Just finished reading...

...the third installment of Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam Trilogy, called, naturally, MADDADDAM.

After reading ORYX AND CRAKE and THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD (which I reviewed here and here), I was extremely eager to finish up the story with her final book in the series, MADDADDAM. I liked the first two captivating books a lot...

Now, I do want to say before I go further, that I did enjoy MADDADDAM... it is engrossing just like the first two installments. But perhaps there is something about already knowing the lay of the land, so to speak, that takes some of the novelty and astonishment away. Atwood did a spectacular job of creating a complete and total universe in ORYX AND CRAKE and FLOOD--albeit a horrifying world based solely on technology that currently exists. This is why her social and science fiction is so penetrating and successful: because she simply looks at the current position and trajectory of the planet and moves the timeline ahead to a logical outcome. And the outcome is pretty damn scary. She explored this possible world so thoroughly and we followed characters barely surviving it all, and honestly, there was nowhere new to go. In this way, MADDADDAM is not really a stand alone story, it is more of a denouement. ORYX AND CRAKE is Part 1A, and FLOOD is Part 1B since both stories ostensibly take place at the same time, but just from the perspectives of different characters. And MADDADDAM brings all these characters (human survivors and genetically modified creatures) together in the world Atwood created for the wrap-up. All the characters that were leading parallel lives are finally joined. It is very satisfying to get answers to questions, and to be let in on why characters got to be the way they are, or why certain events happened as they did in the first two books. It is all tied together nicely. But there is something about the last few chapters that feels rushed. Bing-bang-boom, a big final event, and then we are done.

But again, I am not complaining, merely describing my feelings. And I will say again that I am not unsatisfied with what Atwood created. There is no other way the story could have gone. And without giving anything away (this is not a direct spoiler), it is nice that the dark universe she created has a bit of hope at the end: creation and the sheer seething tenacity of life cannot be stopped.

Recommend? Yes, if you have read ORYX AND CRAKE and THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD. Otherwise, it won't make any sense to you. If you have read the first two, you have to read MADDADDAM!

http://margaretatwood.ca/

Just finished reading...

...THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD by Margaret Atwood, the second book in her MaddAddam Trilogy.

Atwood continues to scare the hell out of me. This engrossing second installment in her MaddAddam trilogy is a perfect companion to the first book ORYX AND CRAKE. In that book, we jump back and forth in time, tracing the story of two young men and a world in chaos. THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD is neither a sequel nor a prequel—the action takes place at the same time as ORYX AND CRAKE complete with similar jumps in time. In FLOOD, we follow the story of two women—they and others in this tale were peripheral or fleeting characters in ORYX AND CRAKE, and it is gratifying and fascinating to meet them officially and explore their perspectives, understand their lives and motivations, and learn how they got where they are.

Once again, the story of the characters and their survival, although expertly rendered and told, takes a backseat to the complete and total world of horror that Atwood has created. Just like The Republic of Gilead in THE HANDMAID’S TALE, the world in THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD and ORYX AND CRAKE seems not only plausible but likely considering the current position and trajectory of the world. It is a world in which Corporations have taken over everything, including governments and police forces which have been privatized. Those who work for the Corporations (bio-technological firms and gene splicing corporations) live in affluent, spotless fenced compounds while the rest of the world lives in what closely resembles the dangerous and violent squalor of “Escape From New York.” Gangs control crime and the streets while the Corporations secretly control the gangs, meat is grown on racks (just the muscle, no bodies or brains), and pharmaceutical and gene companies purposely release infectious engineered illnesses so they can treat them at outrageous prices. Not too different from today, which is why it scares me so. Of course the near-extinction of the entire human race—on purpose—is pretty horrific as well, but seems a little far off. Or perhaps it is simply too big for my mind to contemplate or understand. The genetically modified creatures roaming the earth in this world are also frightening and pitiful; some splices are just too cruel like the liobams, a gene splice of a lion and a lamb (created by crazy zealots from a religion called Lion Isaiahists).

