MaddAddam
By Margaret Atwood
Vintage, August 2024, 416pp.

The Short of It:

A satisfying conclusion to this trilogy.

The Rest of It:

I began this journey with Atwood after participating in a group read for Oryx and Crake. That book was wild and disturbing and book one in this MaddAddam trilogy. After that book, I was so bothered but another reader encouraged me to keep going. That it would all come together. So, I did.

I read book two, The Year of the Flood and it really piqued my interest, so I kept going.

Here I am. Reviewing a book without giving too much away but I am very glad I stuck with it.

This entire collection smacks of the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve, creation and what happens when it all goes to hell.

After a pandemic, society falls apart. The world is filled with hybrid animals and bio-engineered “humans” called Crakers. These people are kind, good-natured and curious. They strive to live simple lives.

Nothing can be all good though. Painballers, really criminals who roam the land taking what doesn’t belong to them, including women who they torture, rape repeatedly and then leave for dead.

Another group, The Gardeners. Vegan hippies, really. Trying to live off the ravaged land are comprised of the lost but also ex-corporate types who walked away from that lifestyle.

What ensues is wild. Groups of people trying to survive. Their ways foreign and bizarre. Mating rituals that seem so far out there but also kind of sensible given their need to regenerate the population.

There are heroes and martyrs and battles to survive. Right and a whole lot of wrong. Riveting stuff.

Highly recommend the ENTIRE trilogy. You can’t peck around with these books. They must be read in order.

Source: Borrowed
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