The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (ISBN:0385528779)

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		The Year of the Flood
	
				(106 reviews)			
(985 Readers)

			Margaret Atwood		
	
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...more
 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.   less

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
"The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing thinas enviromental 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 the Earth as we know it. Now it...more
 "The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing thinas enviromental 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 the Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked away in the high-end sex club where she works, and Toby, a God's Gardener who has barricaded herself in a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible."
- from the Dust Jacket of The Year of the Flood.

Atwood's vision of the future may appear frightening does have a strong element of truth to it. Although the novel is based on the same realm as Oryx and Crake - it is not necessary to read it to understand "The Year of the Flood>"   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Although it ended up picking up by the end and became engaging, I didn't find it that way all the way through, unlike Atwood's other novels.  The plot took too long to gather steam and I think one of the other reviewers hit it on the head when they said it lacked her usual dry wit.  All that being said, the book does contain Atwood's signature inventiveness, such as she uses for the God's...more
 Although it ended up picking up by the end and became engaging, I didn't find it that way all the way through, unlike Atwood's other novels.  The plot took too long to gather steam and I think one of the other reviewers hit it on the head when they said it lacked her usual dry wit.  All that being said, the book does contain Atwood's signature inventiveness, such as she uses for the God's Gardeners and their hymns.

To sum up, it's still interesting and definitely worth the read, but for me lacked the impact of some of her other works, such as The Blind Assassin or The Handmaid's Tale, and especially Oryx and Crake.   hide

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							Debbie
						
							few weeks ago						
Atwood's second post-apocalypse book (following "Oryx & Crake") is a compelling page-turner and a cautionary tale about what could happen as scientists and large corporations continue fiddling with genes and nature to make our lives "perfect." This book features the lead up to the "Waterless Flood" which kills mostly everyone. But the Gardeners knew it was coming. In the end, we're left to wonder...more
 Atwood's second post-apocalypse book (following "Oryx & Crake") is a compelling page-turner and a cautionary tale about what could happen as scientists and large corporations continue fiddling with genes and nature to make our lives "perfect." This book features the lead up to the "Waterless Flood" which kills mostly everyone. But the Gardeners knew it was coming. In the end, we're left to wonder if the remaining humans will survive or if the corporation-created perfect blue people will be the new race on Earth.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
'Part three' of Atwood's dystopian triology continues to create a shocking, yet all too realistic, view of the future where nature has been commodified and humanity is addicted to fast food, plastic surgery and porn. 
Atwood's experimentation with language is brilliant - rhyming couplets, sermons, text lingo, and as always, piercing, searing imagery. 
She asks the questions we need to ask...more
 'Part three' of Atwood's dystopian triology continues to create a shocking, yet all too realistic, view of the future where nature has been commodified and humanity is addicted to fast food, plastic surgery and porn. 
Atwood's experimentation with language is brilliant - rhyming couplets, sermons, text lingo, and as always, piercing, searing imagery. 
She asks the questions we need to ask ourselves.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Just finished Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood, more or less a cousin to Orax and Crake. Recommend for anyone who likes smart, futuristic themes that are not quite science fiction or fantasy. Atwood doesn't like her books to be branded as science fiction. As she puts it in her essay Moving Targets, everything that happens in her novels is possible and may even have already happened. Heard them...more
 Just finished Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood, more or less a cousin to Orax and Crake. Recommend for anyone who likes smart, futuristic themes that are not quite science fiction or fantasy. Atwood doesn't like her books to be branded as science fiction. As she puts it in her essay Moving Targets, everything that happens in her novels is possible and may even have already happened. Heard them described as "near future." She writes good characters, all morally unambiguous but sufficiently nuanced to keep them interesting and prevent them from becoming charactertures.  

