Book Summary and Reviews of The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

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Zoe B. (Naperville, IL)

Dystopian Hopefullness
Margaret Atwood is so in tune with scientific and environmental issues she manages to write futuristic books that could be reality tomorrow. Expanding on her world created in "Oryx and Crake', she tells a parallel story of the people left in the outside world after the "waterless flood". Rather than conveying a sense of hopelessness and despair in this distopia, her characters are interesting, hopeful and even amusing at times. Atwood is an amazing author.

Ann C. (Roswell, GA)

The Year of the Flood
Margaret Atwood's new novel The Year of the Flood is a gripping, chilling, and uncomfortably believable account of a post-apocalyptic world where humankind has engineered its own demise as well as the destruction of the natural environment. It appears that only two humans survive, both female : Ren , a young sex club worker and trapeze artist, and Toby, a God's Gardner - a member of a religious group devoted to preserving the environment.

This book is set in the same dystopian future as Atwood's Oryx and Crake and there are several characters who appear in both books. The quest undertaken by Toby and Ren to see if others have survived the disaster reminded me of the harrowing journey in Cornac McCarthy's The Road. Gene-spliced life forms may seem futuristic to the current reader, but Atwood's use of scientific detail and vividly descriptive prose give the story an immediacy that makes it ultimately believable. And frightening. And, even humorous in some places. I will definitely recommend this book to my friends and to my book club

Lesley F. (San Diego, CA)

An Atwood Gardener Sings Praises
I loved The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. With The Year of the Flood I was hooked again by the strong women. A little science fiction, with its mystery and danger, and many Biblical references that are at turns dead on, ironic, or hilarious, made this great fun to read. I loved the references to Saints Jane, Terry, and Farley. I want the soundtrack from the Gardeners' Oral Hymnbook and the edition of "Lives of the Saints", both sure to come out as the following grows.

Donna M. (Plymouth, MN)

Dystopic Sci Fi that hits close too home
I enjoyed this book immensely. I would recommend reading "Oryx and Crake" before trying this book. When I first read "Oryx and Crake," for which "The Year of the Flood" is a sequel, I thought it was an appealingly silly vision of a dystopic future. But after reading "The Year of the Flood," it no longer sounds silly, it sounds like some of the events in the book could really happen. If you liked "Brave New World," "The Road," or "We," you would probably enjoy this book.

Vicki R. (York, PA)

Another great book by Atwood
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood is an excellent read. I have enjoyed Atwood's books ever since first reading The Handmaid's Tale. This is another futuristic novel that follows the same time period as Atwood's previous novel Oryx and Crake. I found the book very interesting in the way Atwood used two characters to tell the story. Ren is a teenager/young adult through much of the story while Toby is a more mature responsible adult. You get to see events happen through both of these points of view. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading.

Angela W. (Bronx, NY)

The Survivors
“The Year of the Flood” offers a parallel view of the future world depicted in “Oryx and Crake”, but from a decidedly female perspective. We meet the two main characters – Ren and Toby - each living in isolation after most of humanity has been wiped out from what they call the ‘Waterless Flood’. Switching between past and present to show how the world is and how it got that way, the back stories illustrate that the women are not perfect, but that they possess traits that many of the characters in “Oryx and Crake” lack: They are resilient and realistic and human.

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