[The following interview was conducted by Patricia F. Anderson and Deborah Schild.]
Book of Ruth (graphic novel).
Author: Meredith Finch. Artist: Colin Dyer.
Springfield, VA: Cave Pictures Publishing, LLC., 2020.
ISBN 978-1-949660081. https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN201002
PFA/DS: For us, the Book of Ruth has been one of our favorite books in the Bible, in part because Ruth is a family name for both of us. What drew you to retelling the story from the Book of Ruth? Was there a moment you remember when the inspiration really came into focus for you, or did it slowly grow on you?
Meredith Finch: Ruth was one of the very first books of the bible that I read as a teenager and new Christian. It just felt very approachable to a first-time bible reader, both in length and writing style. For that reason, I have always had a fondness for Ruth. It was when I really started diving into the story as a mature woman that I developed a whole new appreciation for the characters. There are so many aspects of Naomi’s impatience and need for control that I see in myself and it is Ruth’s quiet faith that I strive for.
I feel very strongly that God put it on my heart to retell the story of Ruth in comic form several years ago when I was working on Wonder Woman for DC Comics. At the time, I was teaching Sunday School, and it made me sad to see how often the aesthetic quality of retold biblical stories fell short of the dynamic artwork found in the secular comic book world. I wanted to create something that could bridge the gap between being just a great comic and something that was also spiritually meaningful.
PFA/DS: You are completely right about the uninspiring visuals of most spiritually-focused comics and graphic novels! That’s bothered me for a long time myself, and was part of why I was so enthusiastic about supporting the Kickstarter campaign for Book of Ruth. Meredith, you partnered with N. Colin Dyer for the art on this, with lettering by Cardinal Rae. Clearly, you feel strongly about the quality of the visual elements, even if you weren’t the person who drew the art for the final project. How did that work? How did you and Colin find each other or decide to collaborate on the project? Did you make your own preliminary sketches, or how did you communicate to Colin what you were hoping to achieve?
MF: I have worked with Cardinal Rae as a letterer for many years, including on my creator-owned, Image book, Rose, so she was an obvious choice for The Book of Ruth.
I’m very blessed to be married to a comic book artist. David and I had discussed the look I wanted for the book and then I just put it out on Facebook that I was looking for an artist to do a faith-based project. I was feeling a little dejected after the first day of submissions, because none of them, although very good, were exactly what we were looking for. That night I put it before the Lord and prayed that, if this was a project He wanted me to do, then I needed Him to help me find the right artist for it. The next morning Colin’s was the first submission I saw, and I knew my prayers had been answered.
In terms of communicating the look and feel of the book. I’m a big believer in hiring the right person and then getting out their way. For the most part I simply described what I wanted in each panel and then let Colin take it from there. If there was anything I wanted done really specifically from a visual point of view I just had David lay it out in a rough thumbnail, but I honestly can’t even recall what panels they were at this point.
PFA/DS: That’s fascinating! It sounds like you came to the project with a strong supportive framework in your personal and professional life, to help you make this a reality. You’ve mentioned your personal faith life a couple times now, so maybe this would be a good time to ask a question or two related to that. The book of Ruth is a very old story, written in Hebrew at least a handful of centuries before the birth of Christ. What’s going on with the choice to reframe this classic Old Testament story with an overtly Christian perspective and context? What are you hoping the reader will take away from this?
MF: I believe that the stories of the bible are intended for everyone. My only agenda in telling this story is to share the message that the God I believe in, the God of the Bible, is a God of love. So many times people use the Old Testament stories as a weapon against Christians in an attempt to prove that the God we believe in is violent and vengeful. I want people to see the God that I have experienced, the same God that Ruth experienced, the God who David writes about in the Psalms, is the same God who sent us his only Son to die for us as an expression of His great and endless love.
I want the reader to know that having a relationship with God doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to follow a rigid set of rules and guidelines…God is always pursuing us, and he wants to be our Father. That’s the relationship I tried to show in Ruth. Ruth believes in God’s love for her, and Naomi, and Boaz, and it is her faith that allows her to believe that all things (even the death of her husband) are part of God’s plan. In the 21st century, many of us live with the belief that we are in complete control of our lives. If the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that the idea of control is an illusion. I don’t know what the future holds, but I have had many times in my life when what I thought was a disaster turned out to be a blessing. This is Ruth and Naomi’s story…a blessing from heartbreak and loss.
