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The Year of the Flood
The Year of the Flood is a novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, the second book of her dystopian trilogy, released on September 22, 2009, in Canada and the United States, and on September 7, 2009, in the United Kingdom.[1] The novel was mentioned in numerous newspaper review articles looking forward to notable fiction of 2009.[2][3] The book focuses on a religious sect called God's Gardeners, a small community of survivors of the same biological catastrophe depicted in Atwood's earlier novel Oryx and Crake. The earlier novel contained several brief references to the group. The novel is told through the perspective of protagonists Ren and Toby, with the main characters of Oryx and Crake, including Jimmy and Crake having minor roles. Atwood continues to explore the effect of science and technology that has caused this plagued world, focusing on the theme of religion through the environmentally focused religious movement of God's Gardeners.[4] It answers some of the questions of Oryx and Crake, develops and further elaborates upon several of the characters in the first book, and reveals the identity of the three human figures who appear at the end of the earlier book. This is the second of Atwood's trilogy, with the final book being MaddAddam.[5] Although, Atwood sees them as 'simultaneous' with the three novels all taking place at the same time and not in sequence.[6] PlotThe Year of the Flood details the events of Oryx and Crake from the perspective of the lower classes in the pleeblands, specifically the God's Gardeners who live in a commune at the Edencliff Rooftop Garden. God's Gardeners are a religious sect that combines some Biblical practices and beliefs with some scientific practices and beliefs. They are vegetarians devoted to honoring and preserving all plant and animal life, and they predict a human species-ending disaster, which they call "The Waterless Flood". This prediction becomes true in a sense, as Crake's viral pandemic destroys human civilization. God's Gardeners have their own set of saints, all honoured for their environmental activism, such as Saint Dian Fossey and Saint Rachel Carson. The plot follows two characters, Toby and Ren, whose stories intertwine with each other and, at points, with major characters from Oryx and Crake. Much of the story is told through flashbacks with the two main characters separately surviving the apocalypse described in the previous novel, each reminiscing about their time in God's Gardeners and the events that led to their current situations. Atwood uses third-person narration for Toby's accounts and first-person narration for Ren's. Toby is a young woman who loses her parents under tragic circumstances that may or may not be due to the corporations and is forced to live off of the grid, working as a barista at SecretBurgers, a shady meat burger joint. She soon encounters the unwelcome attentions of Blanco, the psychopathic manager of the chain, who has a reputation for sexually assaulting and murdering the women in his employ. Toby is able to escape when a group of God's Gardeners arrive at the restaurant. She follows them to the rooftop garden, where she finds her former colleague Rebecca. The leader of God's Gardeners, Adam One, is admired as a charismatic holy man within the group, but he is perceived by outsiders as a cult leader. The novel is filled with sermons and hymns Adam One gives to the religious sect. Although she is skeptical, finding it difficult to follow the theology and follow the religious traditions, Toby becomes an influential member of the gardeners. She even rises to the official position of an Eve. Within the sect Toby encounters Ren, a child member of the gardeners. Ren joined the God's Gardeners when her mother, Lucerne, left her HelthWyzer scientist husband after falling in love with Zeb, a member of the sect. Ren grows up in the religious sect, befriending Amanda, until Lucerne decides to go back to the Compounds. Ren goes to school, where she meets Jimmy (Snowman) and Glenn (Crake), who is particularly interested in the God's Gardeners. Later, Ren enrolls in a Dance Calisthenics courses at the Martha Graham Academy, until Lucerne is unable to pay and she drops out. Eventually, Ren becomes a sex worker and trapeze dancer in the sex-club Scales and Tails, part of SeksMart. Here, Ren happens to be locked in a bio-containment unit in the club called the Sticky Zone when the pandemic occurs. Amanda rescues Ren from the club. Blanco is able to find out where Toby is and raids the Gardeners. Toby is able to flee, relocating to the AnooYoo spa. In fear, she changes her outward appearance through cosmetic surgery to hide from Blanco. Toby barricades herself in the luxury spa as the plague spreads, utilizing the skills of foraging she learned with the God's Gardeners to survive. Blanco participates in the televised game Painball, where teams of criminals try to kill each other in the surrounded arena. Blanco and three companions escape the Painball forest to find Toby at the spa. They capture and torture Ren and Amanda. Toby is able to shoot one of the criminals and free Ren, but the others escape with Amanda. Both Toby and Ren come together to search for Amanda. Toby poisons Blanco, and she and Jimmy incapacitate the two criminals. The novel ends much like the ending of Oryx and Crake, with the remaining survivors witnessing an unknown group approach, carrying torches and playing music. Main characters
