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?

There's Something at the Bottom of the Garden...

I'm never going into a garden again and if you think I'll look at any future eclipses or other astronomical events, you've got another thing coming!

As you might be able to guess, I've just finished John Wyndham's 'The Day of the Triffids', probably the best known of this British author's novels. 

'The Day of the Triffids' is a story of human survival in the midst of a terrifying worldwide apocalypse.  Bill Mason wakes in a London hospital, his eyes bandaged following eye treatment.  Confused and frightened by the lack of normal noise either in the hospital or outside his window, he cautiously removes the dressings and finds himself in the middle of a living nightmare.  A 'meteorite' storm the previous night has blinded most of the world's population and, as he travels through London in shock, Bill finds that life as he knew it has gone for good.  As he begins to encounter other survivors, he realises that the catastrophe has often brought out the worst in people.  As the remaining population begins to find ways to group and cope with the new circumstances, a new, terrible threat emerges - the determined, devious and deadly Triffids...

Now, first things first.  There was one part of this book that made me very, very irritated.  One group of intellectualised survivors band together at a London university.  One of the earliest things they do is call a meeting at which an eminent Sociologist talks about the future of society and how it will be necessary to leave elements of the old moral framework, behind for practical reasons.  Fair enough.  But why is sex their main priority when they haven't even found a safe way out of London yet?  London, which is already littered with suicides and brutal gangs and already a breeding ground for disease?  And when they only have one, shy nurse to provide pre- and postnatal care?!

I can only assume that when this book was written in the 1950s, talking about sanctioned sexual promiscuity was terribly, terribly shocking in a way it simply isn't today.  Then it would sort of make sense.  But to my modern (female) eyes, it just seemed like putting the cart before the horse.  No point in having babies if you can't feed them or keep them safe, even if you are trying to save mankind.

On the whole though, this book is a real page turner, a brilliant combination of horror, socio-political comment and old fashioned adventure.  It did get a bit preachy in places, particularly when an idealistic but impulsive character called Coker comes on the scene, but I think I understood most of the comparisons the author was drawing with different political ideologies.

I know I shouldn't be, but it still surprises me how relevant the science fiction of the last century still is.  'The Day of the Triffids' could be read as socio-political comment, environmental parable or analysis of how we might cope with extreme disaster.  As a result, it's incredibly interesting as well as entertaining.

And, of course, you have a fantastic villain: The Triffids.  Human beings may have had a hand in creating their predicament, but the constant and escalating onslaughts by the seven foot tall, alien-looking plants really is a danger all its own.  They're clever, they're everywhere and they're topped with lightening-quick stings which can kill a man several feet away.  As I say, Prince Charming can do the gardening from now on!

'The Day of the Triffids' begins with probably one of the most famous opening lines ever.  Striking the reader like a slap across the face from the start, the book doesn't let up at any point.  Before you know it, you've turned the last page... And you're wondering whether that rustling really is just the breeze through the trees.  Shudder!