English language
Published Nov. 12, 2010 by Little, Brown Book Group Limited.
The long-awaited new novel from Margaret Atwood. The Year of the Flood is a dystopic masterpiece and a testament to her visionary power. The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability.
Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners--a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life--has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, a God's Gardener barricaded inside a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible.
Have others survived? Ren's bioartist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers, survivors …
The long-awaited new novel from Margaret Atwood. The Year of the Flood is a dystopic masterpiece and a testament to her visionary power. The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability.
Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners--a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life--has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, a God's Gardener barricaded inside a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible.
Have others survived? Ren's bioartist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers, survivors of the mutual-elimination Painball prison? Not to mention the shadowy, corrupt policing force of the ruling powers... Meanwhile, gene-spliced life forms are proliferating: the lion/lamb blends, the Mo'hair sheep with human hair, the pigs with human brain tissue.
As Adam One and his intrepid hemp-clad band make their way through this strange new world, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move. They can't stay locked away...
By turns dark, tender, violent, thoughtful, and uneasily hilarious, The Year of the Flood is Atwood at her most brilliant and inventive.
The upside to being off sick from work was the ability to immerse myself into this future world Atwood has created. Really thought this book helped add depth to that world and enjoyed it a lot. As ever the story telling gripped me.
The Year of the Flood is labeled as the second book of the MadAddam trilogy on Goodreads, which is quite misleading, and yet accurate. I already enjoyed the heck out of Oryx and Crake, the first book in the trilogy, and the only reason it didn't get 5 stars from me was the cliffhanger ending. I had no idea that there would be more!
The Year of the Flood is pretty much a companion book to Oryx and Crake. It runs parallel to O&C, and is overlapping in parts. O&C focuses on Jimmy/Snowman, and his friend Glenn aka Crake, and ultimately the pandemic that wipes out most of humanity but the Crakers, the gene splice of humans that Crake created, the perfect humans. TYotF tells the story from two different viewpoints, Toby and Ren, two women. Just the fact that they're female, living in a world that's so hostile …
The Year of the Flood is labeled as the second book of the MadAddam trilogy on Goodreads, which is quite misleading, and yet accurate. I already enjoyed the heck out of Oryx and Crake, the first book in the trilogy, and the only reason it didn't get 5 stars from me was the cliffhanger ending. I had no idea that there would be more!
The Year of the Flood is pretty much a companion book to Oryx and Crake. It runs parallel to O&C, and is overlapping in parts. O&C focuses on Jimmy/Snowman, and his friend Glenn aka Crake, and ultimately the pandemic that wipes out most of humanity but the Crakers, the gene splice of humans that Crake created, the perfect humans. TYotF tells the story from two different viewpoints, Toby and Ren, two women. Just the fact that they're female, living in a world that's so hostile to women really resonated with me. Toby is a woman living in the Pleeblands, the area outside of the huge, protected company compounds, where people like Jimmy and Crake would go to get their kicks. She ends up at SecretBurgers but has to flee because the abusive boss there likes to treat women roughly until they die. Toby is rescued by the Gardeners, a religious sect that combines Christianity, vegeterianism and belief in science. They speak of the Waterless Flood that will come and sweep away humanity for a fresh, and better start.
Ren is a young Gardener girl. Her mother eloped from the Health-Wyzer compound to be with Zeb, the most militant of the Adams of the Gardeners. Eventually, she goes back to the compound world where she meets Jimmy and falls in love with him.
The story of the two women and Amanda, another Gardener, is told in retrospect, but it's clear from the start that both of them survived the Waterless Flood as the Gardeners call the big pandemic from O&C. Eventually the books interweave completely and the ending from O&C is continued.
The writing is just so thought-provoking. The world of those two books is so frighteningly realistic. It's the story of a planet that's brutally exploited. I do believe anything described could actually happen. I don't think it's a story for everyone, and especially women responding to triggers should be careful here, as the men of this world are not kind to women. But that's also frighteningly realistic, isn't it? If you enjoy dystopian worlds, I highly recommend reading both of those books, one after the other. Can't wait for 2013, for the sequel, MadAddam.
The post-apocalyptic atmosphere I found so thrilling in “Oryx & Crake” continues in this novel, but much slowed and diluted. If you read O&C, there’s nothing new here. The story drags on forever, told in first-person by two characters, Toby and Ren. There’s one bad guy, who conveniently survives the apocalypse so he can come to haunt both heroines until the very end. The survivors, also conveniently, all play for the same team - a religious cult called the God’s Gardeners - and have their personal stories interconnected, which makes it easier to follow, although not convincing. Finally, what was supposed to be the culmination, ends flat in a big letdown, without resolution.
Don’t get me wrong - I’m a fan of Atwood’s writing, I love her character development, but these characters didn’t DO anything until the last few pages, just linger around, reminiscing about life before the “waterless flood.” …
The post-apocalyptic atmosphere I found so thrilling in “Oryx & Crake” continues in this novel, but much slowed and diluted. If you read O&C, there’s nothing new here. The story drags on forever, told in first-person by two characters, Toby and Ren. There’s one bad guy, who conveniently survives the apocalypse so he can come to haunt both heroines until the very end. The survivors, also conveniently, all play for the same team - a religious cult called the God’s Gardeners - and have their personal stories interconnected, which makes it easier to follow, although not convincing. Finally, what was supposed to be the culmination, ends flat in a big letdown, without resolution.
Don’t get me wrong - I’m a fan of Atwood’s writing, I love her character development, but these characters didn’t DO anything until the last few pages, just linger around, reminiscing about life before the “waterless flood.” And, since the premise of the story was not original anymore, I found this whole literary effort a waste of time.
I’m half-hoping Atwood would abandon the third book of the trilogy and move on to something new and unexplored. But, (sigh), I’m afraid she’ll milk this already dry cow until it drops dead. I must make sure to avoid the third book, when it comes out. A great talent, wasted. Pity.
The Year of the Flood revisits Oryx and Crake, from a different point of view. It's a fascinating read!
