2009], The Year of the Flood[Hardcover

Margaret Atwood's dystopian visions are, here again, original and all-too-plausible. I read it obsessively, though part of the time I was gritting my teeth at miserably sad or disturbing events in the story. A wonderful touch: The words to the songs that she offers every few chapters, especially considering that they are so perfectly integrated into the story. Another unforgettable Atwood novel!

just started the last book of trilogy, after few pages I can say that the story is going down. But about second book, still better than most of dystopian post apoclyptic stories I ever read. Nice dry humor, life twists not so kind to characters. If IT will happen, it will happen differently, but the result will look pretty similar, I am warning you. And stop eating meat, you dont know what is in it...

Corporations now reign supreme. Their executives are holed up in walled compounds, wallowing in consumerism and competing with gangland tactics of kidnapping and extortion, while the rest of humanity lives in “pleeblands,” vulnerable to the predations of new breeds of feral transgenic animals (wolvogs, pigoons, rakunks, liobams), vicious criminals, and the ruthless goons of the CorpsSeCorps police alike. The oceans have risen, drowning major cities. Fierce sunlight and suffocating heat require top-to-bottom bodysuits when exposed outside the walls of the crumbling pleebland buildings. Most work as we know it today is available only in the corporate enclaves. Increasing numbers of desperate people are flocking to God’s Gardeners, an eco-extremist cult that venerates all the lost animal species that predated the gene-spliced creations that now rule the forests.

Welcome to the world of Margaret Atwood. It is the year of the Flood — not Noah’s watery world of the Ark but the Waterless Flood long predicted by God’s Gardeners that will, it is foretold, wipe out humanity.

Is this our future? We can hope not, but the picture Atwood paints is based on trends that are easy to see today. As a cautionary tale, The Year of the Flood is a sobering look at one scenario for the future of the human race.

This is the second book in the MaddAddam Trilogy. Confusingly, it’s not a sequel to Oryx and Crake, the first book, but ranges through the same period of time, with the perspective shifted from the corporate elite to the masses of pleebs outside the walls. Characters casually introduced in Oryx and Crake come to life in The Year of the Flood, while the principals in the first book take a back seat in the second.

Now, in the quarter-century leading up to the Flood, we’re focused on three unfortunate young women whose paths cross in God’s Gardeners: Brenda (Ren), Amanda, and Toby. Short chapters written from their individual points of view alternate throughout the book, gradually illuminating the connections to Oryx and Crake (which I reviewed here).

Margaret Atwood is one of Canada’s most celebrated writers. She has won both the Man Booker Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction, among many others.

Dystopias are quite predictable in their general structure. There is an evil government or coalition that has developed a networkk of espionage and suppression. Expulsion, torture and murder are used and fake trials arrranged with fabricated evidence backing up absurd accusations. There is a high-tech police force whose presence is felt everywhere and nobody is to be trusted.

Then you have the rebels who fight the suppressive system. Often there are cross-overs and treason. The rebels are without exception the good guys. Except the traitors, of course.

Then there is a love affair where normally there is a Romeo-and-Juliet type relationship with one part belonging to the suppressors and the other to the rebels. Which one is which, varies. The 'sheepä of the society do not wake up or take sides. They do not have anything to do with the development of the plot excpt for clogging up the highways and rotting all over the place.

There are heroes, unlikely coincidences and an ending that you can zoom back from and run the credentials on with the theme music.

Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood follows this general layout quite faithfully. Why not, there are only so many stories in the history of literature that do their job in satisfying out expectations of how things get settled. What is remarkable is how very elegantly the writer lets the story unfold. Margaret Atwood does not underestimate her readers. There are little mysteries introduced along the way and the answers come at later instances. I like it when I am supposed to know something without being told.

The first person approach works very well. Again, it is very nice, economic and truthful. When we are going through traumattizing experiences, we are lost and confused. Also, most of us are much more robust than we think we are. In a real mess where lives are in danger we have this 'survive mode' in the back of our heads that brings about calm in situations where we –according to our own expectations– should just fall apart cruying OMG OMG with a shrill voice like the ladies on YouTube. This is something Margaret Atwood seems to know...it is obvious that we have to have something like that as we are here...evolution would have finished us of without it.

I am very fond of Atwood's vocabulary, her neologisms and her extremely stylish way of putting things between the lines and using words that carry references to other things that flash in your head while readong. Associations, they are called. If I should name something that Sets her apart from other fiction writers, I would pick 'quality'.

The 'quality' theme covers the constructs of the future world as well. There are high-tech things and some stuff that clearly is and will be impossible but that is (so I've understood) a part of this genre. It is delightful to read text where the facts are sound, where the plants and the animals that exist are correctly named and classed. Again, I appreciate the way Margaret Atwood trusts the general level of her writers, not dwelling too much on the details of the ecocatastrophy where the humanity seems to blindly be steering. We are supposed to know, there are no excuses for our ignorant behavior.

To sum it up: This book is an exceptionally well written book with plenty of things to think about. You will probably look differently at the world, your habits, the misconceptions, hallucinations and lies that our economy and political systems are constructed on. You might even take a closer look at yourself and adjust something.

Which is what books are for.
Yes. One of the better books read this year!

I devoured this second book in the series. My only regret is that I let too much time pass between reading book 1 ((Oryx and Crake) and picking up this one. The tie-ins are throughout and would have probably meant more to me without the delay. I plan to pick up book 3 (MaddAddam) sooner rather than later.

