Book Review of The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood: 3 Treasure Boxes

Second Book of the MaddAddam Trilogy
Random House Audio, Audible Audio Edition, Listening Length: 14 hours and 4 minutes, ASIN: B002Q1IUNK

The Year of the Flood begins in a post-apocalyptic world with Snowman living alone and yet somehow connected with a group of human-like creatures. As Snowman stumbles through his life, the events that lead up the ruination of the world are slowly revealed through flashbacks. Snowman is the same character as Jimmie from Oryx and Crake and both stories run in parallel. I liked how The Year of the Flood explained the ending of  Oryx and Crake, because I felt that ending was a bit too open.

Margaret Atwood is a famous Canadian writer born in 1937, and she has written numerous books, short stories, books of poetry and essays. She has won more than 55 awards, both Canadian as well as international. The Year of the Flood is speculative fiction and the story is told in the first person narrative by the main protagonist, Snowman.

This trilogy presents a grim view of the havoc that genetic engineering could cause. I thought the characters were great and I liked where the story went, but at times I thought it was a bit too much preachy. I was listening to the audio book and didn’t care for the religious songs.   I am looking forward to reading the final book in the series to see where this trilogy is headed. 

I recommend this book as a very good read, but it is important to read Oryx and Crake first.

Favourite Quote: “But I prefer to say, ‘We are what we wish’. Because if you can’t wish, why bother?”

(Ch 73@5:48) Track 11 ch 2