The Year of the Flood

The Year of the Flood

First edition cover (UK)
Author Margaret Atwood
Country Canada
Language English
Genre Speculative fiction, Novel
Publisher McClelland & Stewart (Canada)
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
Publication date
 September 2009 (first edition, hardcover)
Pages 448 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7475-8516-9 (first edition, hardcover)
OCLC 373481031
Preceded by Oryx and Crake
Followed by MaddAddam

The Year of the Flood is a novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, the second book of her dystopian trilogy, released on September 22, 2009 in Canada and the United States, and on September 7, 2009, in the United Kingdom.[1] The novel was mentioned in numerous newspaper review articles looking forward to notable fiction of 2009.[2][3]

The book focuses on a group called God's Gardeners, a small community of survivors of the same biological catastrophe depicted in Atwood's earlier novel Oryx and Crake. The earlier novel contained several brief references to the group.

It answers some of the questions of Oryx and Crake, develops and further elaborates upon several of the characters in the first book, and reveals the identity of the three human figures who appear at the end of the earlier book. The final book of the trilogy is MaddAddam.[4]

Plot

The Year of the Flood details the events of Oryx and Crake from the perspective of the lower classes in the pleeblands, specifically the God's Gardeners. God's Gardeners are devoted to preserving all plant and animal life, and they predict a disaster (The Waterless Flood according to the Gardeners, known by the readers to be Crake's viral pandemic) will radically alter the Earth.

The plot follows two characters, Toby and Ren, whose stories intertwine with each other and, at points, with major characters from Oryx and Crake. Much of the story is told through flashback with the two main characters separately surviving the apocalypse described in the previous novel, both reminiscing about their time in the God's Gardeners religious movements and the events that led to their current positions.

Toby is a young woman who loses her family, blaming the corporations, and is forced to work in a low-quality burger joint. She soon encounters the unwelcome attention of Blanco – the psychopathic manager of the chain who is depicted as grooming and sexually assaulting women in his employ. Adam One, depicted as a self-proclaimed messiah but perceived by outsiders as a cult leader, saves Toby from Blanco, and takes her to the sanctuary of his rooftop garden. Toby becomes an influential member of the gardeners and encounters Ren, a child member of the gardeners.

Ren eventually grows up to become a trapeze dancer in the sex-club Scales and Tails, and happens to be locked in a bio-containment unit in the club when the pandemic occurs. Similarly, Toby is barricaded within a luxury spa where she has begun to work following a raid on the gardeners by Blanco and his brutish pals.

Main characters

Oryx, Crake (aka Glenn) and Jimmy appear in cameo roles over the course of the book with the protagonists Ren and Toby unaware that these characters are responsible for the pandemic. While the first book shows the world through the eyes of Jimmy/Snowman; here the story is told from the point of view of the women, Ren and Toby. [5]

God's Gardeners

Locations

Organizations

Glossary

Events

Promotion

Atwood's tour to promote the book included choral performances of 14 religious hymns that appear in the book.[6]

Naming rights

For both Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, Atwood donated naming rights to characters in the novel to charity auctions. One of the winning bidders was journalist Rebecca Eckler, who paid $7,000 at a benefit for the magazine The Walrus.[7]

Critical reception

The novel was generally well-received; reviewers noted that while the plot was sometimes chaotic,[8] the novel's imperfections meshed well with the flawed reality the book was trying to reflect.[9] The Daily Telegraph commented that "Margaret Atwood is genuinely inventive, rather than merely clever".[8]

In 2010, the novel was longlisted as a candidate for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award,[10] and shortlisted for the 2010 Trillium Book Award.

The novel was selected for inclusion in the 2014 edition of CBC Radio's Canada Reads, where it was defended by Stephen Lewis.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood". FantasticFiction. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  2. ↑ Pellegrino, Nicky (2009-01-09). "Books to watch for in 2009". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  3. ↑ Healy, Madeline. "Smorgasbord of titles awaits readers in 2009". The Courier-Mail. Queensland Newspapers. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  4. ↑ Bromwich, Kathryn (2013-07-14). "Heads Up: MaddAddam". London: The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  5. ↑ The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2013
  6. ↑ Heather Mallick, "Here comes the flood". cbc.ca, September 27, 2009.
  7. ↑ Rebecca Eckler, "Margaret Atwood didn’t kill me". Maclean's, September 23, 2009.
  8. 1 2 Moore, Caroline (2009-09-10). "The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood: review". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  9. ↑ Winterson, Jeanette (2009-09-17). "Strange New World". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  10. ↑ "A week of literary awards". Edmonton Journal. 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.