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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Atwood creates a vivid world and culture that is rich with detail. Her worlds seem so REAL. While I didn't think that The Year of the Flood surpassed A Handmaid's Tale, it no less another fine dystopic achievement. Vivid characters have substance, impossible-seeming creatures are believable, and the environments are tangible. She adds layers to the reality created by not just creating a cult or a religious group, as the Gardeners appear to be, but she also fully details the spiritual components, writes their songs. I appreciate the fullness of this. My only disappointment, if I might even call it that, was not having the story continue, to see what becomes of the characters. I also found it slightly weak in one aspect, but it would be a bit of a spoiler to point it out. All in all, a very good one.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The apocalyptic tale that began in Oryx and Crake continues in this novel. Though the previous novel left off with Jimmy/Snowman's journey, this story takes it back to the beginning again to bring other characters out from the depths and into the spotlight.
The Gardeners are seen as a cult to those in the outside world, one that consists of pleebland and compound separatism to represent the lower and higher classes in this dystopian world. Adam One leads the Gardeners though with pleasant tranquility, encouraging vegetarianism and self sustenance away from the highly popular products and technology around them. Adam One also states that they do this to prepare for the Waterless Flood, a great disaster that will befall them soon. For Toby, the Gardeners is an escape from the unwanted life she led as the girl of a pleebland gangster. For Ren, the Gardeners is the only life she has known since her mother brought her to them at a young age. These two women detail their lives before, during, and after being with the Gardeners. With Toby it is a life of learning how to care for bees and create medicinal items with natural resources. And with Ren it is learning about a world away from the Gardeners as she returns to a compound life she never remembered and goes on with school. While many of the characters in this novel seem entirely new, it is slowly uncovered that they had small parts in the previous novel. It makes me wish I had paid attention to the small characters in the previous novel, for then I would have caught more. Still, it was fascinating to read about how Ren's story unfolded alongside Jimmy's. I found both of these women so strong and fascinating, for all the choices they made and how much they persevered. Where Oryx and Crake gave a wide explanation of this MaddAddam world, this novel dove into further details and gave a wider breadth of how the world was before the "Waterless Flood" and after. While Jimmy provided a very narrow selfish vision in the first novel, Ren and Toby give an all encompassing look at the occurrences that befell not just them but the world around them. And once again, just as before, this novel left me wanting to continue on the journey. Though this time, there is more than just Jimmy who has a story to follow.
Atwood has a way of wrapping you in as a reader, enticing you with a world both like and unlike our own that turns upside down. The believability and realism of her fantasy is something I look forward to continue reading.
The Gardeners are seen as a cult to those in the outside world, one that consists of pleebland and compound separatism to represent the lower and higher classes in this dystopian world. Adam One leads the Gardeners though with pleasant tranquility, encouraging vegetarianism and self sustenance away from the highly popular products and technology around them. Adam One also states that they do this to prepare for the Waterless Flood, a great disaster that will befall them soon. For Toby, the Gardeners is an escape from the unwanted life she led as the girl of a pleebland gangster. For Ren, the Gardeners is the only life she has known since her mother brought her to them at a young age. These two women detail their lives before, during, and after being with the Gardeners. With Toby it is a life of learning how to care for bees and create medicinal items with natural resources. And with Ren it is learning about a world away from the Gardeners as she returns to a compound life she never remembered and goes on with school. While many of the characters in this novel seem entirely new, it is slowly uncovered that they had small parts in the previous novel. It makes me wish I had paid attention to the small characters in the previous novel, for then I would have caught more. Still, it was fascinating to read about how Ren's story unfolded alongside Jimmy's. I found both of these women so strong and fascinating, for all the choices they made and how much they persevered. Where Oryx and Crake gave a wide explanation of this MaddAddam world, this novel dove into further details and gave a wider breadth of how the world was before the "Waterless Flood" and after. While Jimmy provided a very narrow selfish vision in the first novel, Ren and Toby give an all encompassing look at the occurrences that befell not just them but the world around them. And once again, just as before, this novel left me wanting to continue on the journey. Though this time, there is more than just Jimmy who has a story to follow.
Atwood has a way of wrapping you in as a reader, enticing you with a world both like and unlike our own that turns upside down. The believability and realism of her fantasy is something I look forward to continue reading.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes