A review by nytephoenyx
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I found The Year of the Flood to be overall underwhelming.  It’s a sort of prequel/sequel/adjacent story to Oryx and Crake.  It failed to offer the same scientific intrigue as the first book set in this world.  Instead, there were environmental preachings through the facade of a religious cult which included feast day sermons and hymns.  The characters remained interesting, but the plot development was so slow, and I don’t feel this book added much to the world.

The Year of the Flood follows two women who were part of the same religious cult called God’s Gardeners.  The Gardeners warned about the coming of the second flood – this time, an invisible flood instead of a physical one.  They also encouraged their practitioners to be vegan and to learn and practice things in a more organic, earthy way.  Toby began her life outside the Gardeners and was brought to them, while Ren was with them most of her childhood, then left.

The pacing is a real struggle because there is so much lead up to the actual time with the Gardeners.  The first 15% or so of the book could have been cut entirely.  In fact, most of the book is backstory on the women to show how they got where they are.  In Oryx and Crake, this made more sense because Jimmy’s story showed the coming of the true dystopia as he watched things come together and then fall apart.  Here, it’s almost fan fiction.  The women on their own are intriguing enough, but because we already know so much of the world, their own stories don’t add anything.  They’re also contrasting romantic/sexual stories… sort of.  One is of hiding and eventually vengeance against a man who repeatedly raped one of them, the other of a broken heart.

What bothers me the most about the two weaving storylines – other than the complete lack of momentum – is that neither is really resolved.  Even though things happen, they weren’t dramatic enough to offer a true sense of closure.  And the frequency of which both men intertwined within each of the women’s lives called out too many coincidences for me.  I know a story like this isn’t meant to be realistic, but generally speaking the world should press on the unbelievable, not the plot.

The Year of the Flood required a lotto patience.  Oryx and Crake did too, but I at least felt that the book delivered on some level.  The Year of the Flood doesn’t deliver anything worth your time, but it does describe repeated rape, infidelity, drug use, gruesome murders that exist for no reason, and more.

Give it a pass.
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