The Year of the Flood
2009
- fiction
- regression (civilization)
- environmental disasters
- literature
- science fiction & fantasy
- dystopias
- genetic engineering
- friendship
- fiction, science fiction, general
- canadian fiction (fictional works by one author)
The story
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.
What it’s like
Lean, sardonic prose with sharp observational detail, moving between two survivors' first-person voices and a hymn-singing eco-cult's sermons, all set in a near-future world of decaying cities, bioengineered wildlife, and sealed-off pleasure compounds. The sensory world on the page is vivid and often unsettling: the sour smell of stale air in a sealed spa, the glossy absurdity of corporate branding, the strange tenderness of gene-spliced animals, and the green smell of a garden tended for its own sake. Vibe: wry, wounded, quietly apocalyptic, with flashes of dark comedy. Pacing shifts between tense, claustrophobic stretches and expansive, reflective passages, and the emotional register swings from grief and dread to affection and grimly funny observation. The arcs follow two isolated women slowly reaching toward each other and toward a wider community, learning what they owe to others. Intensity is considerable: violence is present and sometimes sudden, including killings and cruelty, along with frank sexual content and bodily horror, though it is more often described with cool restraint than lingered over. Best for readers who enjoy speculative fiction with satirical bite, morally complicated characters, and a thoughtful look at ecology, faith, and survival, rather than anyone seeking something gentle.
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