Product Description

A pleasure boat company is transformed when the proprietor, Noah, is chosen by the "One True God" to put "sunny" faith back in the world and women back in the kitchen. The author has written "Oranges are Not the Only Fruit",(winner of the 1985 Whitbread award) and "Sexing the Cherry".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #141354 in Books
• Published on: 1990-10-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

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

Customer Reviews

Very very funny!
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!

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. I only gave it a star because Amazon insisted. It has its moments of humour and some great witticisms, but it's just dire in places. It's so different from her normal writing it could be another author.

As a Christian,I found that most modern novels either mock Christianity or despise it. As a reader, I have to deal with that. Winterson's other novels, whilst they hardly endorse my faith, challenge it. This novel was simply insulting. I always finish books I start. This one actually ended up in my bin.

Jeanette....what were you up to?

A fantastic read. Fun and feisty
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.