Apocalypse Wow

Technically, I've lived through several expected apocalypses.  I survived both the fever caused by the Millennium Bug in 1999/2000 and the end of the Mayan calendar in December 2012. Oh, and that time that asteroid skimmed past the Earth a couple of years ago. I'm sure there have been many more 'false alarms', but I somehow find our obsession with the end of the world intriguing, particularly as in all likelihood we either won't see it coming or will ignore it's coming because we don't want to change our destructive ways.

Anyway, I've just finished reading 'The Year of the Flood' by Margaret Atwood, the second book in the 'Oryx and Crake' trilogy.  'Oryx and Crake' has the rare distinction of being one of only a handful of books which I've read within two days.  Aren't train journeys great?

'The Year of the Flood'
by Margaret Atwood
(2010, Virago)

'The Year of the Flood' runs parallel to 'Oryx and Crake'.  Both books cover the lead up to and immediate aftermath of a terrible pandemic that wipes out the majority of mankind, but told from two very different perspectives.  While 'Oryx and Crake' witnesses the end of days from the upper class, high security compounds of society's elite, 'The Year of the Flood' explores the poorer and criminal strata of the population in the hard and vicious pleeblands.  The pleebs are home to Toby and Ren, two women who have survived the plague and now tell their own, intertwined versions of events.  Toby is living alone on the roof of the AnooYoo spa, nurturing her rooftop garden and nervously watching the horizon for disease carrying humans, predatory wolvogs and inquisitive pigoons. Meanwhile, Ren is trapped in quarantine in Scales and Tails, a high class strip club, wondering just how long her food will last and if anyone will find her before it's too late.  Are they the last human beings alive? Will they find each other?

As you might've guessed from my recent tweets (@Girl_LovesBooks), I thoroughly enjoyed this book (if that's the right word for it!  The story is incredibly dark and violent in places. But the end of the world was never going to be cheerful.).  I loved 'Oryx and Crake' and Atwood's other famous apocalyptic novel, 'The Handmaid's Tale'.  Atwood is an absolute master when it comes to looking at modern trends and extrapolating plausible futures from them, making her stories different and captivating yet familiar and real.  On top of this, 'The Year of the Flood' is pacy and Ren and Toby flawed, fragile and human characters that you root for.  It's an irresistible combination that makes 'The Year of the Flood' a real page turner, even when you know what's coming.

I also absolutely love the way Atwood plays with language. As well as the AnooYoo spa, there are the genetically engineered animals including rakunks and Mo'Hairs, new technology like the Sea/H/Ear Candy ear phones and foodstuffs including Zizzy Fruits, ChickieNobs and Happicuppa.  This adds a playfulness to the story which makes it easier to handle its darker elements.

Overall, I enjoyed this book so much that I've moved straight onto the third in the trilogy, the recently published 'MaddAddam'.  It'll be an interesting test, especially after the bad experience I had recently trying to read the whole Cousins' War series by Philippa Gregory in a row. So we'll have to see.

The world has ended. So what now?