MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
- Method of Obtaining: I obtained my copy from the publisher.
- Published by: Knopf Doubleday
- Release Date: 9.3.2013
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Months after the Waterless Flood pandemic has wiped out most of humanity, Toby and Ren have rescued their friend Amanda from the vicious Painballers. They return to the MaddAddamite cob house, newly fortified against man and giant pigoon alike. Accompanying them are the Crakers, the gentle, quasi-human species engineered by the brilliant but deceased Crake. Their reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy, is recovering from a debilitating fever, so it’s left to Toby to preach the Craker theology, with Crake as Creator. She must also deal with cultural misunderstandings, terrible coffee, and her jealousy over her lover, Zeb.
Zeb has been searching for Adam One, founder of the God’s Gardeners, the pacifist green religion from which Zeb broke years ago to lead the MaddAddamites in active resistance against the destructive CorpSeCorps. But now, under threat of a Painballer attack, the MaddAddamites must fight back with the aid of their newfound allies, some of whom have four trotters. At the center of MaddAddam is the story of Zeb’s dark and twisted past, which contains a lost brother, a hidden murder, a bear, and a bizarre act of revenge.
Combining adventure, humor, romance, superb storytelling, and an imagination at once dazzlingly inventive and grounded in a recognizable world, MaddAddam is vintage Margaret Atwood—a moving and dramatic conclusion to her internationally celebrated dystopian trilogy.
I also recommend:
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren
Given how different from each other Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood were, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood. I knew a few things though: 1. I would be highly entertained, 2. I would finally get some answers, and 3. I would experience fantastic writing. All three counts were expected and fulfilled easily. But I want to elaborate more on the first one.
The charm (and yes, I said charm in reference to a book about, pretty much, the end of the world that involves strange, genetically-altered pigs and man-made people who turn blue) of MaddAddam was in the storytelling. Think back to Oryx and Crake; remember Snowman’s storytelling to the Crakers? Well, there is more of that sort of thing in MaddAddam but interjected with some humor as Snowman-the-Jimmy has had an unfortunate mishap that puts him out of commission for a while, as we learn in The Year of the Flood.
So, humor – in spite of the overlying message here (that being how living, breathing, intelligent beings tend to gravitate toward the worship of some sort of diety) Atwood twists the tales of Crake, Zeb and the Bear, and the invisible “Fuck” from a first-person perspective that, like you or I would be, is annoyed by some of the Crakers idiosyncrasies. I laughed out loud more than once while reading this installment of the trilogy and fell in love with the MaddAddamites.
This is the book that gives you insight into Adam One and Zeb. This is the book who answers questions about the Eves, and what happens to Snowman-the-Jimmy, and how the Crakers will continue to develop. This story deals with the consequences of creating pigs with human DNA and also what happens when someone decides to press the restart button on humanity but misses a few humans in the process. There’s conflict, love, death, hope, despair, and everything else you can imagine would be in a bit melting pot of all of the leftovers from a self-involved and self-important world.
I thought MaddAddam was a fitting, beautiful ending to a brilliant trilogy and I already cannot wait for my next read-through… Yes, I’ve put all three books on my yearly re-read list. If you haven’t experienced Margaret Atwood, I’d suggest this trilogy if you are into a bit of science-fiction or really, even if you are not – because she makes it easy to read and thought-provoking at the same time. I’ll stop rambling now because you really should start reading.
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