Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood is a difficult and disturbing book. I liked it. I finished it on Sunday and I have been thinking about it ever since.
The book takes place during the same course of events as happened in Oryx and Crake only this time instead of being with the scientists we are with the people on the outside. The story is told by two women, Toby and Ren, in alternating sections that often start in the present and then flashback. The last third of the book is all present tense and the story moves forward to end exactly where Oryx and Crake ends.
Our narrator Toby is an adult in her early twenties when circumstances force her to leave the security of the corporation compound and make a life for herself out in the pleeblands. Things are not going well for her when she is rescued from working at SecretBurger (the secret is you don’t know what kind of meat is in the burger) where her criminal boss, Blanco, had chosen her for his woman. Toby was so beaten and bruised that she knew if she didn’t get away soon she’d be dead like the girl who was Blanco’s before her.
She is rescued by the Gardeners, a sort of back-to-nature eco-religious group. The Gardeners are vegetarians and grow gardens on rooftops. They know that at some point there is going to be a waterless flood that, like Noah’s flood, destroys humankind. To prepare for the flood, they learn survival skills and build secret caches of food and other supplies they call Ararats in various places.
Ren comes to the Gardeners as a young girl with her mother who has left her husband because she is having an affair with Zeb, a tall, handsome Gardener who is often sent on secret missions. But after nearly growing up with the Gardeners, Ren’s mother’s affair ends and she takes Ren back to the corporation compound where they used to live inventing a story that she and Ren were kidnapped. Through many twists, Ren eventually ends up back in the Pleeblands working at a club as a dancer/prostitute.
But that is all just plot. There is a definite environmental message of course. The book is peppered with Gardener sermons and hymns. The hymns are marvelous songs to the weeds, in praise of Saint Dian (Fossey), moles, the water-shrew. Margaret Atwood is the only one who could ever work australopithecus into a hymn. The hymns have all been set to music and you can hear snippets of them at the book’s website.
At the heart of the book though is the friendships between women. It is Toby and Ren and their friendships with each other and other women in the book that really carry the whole thing. The men, even the Gardener men, lack something vital. It is because of Toby and Ren that the book is not horribly bleak. These two women become sort of stand-ins for the human race to be compared to the genetically engineered new humans that were created in Oryx and Crake. Toby and Ren provide a hope that not all is lost and broken.
I hope I have managed to give you some idea about the book. Like I said at the beginning, it is difficult and disturbing in many ways, but well worth the time and effort. Should you read Oryx and Crake first if you haven’t already? It’s a good idea but not necessary though because it is a companion book both should be read at some point. And because of the way the book ends, I suspect Atwood will be writing another one in this setting. But then again, maybe she plans on leaving the fate of humanity as an open question.
I’ve read The Handmaid’s Tale, and I’ve read a whole bunch of other Atwood novels – The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Edible Woman. I have to say I do prefer her when she works with the real world, but that’s not to say I don’t recognise the cleverness and the power of her dystopian fiction. Lovely review, Stefanie!
I’m not sure I’m up to a difficult and disturbing book like this but it sounds very interesting!
I picked up The Robber Bride at the first Big Book Sale I went to, and although it started out well, it lost me somewhere along the way and I didn’t finish it. I also have The Handmaid’s Tale which I want very much to read. I have every intention of picking up The Robber Bride again soon since I think the trouble was with me – not the right book at the right time. From this wonderful review, I think this is the same sort of book. It timing has to be right.
I’ve picked up Oryx and Crake three or four times (and checked it out from the library at least twice) and I just can’t get into it. I have a hard time getting into dystopian books/movies… they are SO depressing and make me very anxious. However, I LOVE Atwood so will wait until she writes something less bleak (not that she’s all sunshine and roses, um, EVER).
I have Oryx and Crank on my nightstand, to be read soon. Since reading your lovely review of the companion book I think I will start it even sooner than I intended…you make the book I am very much enjoying reading right now seem less interesting!
Atwood is severely hit-or-miss with me – I adored The Blind Assassin but was meh about Edible Woman and, while I recognize the historical importance of The Handmaid’s Tale, it didn’t speak to me particularly. I think I may be in the camp of people who prefer her when she’s being less dystopian. I am, though, kind of intrigued by this pair of novels. We’ll see if I ever get around to them, but in the meantime, thanks for the review!
Litlove, thank you. I prefer her real world books too. I consider her such a genius though that even her not as brilliant books are head and shoulder above most other books.
Rebecca, it is interesting. Keep it on your list of books you might read if ever in the mood for difficult and disturbing. You never know, a mood like that could hit sometime
Grad, you know Robber Bride and Handmaid’s Tale are the only Atwood fiction I think I haven’t read. Why that is I don’t know. Sometimes her books take a little to get into and if you aren’t in the right frame of mind things don’t go well. Good luck when you try Robber Bride again.
Daphne, Oryx and Crake is not a favorite of mine. It does take a bit to get into and there is so much to try and keep track of especially with the flashbacks. But even though it isn’t a favorite I still liked it and didn’t finish it feeling depressed.
Courtney, I hope you like Oryx and Crake. It has some really fascinating and disturbing ideas in it. I liked it pretty well but now that I have read Year of the Flood I think it is the better of the two.
Emily, I was meh about Edible Woman as well. I read it so long ago I can’t even remember why. I loved Blind Assassin. Alias Grace if you haven’t read that one is great as is Surfacing. It is interesting how she has done this pair and I will be curious to see if she makes it a threesome but I won’t be surprised if she doesn’t.
I almost bought this one for Hobgoblin for Christmas, but then I wasn’t sure whether it depended on Oryx and Crake or not and he hasn’t read that one yet, so I decided to pass. But it sounds like the pair of novels is worth getting to at some point. Not now, though; I have to read my first Atwood soon, and I think I should start with something else.
Oh it’s been such a long time since I’ve read an Atwood book. I do have Oryx and Crake and may read that one first but good to know they don’t have to be read in order. Great review, Stefanie!
The only Atwood I’ve read is The Handmaid’s Tale. I loved it, but I am a big fan of dystopian literature. I’ve been looking to get into some more Atwood, and Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood sound like good places to go next. Thanks.
What a terrific, comprehensive review, Stefainie.
This was one of my favorite books of 2009.
Oh, I have to read this. I’ve not read anything by Atwood for ages. I gulped most of her books years ago and then I think I was just full up, but now I am ready to get back to her work. I’ll start with Oryx and Crake since I have it on hand!
Dorothy, while the pair of novels is worth getting to, for your first Atwood I would definitely recommend something else.
Iliana, they don’t have to be read in order but since you have Oryx and Crake, might as well start there!
Juanita, well, if you are a big fan of dystopian literature you really need to read Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. Hope you like them when you get to them
Cipriano, I remember when you were reading this one. It had me very excited to read it too especially since I believe you said you liked it better than the previous one. I suspect this one will be towards the top of my 2010 favorites.
Danielle, Atwood is fun to gulp but you do eventually get filled up and need to digest. I hope you like Oryx and Crake and Flood when you get to it. I look forward to hearing what you think of them!
I thougth Flood and O&C were both amazing. My other half was going to read The Handmaid’s Tale on our recent vacation. I ended up stealing it from him and reading it in a day. I hadn’t read it for about 15 years and it was great reaquaint myself with it. What a great book.
Masterpiece. This is a stunning work of imagination. The near-future dystopian world that Atwood creates is so real, so consistent, so self-enclosed, so immediate and stand-alone. I loved Oryx and Crake, but I love this more. They are parallel stories. This is not a sequel or a prequel.