"The Year of the Flood" (book review)

...by Margaret Atwood.

I have developed quite a brutal approach to reading over the last year, based on the philosophy that life is too short to waste time worthily reading a book that has not ignited my spark (my approach to relationships is quite different, mainly because people aren't books!).

So when I heard that this book was released, I thought I would check it out in the bookshop and see if it grabbed me by the end of Page 1...

It did!

Page 1 of TYoTF was the first Margaret Atwood I have ever read, and I was enthralled by her evocation of place and character, her imagination and her deft use of colourful and pungent language...that was all in the first page!

I ordered the book thru my local library and finally Peter Beyer finished reading it and the library let me know...

As mentioned on a previous posting, TYotF is an equel to Oryx and Crake, Atwood's previous novel.

The story is told by Ren, a sexy trapeze artist at Scales'n'Tails, and another woman whose name currently escapes me - Ren tells the story in first person singular, and the other woman is in 3rd person.

The "flood" is not a physical flood, but a metaphor for a deluge of civilisation-destroying manmade events that turn the world upside down.

We are re-introduced to the Oryx and Crake principals, creating many "a-ha" instances (except for me it's the other way round 'cos I read TYotF first).

The literary landscape of TYotF is much brighter than that of the Handmaid's Tale, and the tone is much more humorous - there is a real sense of playfulness with the language.

Readable? Absolutely.

The amazing thing is that God's Gardeners (an apocalyptic, environmentally friendly religious sect) and their philosophies actually make quite a bit of sense.

On the darker side, the "future" that Atwood depicts is, in many cases, already all-too-present.

I wish she had written the script for Avatar - THAT would have been interesting!

Read the book, and be constantly amazed at the imagination, wit and skill used to create such a gripping story.

10/10.