THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD
Margaret Atwood
Nan A. Talese/Doubleday
Fiction
ISBN: 9780385528771
Adam One, leader of God's Gardeners, has always tried to make his followers ready for the Waterless Flood. The Gardeners, a religious group centered on the veneration of nature and the natural care of the body and soul, are anomalies in a world of bio-engineered animals, horrible pollution, corrupt corporations, extreme violence, poisonous foods, and much, much worse. But they continue to tend their rooftop gardens, raise bees for honey, learn about the diversity of nature, and remember the extinct animals. The Gardeners also take in the lost and endangered: those with no place to go or those running away from enemies. They find these poor souls and provide them with safe refuge. And when the Waterless Flood sweeps across the already damaged and decaying planet, the Gardeners’ skills may save them from immediate death, but it may not be enough to save them from the new form of life designed to live on a wrecked earth.
In THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD, the brilliant Margaret Atwood takes us on another disturbing dystopian journey to a world that is both unrecognizable and all too familiar to our own world. I say another because THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD is a spin-off from Atwood’s previous novel, ORYX AND CRAKE, a work shortlisted for the Booker Prize (given out to the author who wrote the year’s best novel). The protagonists of ORYX AND CRAKE make appearances here, but the story focuses on two women, Toby and Ren, Gardeners who left the fold for different reasons. The book moves back and forth between their points of view, interspersed with occasional sermons and hymns by Adam One.
Toby was rescued from an abusive boss, Blanco, who was using her as a sex slave. The Gardeners took her in and made her one of their own, despite her doubts. The rituals, if not the beliefs, comforted her, and she found their haven to be a safe place. And yet the threat of Blanco remained, and she felt that she could only stay hidden among the Gardeners for so long. While with them, though, she learns herbal lore, survival skills and patience. Our other protagonist, Ren, was raised with the Gardeners but parted ways when her mother left the group to return to the corporate world she had once abandoned. Ren decides not to finish college and eventually ends up as a prostitute in an infamous sex club where she is sealed into a room when the Flood hits. When she is finally rescued, she is brought right back into the world of God's Gardeners...but the world at large has been changed so radically that even their optimism, skill and attempts to sabotage the nefarious powers that be may not be enough to save them.
Toby and Ren are compelling characters --- abused victims of an ugly world. They are both hopeful women, strong yet vulnerable, and each internalizes Adam One's message in their own way. The supporting characters are interesting as well, though their motivations are often obscured. Adam One may be a benevolent believer or a charismatic cult leader; Zeb is both a kindly protector and a man with a clouded past who has the ability to destroy the Gardeners.
Critical of irresponsible science, corporate greed, a culture of instant gratification, veneration of artificial beauty and the over-sexualization of women, Atwood finds many enemies for her characters. The world she creates here, one of SecretBurgers, pleebmobs, Painball and Happicuppa coffee, is terrible and lonely, but there are moments of wicked wit as well. This is a dark, violent, ambitious, occasionally fumbling, but mostly enthralling novel.
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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