Minor characters
God's Gardeners
ThemesScience and TechnologyIn this hyper-capitalist society, scientists work for and answer to the global corporations, creating products upon which the citizens become dependent. Any ethical concern or moral practice is disregarded, only considering the potential consumerist profits. Consumerism replaces any idealist principles. The advancement of technology has only further expanded the capitalist framework and materialistic attitudes within the class hierarchy.[6] It is the developed cosmetic procedures which allow Toby to completely change her appearance, in order to hide from her stalker Blanco. This includes a 'Mo'hair' transplant.[8] In this way, nature is seen only as a means to exploit and profit from. Consequently, the entire ecosystem is corrupted, with many animal species rapidly becoming extinct. Instead of trying to reduce their environmental impact, scientists only continue experimenting on these animals. They keep on trying to splice animals together, creating a new animal through this mix between natural animals, such as the 'Liobam' (a blend of lion and sheep). Many of these new animals are formed and utilised for their by products, including a combination of goat and spider to yield silk bulletproof vests and 'Mo'Hairs', which are colourful sheep to make better, natural wigs. Science lacks any restraint in their pursuit of new commodities.[6] Religion Using the primary religious sect of the God's Gardeners, Atwood presents an environmentally focused religious movement. Adam One, the religious leader, leads the God's Gardeners in a pacifist and greener life style. The novel is littered with his sermons and hymns, where the religious sect revere environmental activists in their own calendar of special saints, such as Saint Euell Gibbons, Saint James Lovelock and Saint Jane Jacobs, amongst others.[4] As a result, the Gardeners do not eat meat, having taken 'Vegivows', and are horrified by the carnivorous lifestyle.[8] The MaddAddam TrilogyThe Year of the Flood is the second novel in the MaddAddam Trilogy, after Oryx and Crake and before MaddAddam. In this novel, the middle of trilogy, Atwood gives us more detail surrounding the childhood of Crake, highlighting his connection with the God's Gardeners that inspired his plague, and the conception of the MaddAddam group. The Year of the Flood uses alternative perspectives than that of Snowman in Oryx and Crake, though the character has a minor role. Atwood explains who the people that Snowman had seen at the conclusion of Oryx and Crake are, with it being Toby, Ren, Amanda and the criminals they incapacitate. At the end of The Year of the Flood these survivors, similar to the end of the previous novel, listen and see a passing group of people coming towards them, wondering who they could be.[4] PromotionAtwood's tour to promote the book included choral performances of 14 religious hymns that appear in the book.[11] They were also released as a CD.[12] Naming rightsFor both Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, Atwood donated naming rights to characters in the novel to charity auctions. One of the winning bidders was journalist Rebecca Eckler, who paid $7,000 at a benefit for the magazine The Walrus.[13] "Amanda Payne" and "Saint Allan Sparrow" were also named by auction winners. ReceptionThe novel was generally well-received; reviewers noted that while the plot was sometimes chaotic,[14] the novel's imperfections meshed well with the flawed reality the book was trying to reflect.[15] The Daily Telegraph commented that "Margaret Atwood is genuinely inventive, rather than merely clever".[14] The book received a 72% from The Lit Review based on 34 critic reviews.[16] Culture Critic gave it an aggregated critic score of 74 percent based on British and American press reviews. [17] On Bookmarks Magazine Nov/Dec 2009 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a In 2010, the novel was longlisted as a candidate for the 2011 International Dublin Literary Award,[19] and shortlisted for the 2010 Trillium Book Award. The novel was selected for inclusion in the 2014 edition of CBC Radio's Canada Reads, where it was defended by Stephen Lewis. The novel was banned by Orange County Public Schools in Florida at the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Orange County cited the new Florida education law, Florida HB 1069, which aims to restrict books with "sexual content" from being marketed to students of an unsuitable grade level or age group.[20][21] Book Banning ControversyThe book was permanently banned from libraries and schools in Conroe Independent School District, Texas, and Canyons School District, Utah. It was temporarily banned in Escambia County Public Schools, Florida pending investigation.[22] See alsoReferences
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