Diandra read and liked Mauricio Bruce's review of The Year of the Flood:

"I had read Oryx and Crake about five years ago and I had absolutely loved it. When I heard that Atwood was publishing a second book--not a prequel, and not a sequel, but a simultaneous story happening during the last couple of days of our civilizati...more I had read Oryx and Crake about five years ago and I had absolutely loved it. When I heard that Atwood was publishing a second book--not a prequel, and not a sequel, but a simultaneous story happening during the last couple of days of our civilization--I didn't know what to think. The whole story was in Oryx and Crake. She hadn't left anything out. As a matter of fact, she had said in interviews that this new book ended just 12 hours or so after the first one. So why tell it again from someone else's perspective?
What Atwood's done, though, is give us another chance to explore our world through her eyes and through the eyes of the God's Gardeners. The result is a story that seems as fresh and as new as the first one did--even though you know exactly where it's all headed.
Atwood's Gardeners, with their hymns and their sermons and their plainclothes and their rooftop Edencliff gardentop, are so intriguing and so exciting and so engrossing, that I can only hope that we'll get to see them again. And I think Atwood would agree that if we don't see them in print, we can probably see them all around us.
Because the world Atwood is writing about is not a far off reality on planet X. She's writing about our planet and our own reality and our own times with the same faults and missteps. Which is what makes the book so fantastic.
When she describes the Anoo Yoo spa's logo on Toby's shirt, that large winking eye and that perfectly drawn mouth, you know that it's Atwood herself, winking at you, and reminding you to pay attention, and observe and be as conscientious as you can, because the Waterless Flood might be just around the corner.
I highly recommend this book--whether you've read Oryx and Crake or not. I recommend them both as some of the best books--engrossing and intriguing and fascinating and exciting and prophetic and frightening and macabre--I've ever read. (less) "

Diandra read and liked Mark Gromko's review of The Year of the Flood:

"Atwood creates a future that evolves from and elaborates the worst aspects of human nature. The future – as depicted in both Oryx and Crake and in The Year of the Flood – is grim, brutal, and morbid. Nonetheless, the pairing of perspectives from ...more Atwood creates a future that evolves from and elaborates the worst aspects of human nature. The future – as depicted in both Oryx and Crake and in The Year of the Flood – is grim, brutal, and morbid. Nonetheless, the pairing of perspectives from the two classes of society – the wealthy, powerful scientists and Corporations (represented by Crake) and the vast rest of us, living in the Pleeblands (represented by the Gardeners, notably Toby, Ren, and Amanda) is engaging and thought-provoking.

Why did Atwood create this particular future? Does she believe, as Crake did, that human nature is fundamentally flawed, so much so that to live without violence, jealousy, or greed would require a benign, grazing sort of bestiality, such as the Crakers were created to have? Or, does she allow for some hope for the human spirit, such as the Gardeners were portrayed to have? The Flood ends with a breath of hope, unlike Oryx and Crake, but that hope depends on the success of violence (e.g., Toby's capture of the disgustingly brutal Painballers; her murder of the worst of these by a drink laced with Poppies and Death Angels) and superstition (e.g., the rote lore of the Gardeners).

Atwood has a heightened apprehension about the power and efficacy of science and technology – of genetic engineering in particular. Similarly, Atwood believes capitalism (the Corporations) to be a vehicle that allows greed and avarice to thrive, at least long enough to cause global destruction. She seems to represent all violence as being sexual in its origin; whether or not that is true, she represents men as single-mindedly sexual and violent, and women as sexually pliable and/or utilitarian (e.g., Amanda's "trading"). Religion comes packaged as useful lore, with spirituality only a thin veil for practical habits, backed by well-meaning if deceitful Adams and Eves.

The future depicted here leaves many attributes of human nature out; among the missing is art. A world without art, without love, and without genuine care for others would be disastrous. As it is, I think Atwood believes the balance is heavily tipped in the direction of violence and greed. Her imagined future catapults over the edge into the frightening abyss.(less) "

Diandra read and liked Cdrueallen's review of The Year of the Flood:

"The Year of The Flood presents itself as an adventure novel set in the apocalyptic world Ms. Atwood first created in Oryx and Crake. But the true core of the novel is the story of the creation of a new religion and its founder, Adam One. It's a wonde...more The Year of The Flood presents itself as an adventure novel set in the apocalyptic world Ms. Atwood first created in Oryx and Crake. But the true core of the novel is the story of the creation of a new religion and its founder, Adam One. It's a wonderful religion, with a theology that stresses recycling, gardening, talking to bees, and a vegan diet; whose saints include Dian Fossey, Rachel Carson, and E.O. Wilson; that prays for love to shine upon and restore the oceanic dead zones and dying coral reefs. I'd convert in a minute if I wasn't so allergic to the G*D word, which brings to my mind the image of a vengeful Old Testament God who strongly resembles Saddam Hussein.

The more I thought about the The Year of The Flood, the more it resembled the New Testament story of the founder of a kinder gentler religion and his disciples who were persecuted by the government for their subversive views. So I went back and reread Oryx and Crake to see if it had Old Testament elements, and sure enough, it turns out to be the story of Crake, a brilliant angry vengeful teenage boy who gene-splices a new improved race into existence and does his best to destroy the old human world. Of course Crake accidentally becomes the god of this new race and his best friend Jimmy, who tells Crake's story, is his unwilling prophet.

Together these novels are a brilliant, amusing, despairing, and loving look at the foibles of humanity. If I doubted Ms. Atwood's genius before I read them, I don't now. She's using all her considerable wit to persuade us to alter our way of life and I hope she succeeds.
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