I was listening to NPR last week, and I heard Margaret Atwood interviewed on the subject of her latest novel, The Year of the Flood. The discussion piqued my interest since I truly loved the first Atwood book I read, The Handmaid’s Tale, although it might have had something to do with the fact that I read it while in college, majoring in women’s studies, political science and philosophy, during my radical feminist stage. I’ve mellowed a bit since then – so I wondered if I’d enjoy this book as much.
The Year of the Flood is a fantastical novel – you might even call it science-fiction. It takes place in a future time when the earth has been plagued by a pandemic that wipes out most of the human population. Untouched by the bio-germ, the two main women characters, Toby and Ren, tell their stories, alternating from past to present, describing how they were able to avoid contamination and survive. Both were former members of a back-to-nature religious cult called the Gardeners, who were founded by “Adam One”. During their time with the Gardeners, they learn how to live simply, organically, and without eating anything with a face. Expressing values diametrically opposed to the greedy, chemically- and physically-altered culture of the ruling “CorpSeCorps”, the Gardeners predict and prepare for the “Waterless Flood” by caching supplies, learning how to grow their own food and foraging for resources.
Atwood presents a chilling, yet possible, outcome for our future here on earth – one that is not that far-fetched based on the current environmental, political, cultural and economic realities. There is just enough legitimacy in this dystopic novel to make you feel that Atwood may be a visionary. She certainly does make you think about what we have been, and are, doing to the natural environment; climate-change, genetically-modified foods, cloning, and all the other human-derived alternations to the nature world. This is a thinker’s work. She compels you to think about how far we can, or should, go in our desire for control over our environment and each other.
Once again, Atwood presents enduring friendships between women as a central theme of the novel. These are real friendships that transcend dishonesty, disappointment and jealousy and forge strong bonds that leave the reader with a sense of hope for the future. My feminist-self was pleased to see this Atwood novel running true to form.
The Year of the Flood is a fantastical novel – you might even call it science-fiction. It takes place in a future time when the earth has been plagued by a pandemic that wipes out most of the human population. Untouched by the bio-germ, the two main women characters, Toby and Ren, tell their stories, alternating from past to present, describing how they were able to avoid contamination and survive. Both were former members of a back-to-nature religious cult called the Gardeners, who were founded by “Adam One”. During their time with the Gardeners, they learn how to live simply, organically, and without eating anything with a face. Expressing values diametrically opposed to the greedy, chemically- and physically-altered culture of the ruling “CorpSeCorps”, the Gardeners predict and prepare for the “Waterless Flood” by caching supplies, learning how to grow their own food and foraging for resources.
Atwood presents a chilling, yet possible, outcome for our future here on earth – one that is not that far-fetched based on the current environmental, political, cultural and economic realities. There is just enough legitimacy in this dystopic novel to make you feel that Atwood may be a visionary. She certainly does make you think about what we have been, and are, doing to the natural environment; climate-change, genetically-modified foods, cloning, and all the other human-derived alternations to the nature world. This is a thinker’s work. She compels you to think about how far we can, or should, go in our desire for control over our environment and each other.
Once again, Atwood presents enduring friendships between women as a central theme of the novel. These are real friendships that transcend dishonesty, disappointment and jealousy and forge strong bonds that leave the reader with a sense of hope for the future. My feminist-self was pleased to see this Atwood novel running true to form.
I want to believe that we can reverse the damage we have done to this planet; and get on a course that has a longer-lasting vision for sustainability (for generations to come). I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel; maybe partly because I can relate to the Gardeners. I, too, don’t eat meat, live in a 100% solar-powered home, grow some of my own foods, and try to limit my carbon emissions – all in an attempt to undo some of the long-lasting harm we have done as a species. Maybe Atwood readers will be encouraged to follow suit in an attempt to avoid some of the outcomes in The Year of the Flood. I can only hope!
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