Cannonball Read V: Book #14/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 431
Genre: Dystopian
4 stars: Very good. Would recommend.
The Year of the Flood is a sort-of sequel to Oryx and Crake, which I read last year. It's more of a companion novel than an actual sequel. It takes place in the same future dystopian society and has a few crossover characters that weave in and out, but it can definitely be read on its own as well.
This book switches back and forth between two main characters (with their lives interacting at some points through flashbacks). Ren used to work at a futuristic strip club called Scales and Tails before an incident broke out and she got locked inside alone. Toby has been holed up in a spa she used to work at since the incident happend. Before any of that, Ren and Toby were both part of a group called "God's Gardeners" who warned of a "waterless flood" that was coming (the incident). Most of the book is told in flashbacks that explain how each woman joined God's Gardeners and how they ended up where they are now.
I really love Margaret Atwood. Her writing style is great and I love how she slowly reveals things through the flashbacks and eventually everything connects towards the end. The characters from Oryx and Crake were seamlessly woven into the story, giving them a richer background if you've read the other book, but still making them stand alone characters in this one. The ending is a great connection to Oryx and Crake as well.
I can't wait to read the third book in this trilogy (I think it's going to be released later this year) and I'll definitely be reading some more Atwood books before then.
Cannonball Read III: Book #12/52
Published: 2003
Pages: 374 (4,479 total so far)
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
This is the second Margaret Atwood book I've read (the first was The Handmaid's Tale) and I seem to have the same reaction to her books. The premise sounds promising, but I keep putting it off. When I finally get around to reading it, it starts off slow and throws you right in the middle of some world you know nothing about. The rest of the book slowly gives you the bigger picture until it abruptly ends with no real resolution. At the beginning, I want to give up, but by the end I am completely drawn in and end up loving it.
Oryx and Crake is oddly named because the title characters are actually secondary characters. The main character (our narrator) is a man called Snowman. He lives on a post-apocalyptic earth with a group of genetically modified people he calls "Crakers".
The entire book is mostly flashbacks of Snowman (back when he was known as Jimmy). Jimmy grew up on a Compound where his parents worked at splicing animals together and doing various other experiments for financial gain. Most of the rest of the world lives in the pleeblands, where crime runs rampants. We follow Snowman through his life and his relationships with his best friend Crake and his lover Oryx as he uncovers for us the horrifying truth as to who the Crakers are and why there are no more humans.
I don't want to give too much away, because the beauty of this book really lies on how everything is eventually brought together in the end. It's a little slow at first, but once I got into it a little further, I couldn't put it down.
