August 30, 2009
The Year of the Flood
In The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood returns to the connected characters and stories found in the apocalyptic world she imagined in Oryx and Crake (2003). During the futuristic year 25, corporations dispense synthetic food, genetically modified animals abound, and the environment is a wasteland. When a viral “Waterless Flood” predicted by the religious/environmental group God’s Gardeners decimates the world, there are only a few human survivors. Two women, trapeze dancer, Ren, and Toby, a leader of the group, must make their way with others through this strange new world, relying on their survival skills to stay alive. At turns dark and hopeful, this is dystopian fiction at its finest.