The authors tale of our present and future political/ecological situation is a thrill ride. You have to pay attention as these ordinary folks live through the results of corporate greed and science run amok. It's not too 'out of the ballpark' for us and our children. Be sure to read the entire trilogy.

The authors tale of our present and future political/ecological situation is a thrill ride. You have to pay attention as these ordinary folks live through the results of corporate greed and science run amok. It's not too 'out of the ballpark' for us and our children. Be sure to read the entire trilogy.

A carefully woven and suspenseful narrative that moves along well. One of the main narrators is quite compelling, while the other is not. Atwood excels in creating a now-but-not-now world that mirrors current anxieties, but not all her characters convince.

A stunning achievement! At first I thought it was weaker than Oryx and Crake, but it was just warming up. A tour de force is an understatement. All of the forces interacting to create this dystopian catastrophe have antecedents in our current society and culture.

Margaret Atwood is my favorite author, hands down. I couldn't wait to get my nose into this book. Atwood has never been disappointing. Until now. I was drawn in immediately and having read Oryx and Crake, recognized the intertwining of the plots. The characters were richly developed and it was easy, though frightening, to envision their world. But I thought that the book was about 100 pages too long. I know that publishers like the 400 page novel, and it felt as though a lot of superfluous material was "thrown in" in order to get those 400 pages. Also, I found that the amount of "coincidence" with the characters bordered on being insulting and soap-opera-ish. There will never be an Atwood book that I will not read, and while this one was disappointing, I still recommend it.

An excellent sequel- this book shine light on different sides of the story Oryx and Crake. It is easy to follow, well written and undeniably creative. Any questions you have coming out of Oryx and Crake will be answered and then some. Atwood expertly continues this story from the perspective of characters who were merely a name in the first instalment. It's interesting and fun to follow this story as it unfolds from new perspectives. You might as well order Maddaddam now. Enjoy!

this book and it's predecessor are sleepers. Various things Atwood writes about as future realities have their origins in things that are happening today all around us! I've been reminded so many times by little items in the media of developments in today's technologies which could be harbingers of what she writes about. As a result the book stays alive in my mind. Provocative to say the least!

The earlier book, Oryx and Crake, was even better written, to me. Read both, because together they have a powerful one-two punch. I've had worries about our possible future as a planet ever since reading the two books, and I keep spotting things from them that I thought were totally science fiction that have actually come to pass (e.g. genetically engineered neon bunnies). Every man-made bad thing that could happen *has* happened in this story, so it's pretty dark...but really gripping. My only critique: some of the main characters are a religious group of survivors, and every chapter has one of their hymns or homilies, which I found a bit tiresome after a while. It's all brilliantly realized, though: a You Are There dystopian future that will stick with you and make you want to do your part to keep it from happening.

What a delightul read! I loved every minute of it. I read Oryx and Crake and I loved it too. It's full of phantasy, very satyrical, thought provoking and funny. This books widens the story about the protagonists of Oryx and Crake and tells us a lot about the events which were only mentioned shortly in it. Every page is fun to read and it'll be a shame when it ends. Fortunately I can look forward to the third book: MaddAdams.

Amazing book!!! She is an excellent author and her books are riveting. I couldn't put it down and had to finish reading. I am now starting the next book in the trilogy. If you've read Oryx and Crake, you MUST continue to this next book.

This is a keeper. Starting with Oryk and Crake, this trilogy is engrossing. Margaret Atwood has created a future which seems all too possible. It's the realm of possibility which is horrific, but seemingly so logical. I recommend the whole trilogy.

A great foray into the details beyond the world of Snowman and Crake. More of the lesser known characters' experiences broaden the tableau Atwood crafted in the first novel. A great read...can't wait to start the third one.

I've enjoyed the trilogy. I had my reservations about Oryx and Crake as I didn't get into it right away, but I'm glad I stuck it out and the Year of the Flood pulled me in. Intelligent and descriptive writing and well-drawn characters. Not your formulaic sci-fi novel.

I was rather unsatisfied by this one - I expect so much more of Atwood, and this didn't take me anywhere that Oryx & Crake had not already covered. sure the end was nigh, and society was collapsing, but I didn't get a sense of insight into the world.

Since MaddAddam has come out I decided that I should read Oryx and Crake and The year of the Flood again before I sink my teeth into the latest of the trilogy!!! I have read every book Ms. Atwood has written and she never lets me down.

Is this the future? A dream? Atwood should be required reading for anyone going out into the world. College, work, marriage. Women especially. I lent this to my mother in law who lent it to another lady, who lent it to....

Brilliant trilogy! Fascinating and thought-provoking near-future perfectly imagined and thoroughly well-researched on the science side making the sci-fi leaps compelling believable. I particularly like how each book works alone, but with each subsequent book the complexity of the original story is revealed.

This book picks up right where oryx and crake left off while giving a bit more inside on crake (glenn) and jimmy... Characters like amanda, brenda (ren)...from the first book appear again but this time as main characters...telling the story from their view..plus giving many details previously not disguised that lift some secrets and give desired answers to so many burning questions that the previous book left unanswered. The general pace moves a bit slower and flows less well than oryx and crake therefore only 4 stars...still an amazing read!

I enjoyed reading about Ren and Toby's life. For the most part, I didn't enjoy the sermons from Adam one or the singing. wasn't what I really wanted from the story. This lowered my rating, otherwise it was an interesting read

Oryx and Crake was a fantastic, distopian novel and The Year of the Flood is even better as Atwood fleshes out multiple perspectives in the MaddAddam series. I can't wait for the final book in the series to be released this fall!