Canada's online magazine: Politics, entertainment, technology, media, arts, books: backofthebook.ca

Politics, tech, media, culture and more, from a Canadian point-of-view

  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Science and Tech
  • Living
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
You are here: Home / Arts and Books / Atwood at her dystopic best

Atwood at her dystopic best

09/30/2009 by backofthebook.ca 3 Comments

year_of_the_floodYEAR OF THE FLOOD
By Margaret Atwood
McClelland & Stewart
448 pp., $32.99

Review by Rachel Krueger

Margaret Atwood is at her haranguing best when she’s whipping up appalling futures for us all. She’s had several career missteps when her agenda has written cheques that her skills can’t cash, but The Year of the Flood recovers her dormant core of brilliance that we all know and love (and secretly fear).

As usual with La Atwood (and apocalyptic lit in general, I suppose) you’ll begin this book confused re: why everyone is dead. The Waterless Flood (see: title) has just swept through the earth and killed everyone except those who were accidentally secreted away somewhere. How Toby, the wiry old Gardeneress, and Ren, a nimble young sex-worker, missed out on the plague and how mankind ended up in a wretched soup of its own making make up most of the novel.

And this is no new soup. The freakiest thing about Dystopia-Wood may be that she isn’t all NEW MONSTERS! but rather THINGS CURRENTLY EXISTING MADE BELIEVABLY TERRIFYING! – like gene splicing and vitamin supplements – which makes TYotF both plausible and freaky shit. And if the foreboding doesn’t get you, then Toby’s lonely past, doled out in pieces, will stab you good.

If the beginning is vaguely Atwoodian, the “conclusion” reeks of her. Be forewarned, Flood doesn’t so much end as run out of pages. There will not be enough answers to satisfy you, and even though you had to plow through some 430+ pages to get here, you wouldn’t say no to an epilogue or two – which will not be forthcoming – and you will be not much less confused than when you started. This is both Atwood’s blessing and her curse, that you are so entrenched in her characters and her world that being cut off this way makes you feel bereft. But you will be used to that, because you will have read Oryx and Crake.

Or, you know, not, because it’s certainly not a prerequisite to reading Flood. While O&C reveals more of the apocalypse’s whodunit and howdidit, TYotF deals with those harbingers who saw it coming, and tried to stop it. With GARDENING and RECYCLING (I know, eye-roll, right? But you will find yourself oddly sympathetic to their efforts). It is neither a prequel nor a sequel, but more of a meanwhile-back-at-the-ranch-quel. A concurrentquel? A stand-alone, at any rate.

And somewhere along the road Miss Marg seems to have become gentler with her agenda-mongering. There’s a good bit of Environmentalistic hoodoo here, but she wears this cloak more easily than her Women’s Movement Power-Suit or her Anti-theists Robe, and it feels less like being clubbed over the head with a handful of tracts. Besides, she’s been auctioning off character names to benefit things like Clean Air and Victims of Torture, which you have to admit is rad. You couldn’t really look down your nose at her if you wanted to.

So even though reading Atwood has become like literary Russian Roulette, The Year of the Flood is one book where you won’t end up shot. Or will . . . depending on how you interpret that metaphor. Flood is great, is what I’m saying.

Filed Under: Arts and Books Tagged With: books, Margaret Atwood, McClelland & Stewart

Subscribe to BoB by e-mail or RSS

Comments

  1. trish says

    10/02/2009 at 9:38 am

    Okay, so going with the Russian Roulette analagy, this one isn’t shooting a blank. Because even though I didn’t ever finish it, I felt like THE BLIND ASSASSIN was a blank. It was hard to get into, and three tries couldn’t get me past page 75. So, with that said, looks like Atwood has filled all the chambers with YotF, so I’ll take my chances this isn’t a blank.

  2. Jessica says

    10/01/2009 at 1:21 pm

    I love Raych’s voice. I’ve been introduced to dystopic Atwood via The Handmaid’s Tale, and, after this review, I think I’m up for another dose.

  3. Maree says

    09/30/2009 at 10:33 pm

    I am finally halfway through. I’m a really, really sucky person for a readalong, no? Sigh. I am loving it, although mine has a different cover to yours. I keep reading it at, like, 2am and then inconveniently falling asleep.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Google+
  • Living
  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
Fire sale sign

Fort McMurray: Shopping time!

By Brady Tighe We’re now officially in the aftermath phase of the northern Alberta wildfire crisis. The fire is long gone, and everyone with a home to return to is back in its … [Read More...]

Nathan Cullen

Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking

By Alison@Creekside The most interesting and innovative idea to come out of the first meeting of the all-party Special Committee on Electoral Reform, or ERRE, was Nathan Cullen's suggestion, … [Read More...]

Trudeau on quantum computing

The Trudeau gush fest is getting old

By Jim Henshaw There have been several bewildered as well as angry accounts coming out of the USA lately about how little media time has been spent covering the Democratic Presidential Primary … [Read More...]

Rick Meyers in Nanaimo Pride Parade

My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade

By Frank Moher On this dreadful day, I don't want to write about the shootings in Orlando. I want to write about my friend, Rick. Rick lives just outside of Nanaimo, a city of about 80,000, … [Read More...]

Stephen Colbert on Late Night set

Triumph of the drama nerds

By Frank Moher Two drama nerds have recently moved into high profile positions. Before I name them (or perhaps you’ve already guessed who they are; or perhaps you’d like to scroll down and look at … [Read More...]

From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon

Originally published on Our Rape Blog, the author's account of the aftermath of a violent sexual assault. By Mary Fraughton Have you ever played Hearts? It’s a card game. For our purposes, … [Read More...]

First Nations defending Lelu Island

The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

From Creekside: The B.C. provincial government is trying to green light the construction of a massive LNG terminal on Lelu Island in the Skeena Estuary -- Pacific Northwest LNG, backed by Malaysian … [Read More...]

Google

Follow Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

RSS CBC News



Recent Posts

  • Fort McMurray: Shopping time!
  • From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon
  • Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking
  • The fish hotel
  • Hatred on an Alberta golf course
  • The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”
  • My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade
  • Our selective sympathy
  • The Water Bomber, The Frogman and The Great Canadian Novelist
  • Komagata Maru: The story behind the apology

Tags

9/11 Afghanistan Alberta bad behaviour books British Columbia business Canada Canadian military Canadian politics CBC celebrity computers Conservatives crime environment family film G20 Globe and Mail internet Jason Kenney journalism Justin Trudeau law Liberals Maclean's music National Post NDP newspapers oil sands online media Ontario Quebec RCMP religion sports Stephen Harper television theatre Toronto U.S. Vancouver women

Archives

The Video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

Pages

  • About
  • Privacy

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in