was the first book I've managed to finish in months as I've been too distracted to stay focused. So, yes, this is a very easy, approachable book. I am not sure to think of it as a novel or a book of short stories. I liked the stories and the primary story about Ernie and his ark, but I didn't feel that the reader got closure with all the characters. There's a lot of threads left unpulled. That said it did a good job of laying out the scope of the impact of strikes and closures in one-employer small towns. I wish there had been more description of place since Maine is of interest to me. ( )

I very much enjoyed this book of related stories. I am blessed to live in Western Maine where the bulk of these stories take place, along with it being the home of author Monica Wood. Parts of this book were adapted by Wood into a play entitled 'Papermaker,' which the local community theater company i am involved with recently produced. And Monica Wood generously came for a question and answer session with the audience after one performance. The play was absolutely wonderful! The discussion with Monica Wood was also very memorable. So, I had no choice but to go to our local bookstore, The Tribune, in Norway, Maine, to buy a signed copy of 'Ernie's Ark.' And i did what i rarely do....i saw the movie (play) before i read the book. I always do the reverse. But no regrets at all!

When the idea of producing the play first came our way, i thought that the last thing i wanted to be involved with was a political play about a union strike at a paper mill. Enough already with divisiveness. And regardless of which side of the struggle the play supports, we'll just tick off half of our audience, which to my way of thinking was not what our purpose was as a 'community 'theater. But what i did not know, is that Monica Wood has brilliantly captured an extremely tortuous situation ( a union strike) and peopled both sides of the argument with real genuine believable characters that have nothing but the best of intentions in their hearts and souls, only different in their perspective from each other.... and it is not about us vs. them, one being good and the other bad.....but both are good. You have to feel for both sides....because they are both right...to a point. The play was brilliant, and the book added extra levels of depth and additional characters to more fill out the community. I highly recommend both!!! Bravo Monica Wood!!! ( )

"All these separate journeys, crossing back and forth over each other, begot in him a type of happiness that felt perilous, vaguely ill-gotten." Page 145

That quote sums up this book for me. So many characters, so many stories but they all intertwine like lives in a small mill town do. Some of the stories are so tragic you almost feel bad for how happy the book makes you at points, as you watch hearts break and loved ones leave the plotline. But no matter what, happiness pours from the pages of this book. ( )

In this poignant collection of stories, reminiscent of Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, Wood explores the devastating impact of a long-term union strike against a paper mill in fictional Abbot Falls Maine. Residents of this town, who have depended on the mill and its earnings for generations are suddenly faced with making decisions they have never considered before. By using several different characters, we are able to see the consequences of this year long drag on the local economy, on individual lives, and on the extended community. So much more insightful than any reality TV you'll ever see.

Central to the book is Ernie Whitten, a pipefitter at the mill who is only 3 months short of retirement when the strike begins. He now faces not only the loss of income, and the loss of his pension, but the loss of his wife who is in the terminal stages of cancer. Their only son lives in California, and is rarely in touch. To satisfy a seemingly random suggestion from his wife, Ernie begins to build an ark in the side yard. Throughout the book, the image of the ark pulls other characters into the saga. If God could work a miracle once, why not again? Perhaps if he could just get it finished and get his wife on the ark, she wouldn't leave him.

Various members of another family, the Little's, are woven in as ex-spouses, town officials and strikebreakers. The CEO and owner of the mill makes an appearance early on as he tries to deal with his own problems---not just striking mill workers, but a distant and headstrong adult daughter whose own life is falling apart.

The shining stars are middle-schooler Francine and her step-mother Cindy Love (ex wife of a Little) and owner of Showers of Flowers. Francine is determined that her father and Cindy will hold their marriage together and will go so far as to hide her father's infidelities to avoid losing another mother (her birth mother dumped the kids and went off to London). Her brother Kevin, surly, hurting high-schooler hates everyone, everything, and only wants to become another Thoreau living in the woods. Cindy wisely plays referee between father and son, and gives Francine the attention and mothering she's never enjoyed before.

These nine stories are gems. The writing is as snappy as the breeze on a crystal clear Maine lake in the spring. I'm not sure how I ever missed this one. It's a gem, and I'm really glad that Amazon has brought it back digitally. Grab it anyway you can and rejoice that there are still writers who can bring this much joy out of this kind of sadness. ( )

Rating: 4.875* of five

The Book Report: Ernie Whitten no longer has a purpose. He's been a pipe-fitter in Abbots Falls, Maine, at the papermill, for most of his life and now he's...retired, unemployed, not working, whatever...BORED. So he decides to build something.

An ark. Like in the Bible. Maybe miracles will come with it, for Marie, his sick wife.

Nine stories spin in their orbits around this one major event in Abbots Falls, involving town residents both willing and unwilling, and purposeful and aimless, and old and young.

My Review: Sparkles like a gem. The writing is delectable, a sensory feast and an emotional powerhouse. The characters are all limned in quick, indelible strokes and the way Monica Wood works is to make you care just this side of too much for each of them, and then moves on to the next one, all before your readerly feet are fully under you. It's a really cool trick, gotta tell ya.

I said once upon a time that I couldn't understand why this wasn't a TV series. I still don't get it. Abbotts Falls should be on the airwaves somehow. Don't hesitate to pick this book up. It will pay your attention back many times over. ( )