Ark

I had read pretty much all of McCarry's literary output prior to the recent electronic publications. Some I have read more than once. As my stage name offers, I am a real Charles McCarry "fan" -- much as I find the designation more than a bit unusual for me since I am not even a sports "fan". As such a "fan" I have read and re-read McCarry's novels both because I really enjoy the written style and because the content keeps me coming back to Paul Christopher's perspective on the value of the truth and Mallory's on-the-mark observations on the state of politics in America today.In short, McCarry is a keen observer, very insightful, and reads with the sort of ease that has become a rarity in American fiction. The Ark is no exception -- and it has as an advantage that it doesn't require any familiarity with the rest of McCarry. The Ark is not only a great read, it is timely-smart with wonderful characters carrying the thoughts. Not surprisingly, it also has an air of the kind of prescience that McCarry often hits on -- as, for example, in his truly unique interpretation of the responsibility for the Kennedy assassination.One footnote question about The Ark: why in a novel with just about no connections with any previous stories does McCarry turn up re-using the name O. Laster -- ostensibly one of the minor heroes of Shelly's Heart and the pen name of one of The Ark's genuine heroes? To say the least, it comes out of the proverbial left field and I am left wondering "What else have I missed?"One final note to whomever can make the decision: Please permit all of McCarry's work to be Kindled -- soon! I own the hard copies, but it would be far more convenient to be able to carry the lot on one machine -- and to have them in searchable form.

Ark is the second book I have read by McCarry, the first was Old Boys. Ark is written in the first person and from the point of view of a female author. The plot is a bit of a stretch as Henry is the only person on our planet who has aggregated scientific evidence that the world will end sooner than people think. He has money and a plan to save the human race and puts it into motion with the assistance of many people and a couple of other nations. McCarry's technical detail is excellent and the prose is smooth. I'm not really a sci-fi fan, but this book weaves an entertaining story that maintained my attention to the end.

Charles McCarry has a reputation as North America's answer to John le Carre, and while le Carre fans would find this assessment somewhat wide of the mark, it is certainly true that he is a master of the spy genre. Ark, then, is something of a departure from his usual formula. The protagonist is a young woman who is hired as an adviser to a trillionnaire who thinks the world is about to end (perturbations in the Earth's magnetic field that will cause widespread and devastating earthquakes... a pleasant change from global warming, you might say). There's a sub-plot concerning the man who raped her as a teenager, to provide a sense of immediate danger, and a small cast of slightly unusual trillionaire helpers.I read the book on a long-haul plane flight, and found it an excellent travel companion. It's not serious literature, but an interesting read - and the trillionnaire is unusually likeable. Recommended for McCarry fans and anyone with a long plane ride ahead of them.

I was introduced to McCarry's work through his book Shanghai Factor and enjoyed his writing so much that I picked up Ark. At face value it is a story of the Earth facing an extinction event, and without giving away the plot, the story is very interesting in both its scientific and science-fiction details. Some elements are less convincing, such as the narrator repeating that no one is panicking as the event approaches, and the lack of interest in the human soul in the discussions of eugenics or death itself. The end of the book reads very much like Nevil Shute's " On The Beach" with humanity simply waiting for the end, with an added final message of renewal that is perhaps a bit too optimistic and simplistic in the circumstances presented.

I just finished this book on my Kindle last night. How would I rate it? Well, compared to what? Compared to other novels by 82-year-old Charles McCarry, it's definitely inferior. Now that I've finished it, I'll certainly never read any part again, which is totally unlike "The Tears of Autumn" or "The Better Angels". I can see the latter title on my bookcase from where I sit at my desk.I'm not sure I can make sense of the story in "Ark" without thinking of it as a metaphor. The little enclaves of human beings left behind after the cataclysmic shifting of the Earth's crust are like the remnants of the traditional book publishing industry that currently struggles to survive. Then there are the space ships headed for some distant planet, carrying the embryos of genetically engineered superior human beings. This to me symbolizes the unknowable future we are headed towards, of which eBooks are one little example.Of course this analogy suggests a choice between leaving or staying behind that we are not really forced to make. Many of us welcome and look forward to certain things about the future, but for me, at this point in time, eBooks are not one of them.

Very well written and enjoyable, as are all of McCarry's wonderful books. But the doomsday science fiction underpinnings are a little dicey (and hopefully wrong) and some of the characters are more than a little unbelievable. However, if you are an admirer of McCarry, and if you've not read his books you absolutely should, you should read this one as well provided you're not expecting a Paul Christopher-type story.

Intriguing concept - sending a ship out for several generations until the earth can once again support life. I've read almost all of McCarry's other novels, and regard him as a top writer of spy books. Some other reviewer's rated this book lower because it was NOT primarily a spy book. But, if you can move past that, you may enjoy the technology, political, and management themes involved in accomplishing an enormously complex and expensive project that has no scientific precedent. I did.

I have read a number of McCarry's books and quite liked them. On the basis of a short review of this book, I decided I would buy it--I am one of those who prefers to take advantage of the publisher's loss leaders. This is a dystopian view of Earth, however, McCarry invents the processes that will eventually make reemergence possible. I would have given it a 5 but I found the ending unsatisfying.

Difficult to write a review about something you have not read. Bought it as a gift and have no complaints. Arrived on time and in good condition.