Up Shit Creek

[dotinthesky]

Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood, 2009
This is not a sequel to Oryx and Crake like some reviewers have claimed, but a mirror novel that distorts, accentuates and subtracts from that first story like a Fun House attraction. Both novels can be read individually or in whichever sequence you prefer, with various characters and concepts appearing in both stories, though Oryx and Crake is the superior piece of literature.

What was intriguing and terrifying in Oryx and Crake returns with less power in The Year of the Flood. A "waterless" Flood has swept across the planet and killed most people, leaving a few survivors to contend with genetic experiments gone awry (pigs with human brain tissue still being the scariest in both stories), psychopaths, hunger and isolation. Two women trapped in different parts of a city remember how they came to join an eco-cult called God's Gardeners and their subsequent fall into illegality and terrorist status. It's a world that could be ours any day now: corporations as government, profits over humans, SecretBurgers ("because everyone loves a secret"), pharmaceutical drugs meant to kill in the name of research and prisoners serving time in gruesome TV shows. Oops... maybe we are already in that world! Nothing exactly groundbreaking in the Sci-Fi genre, but Atwood never claimed she was braving new waters: she simply wants to put to paper her fears for the future, though there's also an ambiguity to her words which is particularly noticeable in the God's Gardeners songs - eco hymns that preface each chapter like prophetic Bible passages. Hardcore Atwood fans can buy these songs on CD.

Comments

[amypops.livejournal.com]

Hmm, not sure I'm feeling the need to read this having read (and enjoyed) Oryx and Crake. I hope she's not going to come over all J G Ballard and start reproducing endless versions of the same story!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Word on the street is that she's going to do a George Lucas and come out with a third installment. She certainly leaves it open for quite a few more sequels.

[geosh.livejournal.com]

as usual, i love your review. and but...ummm...that book sounds SCARY!!!!!! NOT gonna read it...apocalypse/dystopia stuff terrifies me!!! ahhhh

although the two together playing off each other sounds really fun and brilliant

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It works well together but it's questionable whether the second one adds anything necessary - it feels more that she wanted to revisit a setting she'd explored before.

I love apocalyptic fiction! There are so many coming out now, thanks to all the worries about global warming and what not. And some good ones too.

[aeonflux.livejournal.com]

I read Oryx and Crake while I was doing an ethnographic field school in Oaxaca, Mexico. I was isolated in a country where my grasp of the language was shaky, I was lonely, homesick and had lots of time on my hands. I felt vaguely Snowman-like. I really liked the story and am a little afraid to overwrite its memory with this. But I do love dystopian novels. I've just acquired one called The Outlander by Gil Adamson. Reviewers compare the writing style to Cormack McCarthy with a female protagonist. I'll let you know how it pans out. Have your read On the Beach by Neville Shute? If not, I recommend it immediately.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

This is by no means a bad read - its just not as good as Oryx and Crake. I think you would enjoy it if you had such a strong connection to the first novel.

Ive been meaning to read On The Beach for a while now because I know Morrissey based his song Everyday is Like Sunday on it!

Have you heard of The Rapture? Thats another recent dystopian/apocalyptic novel ive been meaning to read. There are so many... Slavoj Zizek has an interesting titled one coming out "Living In the End Times" and there's "Far North" by Marcel Theroux.

I'll add The Outlander to my wish list.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Wait... I was just recently recommended The Outlander by someone else on LJ, just a few days ago!