I'm always on the lookout for books in this genre but difficult to find. Among the best include A Secret History of Time to Come by  Robie MacAuley, Handmaiden's Tale, also by Atwood, and of course, Orwell's 1984.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Margaret Atwood’s new book “The Year of the Flood “ was a disappointment for me. I had loved some of Atwood’s other books, The Hand Maid’s Tale and The Robber Bride, but I felt that “The Year of the Flood “  was not as well written. I was very intrigued by the topics explored in the book: the power of corporations, the loss of individual rights, the perils of genetic engineering and...more
 Margaret Atwood’s new book “The Year of the Flood “ was a disappointment for me. I had loved some of Atwood’s other books, The Hand Maid’s Tale and The Robber Bride, but I felt that “The Year of the Flood “  was not as well written. I was very intrigued by the topics explored in the book: the power of corporations, the loss of individual rights, the perils of genetic engineering and depletion of the earth’s resources. But, I felt that many of the story points were contrived and the narrative was narrowly focused and repetitive.   hide

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							Julie
						
							few weeks ago						
With great imagination, Atwood creates a world that is scarily recognizable as an all-too-possible future.  Drug companies that seed their products with maladies to which only they control the remedies . . . fast food that is no longer recognizable as anything grown from the earth . . . leading to the growth of "fanatic" vegetarian cults . . . Yet, the overall effect of the book was somewhat...more
 With great imagination, Atwood creates a world that is scarily recognizable as an all-too-possible future.  Drug companies that seed their products with maladies to which only they control the remedies . . . fast food that is no longer recognizable as anything grown from the earth . . . leading to the growth of "fanatic" vegetarian cults . . . Yet, the overall effect of the book was somewhat tedious.  The author did not employ her wry humor often enough, and the sections describing life before the "dry flood" felt too long. Disclaimers:  I listened to this as an audio book, and have not read Oryx and Crake, which I now realize is a prequel to this book.   hide

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							Joel
						
							few weeks ago						
This book occupies the same universe as Atwood's Crake and Oryk. I liked this book better than the first. Her vision for the future is frightening and believable and will have you running into the warm arms of the nanny state and away from the CorpSeCorps.

Atwood crafts a deep and imaginative religion at the center of the novel which is well thought out and provides food for continual...more
 This book occupies the same universe as Atwood's Crake and Oryk. I liked this book better than the first. Her vision for the future is frightening and believable and will have you running into the warm arms of the nanny state and away from the CorpSeCorps.

Atwood crafts a deep and imaginative religion at the center of the novel which is well thought out and provides food for continual thought.

I loved the book and have gained increased respect for Atwood. She's deeper than science fiction for Women Studies refugees.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
More complex and darker than Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood's newest dystopian novel takes us into the gritty pleeblands, where a group of greenies/environmental stewards are eking out an existence. The story follows two women who are surviving in the aftermath of the 'waterless flood' and who link back to Oryx and Crake in interesting ways. I wouldn't rate it as highly as Oryx...more
 More complex and darker than Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood's newest dystopian novel takes us into the gritty pleeblands, where a group of greenies/environmental stewards are eking out an existence. The story follows two women who are surviving in the aftermath of the 'waterless flood' and who link back to Oryx and Crake in interesting ways. I wouldn't rate it as highly as Oryx and Crake, which was more of a character-driven novel; The Year of the Flood seems to concentrate more on what society could be like when central powers gain ultimate strength and then collapse.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
This latest by MA is a prequel to her novel Oryx and Crake of several years ago.  It is depicts a future "end of times" event to our species and world.  We follow several characters up to and through the event.  The book has many levels and I found worked well as you flipped between them.  I loved the characters, their flaws, struggles and I thought, very believeable natures.  As usual...more
 This latest by MA is a prequel to her novel Oryx and Crake of several years ago.  It is depicts a future "end of times" event to our species and world.  We follow several characters up to and through the event.  The book has many levels and I found worked well as you flipped between them.  I loved the characters, their flaws, struggles and I thought, very believeable natures.  As usual for me in reading MA, this book was not just about a great story with a warning.  It was also about enjoying her writing style.  The words once again flow beautifully off the pages.    So, a pleasure to read for a few reasons.  I will likely read both books again.   hide

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