Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

The long-awaited new novel from Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood is a brilliant visionary imagining of the future that calls to mind her classic novel The Handmaid’s Tale.

Adam One, the kindly leader of God’s Gardeners — a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion — has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have been spared: Ren, a young trapeze-dancer, locked inside a high-end sex club; and one of God’s Gardeners, Toby, who is barricaded inside a luxurious spa. Have others survived?

By turns dark, tender, violent, thoughtful, and witty, The Year of the Flood unfolds Toby’s and Ren’s stories during the years prior to their meeting again. The novel not only brilliantly reflects to us a world we recognize but poignantly reminds us of our enduring humanity.

Today is a buddy review with Chris from book-a-rama. This is the first time, but hopefully not the last. The review is broken into two parts. The first part is posted here and the second half is posted on Chris' blog.

Kelly: I think the best way to start this conversation off is to say why we read the book in the first place! I actually am not a big Atwood fan; but for some reason I bought Oryx & Crake when it first came out IN HARDCOVER. I have no idea why looking back, but I am sure I had a great reason at the time... Anyway, I ended up really liking it and when I heard that this book was connected to it I once again acted like a crazy person and bought an Atwood book in hardcover. How about you?

Chris: I like Atwood's dystopian novels, like Handmaid's Tale and Oryx & Crake. When I heard that The Year of the Flood was a sequel (sort of) to Oryx & Crake I wanted to read it. I really liked that it was a different point of view of the events in Oryx & Crake. Jimmy wasn't a very reliable narrator being self-absorbed and drunk or crazy a lot of the time, so seeing what else was happening in the outside world was interesting. Did you like that aspect of the book?

Kelly: I have to be honest that I hardly remembered Oryx & Crake... It came back to me as I read it, but it took me a while. I read Oryx & Crake back when it first came out, so it wasn't very fresh in my memory. I really liked the narrators to this book, though.

Chris: I think I read it 2 years ago. I remembered more of it as it too. I didn't recognize Glenn or Jimmy right away. I liked the female narrators as well.

Kelly: I actually think I will probably reread Oryx & Crake now that I have read this one. I want to remember the story better. Did you feel the urge to read it again?

Chris: I do. I'd like to compare the two books in case I missed anything.

Kelly: I know I missed a lot! It was too long ago! Who was your favourite narrator?

Chris: I really liked Ren. She was always so optimistic even though things were so bleak. What an odd career she had. What about you?

Kelly: I would probably say Ren, too, but I also liked Toby a lot, too. She is probably who I could see myself more in. I suppose we can't really talk about this book without discussing the Gardeners. What did you think about them?

Chris: Yeah, it's hard to choose. I liked Toby too even though she could be harsh at times.... The Gardeners. At first I thought they were just a bunch of nut jobbers but then I wondered if they were smart to hide their politics behind their bizarre dogma.

Kelly: I think Toby had to be harsh. She had a rough life and that is how she chose to deal with it all.

Chris: Yes, the stuff with her parents hardened her.
Kelly: I know. I thought the Gardeners were a bit odd in the beginning! But, as the novel progressed and we saw their story more, I thought they were a lot more than we were first lead to see them as. It impressed me, really, at times.

Chris: Yes, especially since it turned out that they were right. A lot of them had nowhere else to go and didn't believe in the whole thing themselves. But I think Adam One believed in it with his whole heart.

Kelly: I know. Adam One seemed to know what everyone needed better than they knew themselves. His entire character could have been a bit odd, but I actually think he was written pretty well.
Chris: He was a good leader. I wonder what he was before the Gardeners. What did you think about the weird science in the book?

Kelly: Me too! He would have been a good narrator. I was really curious about him and I don't think we got to see enough of him.
As to the science, it was all about strange. I think that was the point, though. Atwood was trying to make a point about science and how it can get a bit overdone. I think, anyways. What did you think?

Chris: There were no ethics. If they could do it, they would. It was terrifying! Those pigoons were awful. And lionbams- that was a ridiculous idea. Science without ethics is a bad idea. There has to be a line of "ok, this is too out there. Stop."

Kelly: The thought process behind why they combined lions and lambs was just crazy, didn't you think! It almost made sense it was so out there. It's a scary world, and we are actually not that far away from it...

