The Year of the FloodMargaret Atwood
Gah! The end of the year is when????? And I'm how many reviews behind???? Erm.
Anyway -- Atwood. I read this one back in October, and have been pondering my review ever since. Now, I'm rushed and won't give it the attention I intended. Oh well.
If you aren't familiar with TYoTF, Atwood returns to the world she created in Oryx and Crake. It's the future, things are bad, evil corporations do evil things...you get the point. Now a disease has wiped out much of humanty, and the survivors struggle for survival. TYoTF focuses on some of these survivors, while Oryx and Crake focused on the origins of the plague.
To get to the point, I enjoyed TYoTF, even if I didn't think it was one of her best works. And, while I didn't think it was necessary to have read Oryx and Crake immediately before (I had read it in 2004), I was annoyed that I didn't remember more of the connections. Since some of the characters in Oryx and Crake reappear in TYoTF, I was frustrated more by knowing I was forgetting something, which might have prevented me from better enjoying the book.
One thing that bothered me by TYoTF were those passages I found "skim-worthy," -- for example, the hymns and sermons that precede the chapters. At first they provided an interesting look into the world of TYoTF, but after awhile I felt they were just slowing me down.
In a nutshell: Not her best, but admirable nevertheless.
Bibliolatry Scale: 4 out of 6 stars
FTCBS: I purchased this one for my library.
Anyway -- Atwood. I read this one back in October, and have been pondering my review ever since. Now, I'm rushed and won't give it the attention I intended. Oh well.
If you aren't familiar with TYoTF, Atwood returns to the world she created in Oryx and Crake. It's the future, things are bad, evil corporations do evil things...you get the point. Now a disease has wiped out much of humanty, and the survivors struggle for survival. TYoTF focuses on some of these survivors, while Oryx and Crake focused on the origins of the plague.
To get to the point, I enjoyed TYoTF, even if I didn't think it was one of her best works. And, while I didn't think it was necessary to have read Oryx and Crake immediately before (I had read it in 2004), I was annoyed that I didn't remember more of the connections. Since some of the characters in Oryx and Crake reappear in TYoTF, I was frustrated more by knowing I was forgetting something, which might have prevented me from better enjoying the book.One thing that bothered me by TYoTF were those passages I found "skim-worthy," -- for example, the hymns and sermons that precede the chapters. At first they provided an interesting look into the world of TYoTF, but after awhile I felt they were just slowing me down.
In a nutshell: Not her best, but admirable nevertheless.
Bibliolatry Scale: 4 out of 6 stars
FTCBS: I purchased this one for my library.
5 comments:
Thank-you for your review, I will read anything by Margaret Atwood, I just lik her that much even if some novels are better than others.
I agree with you hymns and sermons do annoy me when part of a novel.
I will be reading this novel early next year, will let you know what I think
I'm not reading your review, but is it weird or what that we started our blogs at the same time, like (most of) the same books, and are reading this right now? OK, I am finishing it. By the 4 that I saw listed, I think we'll have the same opinion.
Sylvie - can't wait to see what you think!
Kristin - we have always been kindred spirits. It's a shame a whole country separates us; we'd have great fun together!
WAY too much fun, so it is probably good. We would never finish reading a book again! ;-)
I might have liked this more than you and think it's brilliant in its own way, but agree that it is not Atwood's best. And I too skimmed pretty much all of the hymns.
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