Unexpectedly, Atwood does not pick up in Year of the Flood where Oryx and Crake ended. Rather, she covers the same time-line as she did in her first novel, only this time she gives us a different viewpoint with which to greet the end of the world. In her first book, we learned that the world’s corporations had hired brilliant men—Crake among them—to bioengineer humanity in their own image—materialist, hedonistic, narcissistic. The profits have never been so good, the disparities between rich and poor never […]
Another Grim Dystopic Future by Atwood
Another of Atwood’s famous dystopic novels, this one the first in a trilogy based on an apocalyptic future after the genetic manipulators and profit-mongers have prompted a sort-of “Noah’s Flood” in the form of an engineered plague to wipe the slate clean. Crake, the genius who created the plague, is gone but his “children” live on as a handful of bioengineered innocents intended to repopulate the world under new—Crake’s– guidelines. Crake’s appointed “shepherd” for this flock is Jimmy, now known as the Snowman, who managed […]
Could the world end like this?
The Year of the Flood takes place some time in the future, some would argue not very long into the future, and humans are in deep trouble. Sea levels have risen, humans are just holding on and genetically spliced Frankenstein species roam the earth. The story is connected to Atwood’s 1993 book Oryx and Crake, coming to the same place in time, through different characters. The books’ primary character group are the Gardeners, a vegetarian green cult of sorts. Parts of the book begin with a reference […]