To read the second half of the review head over to book-a-rama. Enjoy!

Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North American and England - Edited by Jack Zipes

Jack Zipes has put together the first comprehensive anthology of feminist fairy tales and essays to appear since the women's movement gained momentum in the 1960's. He has selected works by such gifted writers as Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Tanith Lee, Jay Williams, Jane Yolen, Anne Sexton, Olga Broumas and Joanna Russ - all of whom, whether they consider themselves "feminists" or not, have written innovative stories which seek to break with the classical tradition of fairy tales. The accompanying critical essays, by Marcia Lieberman, Sandra Gilbert, Susan Gubar and Karen Rowe, discuss how fairy tales play an important role in early socialization, influencing the manner in which children perceive the world and their place in it even before they begin to read.

Don't Bet on the Prince was created out of dissatisfaction with the dominant male discourse of traditional fairy tales and with the sexist social values and institutions which it supports. This book demonstrates how recent male and female writers, by looking at the classical literary fairy tale with new eyes, have changed the aesthetic constructs and social content of fairy tales in order to reflect the major changes in the roles of sex, gender, socialization and education since the 1960's. It is an excellent example of how the literature of fantasy and imagination can be harnessed to create a new view of the world.

Don't Bet on the Prince is for all those interested in questioning the traditional values and expectations by which our perceptions of ourselves are formed. It will be of special interest to those concerned with the feminist movement, women's studies and the growing feminist sensibility in fantasy literature. Its tales will also appeal to children, and the child in every adult.

So, this probably won't be a review so much as an opinion piece. I warn you now! When I was little I loved fairy tales. I have some older editions by some of the greats that belonged to my parents and I loved to read them. Some I loved, while others I hated. As an adult I find myself wondering what I thought when I was reading them. When I read fairy tales now I have too many impressions. I have heard too many theories about what the authors were trying to do, and it means that I find myself looking for hidden meaning. Now, that is not necessarily a bad thing, but I highly doubt that when I was a child I was doing the same thing! I just read them for fun.

One thing that always gets me is how adult fairy tales are. Let me be blunt... I didn't know when I was seven that "Little Red Riding Hood" was getting raped. I thought she got eaten by the wolf, or came close to it. The sexual imagery that is actually there, I highly doubt I saw it. I did think that she was stupid for walking into the trap and not knowing that the wolf was the wolf, but I didn't know that she wanted to be raped. It just never crossed my mind. Somewhere in this book it says that the story portrayed the obvious notion that women want to be raped and men cannot control their animal instincts when a beguiling female presents themselves. And, we all know how much truth that sentence holds!

I will be the first to admit, though, that I am not a big fan of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and the rest of the women who have became Disney Princesses. I wasn't a fan when I was a kid, either. I was always looking for the stories where the women had brains. I had one, so it stands to reason that one of these women was going to have one too! I was not a child that dreamed I was Cinderella and I was just waiting for my prince to come and save me. I never believed in that stuff, and maybe, I didn't have as great a childhood as I could have because I wasn't waiting for the knight on the white horse. Who knows! All I know is that this ideal never really struck my fancy. The only Disney Princess, based on classic fairy tales, that I like is Beauty from Beauty and the Beast and that was probably only because she read and was a bookworm like me.

I am trying to decide how I feel after reading this book. Some of the short stories were really good, while others I found rather uninteresting. The essays at the back were interesting, but at the same time they were trying too hard. There were a few moments where I stopped and thought about what they were saying, though, so they were not totally wasted. I find it interesting, though, that instead of writing fairy tales with equality, it seems the men have to become like the women of old in some cases, in order for the women to have a brain. Anyway, that being said, I really liked this book. It was not the best ever, but it was enlightening, and fairy tales and feminist issues are two of my favourite subject matters, so I always like to develop both further.

This was reason enough for me:

"... And Then the Prince Knealt Down and Tried to Put the Glass Slipper on Cinderella's Foot"
- Judith Viorst

I really didn't notice that he had a funny nose.
And he certainly looked better all dressed up in fancy clothes.
He's not nearly as attractive as he seemed the other night.
So I think I'll just pretend that this glass slipper feels too tight.

