THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD by Margaret Atwood

Finished Th 10/4/18

I read this book to about page 342, PREDATOR DAY, and then I skimmed to the end. At first I really enjoyed the book, but as I read farther it got more confusing, and it became far too apparent that a poet was at the controls. The compelling narrative seemed to become overwhelmed by an overweening sense of the environment of the book. I was hooked on the story, but puzzled and disoriented by the setting. That's why I skimmed to the end. When the delightful and pleasant details become more important than the story-line,  I have to go with something else. In this case, a David Baldacci novel was just what I needed.

From the novel's page at wikipedia-

"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 the God's Gardeners religious movement and the events that led to their current situations.

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 in a shady meat burger joint (SecretBurgers- the 'secret' is that you don't know what kind of meat you are eating). 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. The leader of God's Gardeners, Adam One, is looked up to as a charismatic holy man but perceived by outsiders as a cult leader. He saves Toby from Blanco and takes her to the sanctuary of his rooftop garden. Toby becomes an influential member of the gardeners and encounters Ren, a child member of the gardeners.

Ren eventually grows up to become a prostitute and trapeze dancer in the sex-club Scales and Tails (this seems to be more of a 'fetish bar' than a traditional strip club), and happens to be locked in a bio-containment unit in the club when the pandemic occurs. Similarly, Toby is barricaded within a luxury spa where she has begun to work following a raid on the gardeners by Blanco and his brutish pals."

The book's page at wikipedia does an excellent job of listing the various characters, organizations, events, locations, and a glossary of terms for the novel.

Three simple paragraphs clearly outline the plot, yet it requires a rather tedious list of extraneous detail to provide information to fully understand the novel.

I honestly can say that I liked the novel because I could very much get caught up and lost in many sections of the book, but in the end it just became too tiresome because it seemed that Toby and Ren's dire predicaments got lost in the massive setting of the novel.