Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Year of the Flood

So I thought that this was my second time reading this book, but I realized that I had not finished it the first time in ~2014 because towards the end there was content that I found especially disturbing around sexual assault

a female character gets kidnapped by two men and it's implied that she has undergone severe sexual assaults even though details are not described

and one of my friends had recently been sexually assaulted so I found this part of the book too difficult to read at the time. I wrote this first just to warn that there are strong themes of sexual violence / violence against women in this book that were not present in the first and you may have to skip this one or skip specific chapters if you can't read about stuff like that right now.

That being said, I thought this book was absolutely amazing. Such a unique way to write a sequel and connect it with the first book while expanding on the world so much. I really enjoyed that the book jumped between characters POVs and jumped between time. Loved seeing how characters from this book were related to characters from the first book.

I really liked the Canadian references.

All three narrators were very good and this was the first time I'd experienced an audiobook where they made the songs actual songs which I thought was really cool.

the only thing for the songs was I think it would have been better if the songs after year 25 the waterless flood wouldve had no music, just been the guy singing

Content Warnings

pinkthinkydink's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This genius novel is a perfect sequel to 'Oryx and Crake'. This Dystopian/Speculative Fiction novel reads like poetry and paints an intricate picture of the failings of humanity. This novel does a bang-up job of answering the questions we are left with after the first novel and once again warns us of the dangers of a hyper-capitalist society.
this book, however, is not for the faint-hearted. Sensitive readers beware

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backyardjake's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Atwood has masterfully fleshed out and woven in two additional perspectives into the world of the waterless flood. Heartbreaking backstories and gut wrenching connections to the first book all end in a conclusion of dismayed happiness. Religous control, sexual domination, surrogate family and belonging, the guilt and madness of the survivor, and the unhealed scars of love. So many juicy parallels to the first book and a refeshing point of view. I may have liked the first book a tad bit more due to Jimmy's more relatable male gaze, but this is a hell of a follow up regardless of narrator.

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nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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cbergin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

1.5

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hanamany's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I found The Year of the Flood to be overall underwhelming. It’s a sort of prequel/sequel/adjacent story to Oryx and Crake. It failed to offer the same scientific intrigue as the first book set in this world. Instead, there were environmental preachings through the facade of a religious cult which included feast day sermons and hymns. The characters remained interesting, but the plot development was so slow, and I don’t feel this book added much to the world.

The Year of the Flood follows two women who were part of the same religious cult called God’s Gardeners. The Gardeners warned about the coming of the second flood – this time, an invisible flood instead of a physical one. They also encouraged their practitioners to be vegan and to learn and practice things in a more organic, earthy way. Toby began her life outside the Gardeners and was brought to them, while Ren was with them most of her childhood, then left.

The pacing is a real struggle because there is so much lead up to the actual time with the Gardeners. The first 15% or so of the book could have been cut entirely. In fact, most of the book is backstory on the women to show how they got where they are. In Oryx and Crake, this made more sense because Jimmy’s story showed the coming of the true dystopia as he watched things come together and then fall apart. Here, it’s almost fan fiction. The women on their own are intriguing enough, but because we already know so much of the world, their own stories don’t add anything. They’re also contrasting romantic/sexual stories… sort of. One is of hiding and eventually vengeance against a man who repeatedly raped one of them, the other of a broken heart.

What bothers me the most about the two weaving storylines – other than the complete lack of momentum – is that neither is really resolved. Even though things happen, they weren’t dramatic enough to offer a true sense of closure. And the frequency of which both men intertwined within each of the women’s lives called out too many coincidences for me. I know a story like this isn’t meant to be realistic, but generally speaking the world should press on the unbelievable, not the plot.

The Year of the Flood required a lotto patience. Oryx and Crake did too, but I at least felt that the book delivered on some level. The Year of the Flood doesn’t deliver anything worth your time, but it does describe repeated rape, infidelity, drug use, gruesome murders that exist for no reason, and more.

Give it a pass.

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kateemily's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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