ATASTA is divided in five parts, each with its own title. The titles are PROLOGUE, Book One THE RAIN, Book Two BETH, Book Three DOGHEAD, EPILOGUE. In addition, there is a page before the prologue that quotes the Old Testament. The quotation is from Numbers, 22, 23-31, and depicts how Balaam fails, unlike his donkey, to see the angel of the Lord standing in front of him.
Prologue: The prologue
is told through three different narrators. The first voice we
encounter, after the voice of God (i.e. the Bible quotation
before the prologue), is that of Euchrid Eucrow. He lies on his back as he
watches three crows circling over his head. The point of view then shifts.
A small leap back in time is made, and we see Ukulore Valley from the
point of view of the crows. When they catch up with Euchrid's narration,
and circles above his head, a third-person omniscient narrator takes over.
For the remainder of the 11 chapters that constitutes
the prologue the narration constantly shifts between the
omniscient narrator and Euchrid. In an interview from 1990,
Nick Cave says of the prologue:
"When I first started the book, there were certain elements I wasn't interested in writing about. When you read a novel, you have to wade through the setting up of the scene before the story starts. So I wrote a long prologue. It has no action. It includes documentary, poetry, maps and charts, in very short chapters. Once this is done, the actual story begins. The voce then changes between the narrator's truth and Euchrid's delusionary truth."
Book One THE RAIN: Book One spans 80 pages (Penguin edition) and tells the story of the three years of consecutive rain that haunts Ukulore Valley from 1941 to 1943. It tells the story of Euchrid's early adolescence, of his relationship to his parents and to the world around him. It also paints the picture of a society in decay, cracking under the burden of the incessant rain. We witness the Ukulites' loss of faith, and the arrival of the preacher, Abie Poe, who tries to take advantage of their situation. He claims that the rain is due to the presence of sin in Ukulore Valley, and he prescribes the removal of Sin as the remedy for the rain. He turns against Cosey Mo, the town harlot. Eventually, he fails to drive the rain away, he only succeds in driving Cosey Mo out of town. The rain does not stop until almost a year after she is driven out. This joyous event coincides with the arrival of Beth.
Book Two BETH: Book Two is 79 pages long and describes Euchrid's mounting obsession with Beth. His world starts to revolve around her, as he finds himself attracted to her and scared by her at the same time. He is convinced that he is on a mission from God, and that his mission has something to do with Beth. Also, things are getting tense between his parents, and by the end of Book Two, Euchrid is not only mentally, but also physically alone.
Book Three DOGHEAD: Book Three is 98 pages long, and according to Nick Cave, "[t]he final book is Euchrid's monologue which runs to the climax". The story is now told by Euchrid's interior monologue, and by an increasingly distanced narrator. The third-person narrator's parts of the narrative are in this book written in italics, as if he needs to distance himself from Euchrid. Book Three tells the story of Euchrid's escalating madness, and how he tries to bring everything to a conclusion that fits in with his world-view. In the end, there is a hint that the rain might have come back.
Epilogue: The epilogue is about one and a half pages long, and tells us of Euchrid's success or failiure, depending on your point of view.