The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam, #2) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Dec 16, 2009 Lydia Presley rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, dystopian, postapocalyptic, 2013

A good novel dealing with a theme of dystopia should have elements of truth that make what the reader is experiencing in the pages something that is not that far out of reach. Forget about the exaggerations and complicated science that the common reader won't understand - instead, speak to something that they know. Incorporate hymns, familiar passages of religious text, and expand on the desires of people who are living in the real world, here and now.

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Jun 04, 2011 Vanessa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Let's be honest: this book was completely up my alley from the beginning. Give me a post-apocalypse and an antihero and I am usually pretty happy. A companion piece of sorts to Oryx and Crake, this novel includes the genetically modified animals from that universe with little explanation, adding a magical-realism vibe that takes the story to an interesting place. It is dark, of course, being post-apocalyptic and being Atwood, but the story is dense and delicious, and the many characters make for ...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Ann rated it really liked it

Shelves: dystopia

I wonder if Margaret Atwood stockpiles canned goods or hoards heirloom seeds or has an underground bomb shelter in her backyard. She has me fairly convinced that her near-future dystopias could become realities any day now and that we need to take precautions! (Kidding, sort of). She takes current events (corporatocracy, genetically modified food, bio-warfare) and makes a plausible but entirely creepy future. This is the companion book to Oryx and Crake...I wish I had read it more recently, but ...more

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Aug 05, 2010 martha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: year-2010, 5-star-favs

This book is basically perfect, and pushes all my favorite fiction buttons: dystopia, apocalypse, female main characters, and oh yeah, awesome writing.

This takes place in the same universe as Oryx and Crake, but you don't need to have read that to appreciate this -- tho' that does make it cooler, since it's a parallel narrative. (Or sidequel, ha.) Me, I did a quick Wikipedia plot summary refresher, since it's been ages since I read O&C.

This book gets mondo bonus points for managing to create a ...more

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May 26, 2010 Danielle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010, favorites

I read this before Oryx and Crake, not realizing the two were connected. This is Atwood at her most dystopic and yet frighteningly realistic. While some plot points seem more cynical than the last, I stopped to think, are we really this far removed? This book gave me the shivers, to say the least.

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Aug 19, 2011 Christina, Join Me on Storygraph! rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013

I really want to like this one. maybe the huge gap of time in the middle of my listening to it was an issue, but I found the characters here kind of blah... I longed for Snowman from Oryx and Crake for a little excitement, and a little bit of crass!

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