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There are currently 17 member reviews
for The Year of the Flood
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Carol H. (East Greenwich, RI)
"We're using up the earth. It's almost gone."
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel of an alternate reality set in the not so distant future. Its steadily building narrative reads like a chronicle as it slowly reveals the story of the Gardeners, a quasi-religious group that has decided that living "green" is the answer to a disintegrating society. What makes this novel come alive are the distinct personalities of the Gardeners and Atwoods detailed depiction of a society in the process of destroying itself from within.
Year of the Flood reads like the middle book of a trilogy (I haven't read Oryx and Crake which came before) but holds up on its own. I don't think it will appeal to everyone, too little overt action, but I gave it four stars for an absorbing story well told.
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Joanne G. (Kennesaw, GA)
A Newbie's Review
I jumped at the chance to preview a book by an author of Margaret Atwood's stature. The Year of the Flood is my first Atwood reading and I'm new to the futuristic genre. It takes a while to get into the flow of the time periods, but narration by Toby and Ren is an effective style to develop the characters and the plot. By the end of the novel, I began to care more about them.
Atwood's scene descriptions are vividly picturesque and coupled with the The God's Gardeners Oral Hymnbook have great cinematic possibilities. I found the futuristic vocabulary more trite than humorous and didn't feel my mind had been expanded into future shock. My conclusion: Ms Atwood lives up to my expectations as a writer but I'd like a more intriguing plot.
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Sarah W. (Frenchtown, MT)
A Small disappointment
The Year of the Flood is a futuristic, apocalyptic story with a set of fairly interesting characters. It is a companion novel to Atwood's Oryx and Crake, in that it shares the setting and some of the characters of this earlier novel. While I found Oryx and Crake to be a fascinating and rewarding read, The Year of the Flood was a little harder to get engaged with, and ultimately left me with less of a sense of awe at the author's tremendous imagination. I call it a small disappointment because I hold such high hopes for any novel by this author, but it is a worthwhile book.
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Colleen T. (Lakewood, CO)
Year of the Flood
Margaret Atwood has given us both a terrifying and fascinating look at a possible future, one that seems more realistic than the many others that have been written. I could not put it down and the characters are especially endearing.
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Patricia M. (Highland Heights, OH)
The Year of the Flood
The Year of the Flood is an interesting look at what would happen if there was a Flood that did not involve water and yet wiped out most of the people on earth. It looks at a variety of issues that would affect the future earth including bioengineering of plants and animals. It is an excellent portrayal of what might be. Science fiction fans will love the future world that is presented. The difficulty is that being able to picture in your mind the genetically spliced animals can become a problem with the way the reader “sees” what he or she is reading. This would be a great movie.
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Jill S. (Chicago, IL)
A Roller Coaster Ride Into A Post-Apocalyptic World
The Year of the Flood may not be for everyone. It definitely falls into the category of dystopian future lit. But thanks to Margaret Atwood's visionary powers, clever use of words, and inventive plot, the book soars above other books of this nature. The interspersed themes are important ones: a global pandemic, the delicate nature of our ecosystem, the imaginary proliferation of gene-spliced life forms, the melding of science and religion, the nature of survival. And ultimately, Atwood leaves the reader with a glimpse of hope. Recommended!
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La Deana R. (Norman, OK)
The Year of the Flood
I started The Year of the Flood with high expectations, a little too high. While I will say it is certainly a very unique book I personally found it hard to like the characters. I did enjoy Ms Atwood's ability to create fictional "blended" animals and there were times I had to look words up just to verify that some things mentioned did not, in fact, exist is this world. The futuristic world was well described - though not one I would ever wish to occupy!
Ms. Atwood has a beautiful way with words and lots of little "gems" of wisdom within the book. (example: Hunger is a powerful reorganizer of the conscience. Another is "hunger is the best sauce". Possibly my favorite "What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question". But for me it was a struggle for me to finish this book (looking at some of my popular suspense novels sitting on my shelf didn't help!) I would only recommend this book to very a select readership.