Atwood creates lots of new social and cultural elements in THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD but the central idea here is the alternative religion called God’s Gardeners. The novel starts a little slow, and the Gardeners might seem a little bizarre at first, like all of the other nut-job fringe religions, but as the book progressed and the plot picked up, and I saw more characters that I recognized from the first novel, the more I came to see the Gardener’s ways as sensible. True, they may have been a little too extreme—and ultimately self-sabotaging—with some of their beliefs, but for the most part, I felt myself liking them more and more and my sympathy for them becoming stronger and stronger. Indeed, they remind me, in their mildest state, of the Slow Food Movement: know where your food comes from, grow it naturally in respect not only for the land and the planet but for your body as well since it will become a part of you. Their reverence for all life—but particularly animals—seems rather Buddhist in nature and quite lovely; I identify with that since I recently decided to stop eating pork because pigs are so smart and loving. I am okay with eating turkey and chicken, and I will occasionally eat beef but I prefer it be raised without hormones and antibiotics, and that it was grass and not corn fed… and slaughtered humanely (or as humanely as possible). But in Atwood’s world, I think I would definitely eat a pigoon (even though they might look like pigs) since they are so cruel, calculating, and violent. When they lay eyes on you, their first thought is how to kill you and eat you… so it would behoove me to kill them and eat them first.

The Gardeners suffer a schism in the book and both factions seem to be better for it. As the leader of the original Gardeners says, “We have taken the World given to us and carelessly destroyed its fabric and its Creatures. Other religions have taught that this World is to be rolled up like a scroll and burnt to nothingness, and that a new Heaven and a new Earth will then appear. But why would God give us another earth when we have mistreated this one so badly?
No, my Friends. It is not this Earth that is to be demolished: it is the Human Species. Perhaps God will create another, more compassionate race to take our place.”

I am anxiously awaiting the third and final installment in this apocalyptic trilogy.

Recommend? Yes. Like I said in the review for ORYX AND CRAKE, you will want to read this so you can know what your future will be like… and know when to run.

Just finished reading...

...WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS by Ray Bradbury.

Ray Bradbury’s newest collection of short stories, WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS features new pieces; some written between 2005--2007 but the bulk were written in 2009. The ink is still drying. Bradbury, may the universe bless him, will be ninety this year and he is still writing.

Although thought of as a science fiction writer, Bradbury’s work more closely resembles speculative fiction (a genre which speculates about worlds unlike our own, including utopian or dystopian fantasies) or social fiction (which is a more anthropological version of science fiction, as seen in the writing of Ursula K. LeGuin). In this newest collection, we get a bit of both genres, but more often than not, we are on earth, in ordinary reality, reading about people: just people, living their lives, while things happen to and around them. Some stories are sweet ("Arrival and Departure"), some are bittersweet ("The Visit"), some are creepy ("Ma Perkins Comes To Stay"), some are puzzling ("Remembrance, Ohio"), and some are metaphysically inspiring ("The Reincarnate").

It is a bit of a misnomer to call these short stories. They are more like sketches, brief pencil strokes scratching out the general shape of something so as not to be forgotten. It feels like these sketches should be material for later, more in-depth, more fully realized stories. They are fleeting, flitting. They feel light-weight; some are only two or three pages long! The ideas are good, the writing is typical, straight-forward Bradbury, but the presentation is often over before you know it.

The interesting thing to note about Bradbury’s recent writing is that it unexpectedly includes a lot of gay themes and plots. The title story is about an older, married gentleman on vacation in Paris with his wife. He goes out alone for a walk one evening after midnight and— well, there is really no other word for it—cruises a young man. They find themselves in a closed, darkened gym after hours. The young man unbuttons the gentleman’s shirt. The young man kisses the gentleman. But the situation is not right and they part. Other stories show great sympathy for gay characters and an acceptance without any judgment, a commendable feat for a nearly ninety year old man who was raised in a different era, where the general culture was not as understanding or accepting.

Recommend? Large type and lots of white space make this a very fast read. If you have nothing else queued up on your night stand, give it a try. Otherwise, you’ll be fine without it.