PFA/DS: What you’re saying there, about disaster and heartbreak and loss, seems to tie in with your setting the story in the Depression Era, which fits so beautifully as the story unfolds. What is it about the Depression Era that seemed to fit the story, especially the Depression Era in Texas, more so than other trying or traumatic times in human history? Or, in reverse, was there something about the story of Ruth that just cried out to you to be paired with the Depression Era theme? Where is the resonance coming from between these two?
MF: The story of Ruth is really a story of loss and gain, followed by further loss and even greater gain. It’s also the reason the original story is broken into four chapters; to reflect and highlight each of those emotional beats. I was looking for a period in history that would mirror that pattern. The Dust Bowl in Texas during the late 1800’s made a perfect starting point and provided the incentive for Naomi and Eli to leave their home, much like in the original story. There was also a perfect amount of time for them to have gained success and raised their children during the early 1900’s and that just segued perfectly into the roaring twenties and the stock market crash.
In writing a story like this, I spent a great deal of time in prayer, asking for guidance and wisdom. I wanted to tell the story in a manner that honored the original and at the same time made it more accessible. I won’t even pretend that I don’t believe that the choosing of the appropriate era was absolutely divinely inspired.
PFA/DS: Early on in the book, there is the funeral scene. It’s a particularly evocative scene, with the congregants under a tent in the rain, and the grave open before a Celtic Cross gravestone. There you use an English translation of the Hebrew prayer, El Malei Rachamim / Kel Maleh Rachamim, the traditional Jewish memorial prayer said at funerals and Shiva services: “God full of compassion, You dwell in the heights and in the depths: grant perfect rest under the wings of Your Presence …” This is another example of the story’s intricate shifting between its Judaic roots and the Christian framing of the retelling. How did you come upon this? How did you decide to choose that language for this scene? Are there other places in the book where you were intentional about evoking interfaith or multicultural aspects of the story?
MF: It was my original plan to include words from a Christian funeral service in this scene, but the more I thought about where Ruth and Naomi came from, and considered the original story, the more I became convinced that this scene needed something more. I did quite a bit of research into what a traditional Jewish funeral looked like. I wanted to choose words that were appropriate and yet still be something everyone could relate to, then I prayed that I made a good choice.
I also tried to include scenes from the original story that were culturally significant, but at the same time tweak them slightly to make them more current. An example of this is Boaz putting his coat around Ruth’s shoulders. In the original story he tells her to lay at his feet and then spreads his cloak over her as a symbol of his intention to protect and care for her.
PFA/DS: I love the thought given to details like what you described with Boaz’s coat. I was also struck by swooningly romantic closing plot twists, with love, misunderstandings, perceived betrayal, reconciliation, and then closing with joy and the birth of a child to carry on Naomi’s heritage. Parts of this touch on another curious aspect of the original historic tale, Levirate marriage, which is rarely straightforward, and is particularly complex in the story of Ruth and Naomi. I wager you had some interesting challenges with that aspect of the story! Could you speak a bit to this extraordinary pivot and plot twists that lead up to the ending? Why did you write the ending of the story the way you did?
MF: The concept of Levirate marriage or the idea of the kinsman redeemer was probably the single biggest challenge I dealt with in writing this book. I wanted to honor the original story, but at the same point tell it in a way that people who aren’t versed in Jewish culture would understand what was at stake. In the original story you have the drama that the marriage between Ruth and Boaz might not be allowed because someone else had a claim as the closest living male relative. I took the idea that the marriage might not happen, but tweaked it in a way that I felt exposed, and gave voice to the fears and emotions that Ruth and Boaz must have both experienced when faced with the prospect that they might not be together. I can’t imagine that a God of love would want his Son to come from a line that didn’t originate with a love match. I also wanted to explore the concept that as much as there is good in the world, there is also evil, working against God’s plan for us. I couldn’t see that the Devil wouldn’t be trying to prevent the marriage that would ultimately cumulate in the birth of the Messiah and his defeat. I used the drama already built into the story to add that element. The story of Ruth is very much a story about complete and total trust in God; a trust against which not even the Devil can prevail.