Yeah, I laughed when I read that story. Terrible, I know!

This collection included [My thoughts are in brackets]:

• Fairy Tales and Poems:
  • The Princess Who Stood On Her Own Two Feet by Jeanne Desy [I wasn't sure about this story at first, but it grew on me. It is not really all that different than modern dating even if there is no prince involved!]
    
  • Prince Amilec by Tanith Lee [I enjoyed this story. I don't necessarily like the princesses personality, but I understand where she was coming from.]
  • Petronella by Jay Williams [A fun story that looks at the common theme from fairy tales of everything happening in threes. It breaks conventions in a fun way.]
  • The Donkey Prince by Angela Carter [A very good story from Carter. I just recently read her for the first time, so it was nice to see her included. This breaks fairy tale conventions as well.]
  • ...And Then The Prince Knelt Down and Tried to Put the Glass Slipper on Cinderella’s Foot by Judith Viorst [I laughed... ]
  • Snow White by The Merseyside Fairy Story Collective [Snow White with a brain! Very good story of good verses evil.]
  • The Moon Ribbon by Jane Yolen [A Cinderella-type story that I really enjoyed.]
  • Russalka or The Seacoast of Bohemia by Joanna Russ [Retelling of The Little Mermaid... This just goes to show you don't always know what you want until it is too late!]
  • A Fairy Tale for Our Time by Jack Zipes [I really liked this story. I think it is because it is something that I can relate to. It is why I read fairy tales, in a way.]
  • The Green Woman by Meghan B. Collins [Not my favourite story in the collection, but readable. It is a very believable story, though.]
  • Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) by Anne Sexton [Look, I am doing better with my strong dislike of short story collections, but I still don't really like poetry... It was just brutalized for me for too many years!]
  • Little Red Riding Hood by Olga Broumas [See above]
  • Rapunzel by Sara Henderson Hay [And again]
  • Wolfland by Tanith Lee [A great story for the paranormal fan in me!]
  • Malagan and the Lady of Rascas by Michael de Larrabeiti [Could not get into this story at all! Probably my least favourite.]
  • Bluebeard’s Egg by Margaret Atwood [I both loved and hated this story. Every time I think about it I change my mind.]
    
• Essays:
  • ‘Some Day My Prince Will Come’: Female Acculturation through the Fairy Tale by Marcia K. Lieberman
  • The Queen’s Looking Glass by Sandra M. Gilbert & Susan Gubar
  • Feminism and Fairy Tales by Karen E. Rowe
  • A Second Gaze at Little Red Riding Hood’s Trials and Tribulations by Jack Zipes

So, see, I did like most of the stories in this book! I suggest you take the chance to read it, you will not be disappointed.

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Books Completed: 46
Completion Date: March 2007
Publication Year: 2006
Pages:
Received from Random House prior to 2007.
Part of The Myths series

This book counts for both The Spring Reading Thing and The O'Canada Challenge.

The internationally acclaimed Myths series brings together some of the finest writers of our time to provide a contemporary take on some of our most enduring stories. Here, the timeless and universal tales that reflect and shape our lives–mirroring our fears and desires, helping us make sense of the world–are revisited, updated, and made new.

Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad is a sharp, brilliant and tender revision of a story at the heart of our culture: the myths about Penelope and Odysseus. In Homer’s familiar version, The Odyssey, Penelope is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes to fight in the Trojan Wars, she manages to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son and, in the face of scandalous rumours, keep over a hundred suitors at bay. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters and sleeping with goddesses, he kills Penelope’s suitors and–curiously–twelve of her maids.

In Homer the hanging of the maids merits only a fleeting though poignant mention, but Atwood comments in her introduction that she has always been haunted by those deaths. The Penelopiad, she adds, begins with two questions: what led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to? In the book, these subjects are explored by Penelope herself–telling the story from Hades — the Greek afterworld - in wry, sometimes acid tones. But Penelope’s maids also figure as a singing and dancing chorus (and chorus line), commenting on the action in poems, songs, an anthropology lecture and even a videotaped trial.

The Penelopiad does several dazzling things at once. First, it delves into a moment of casual brutality and reveals all that the act contains: a practice of sexual violence and gender prejudice our society has not outgrown. But it is also a daring interrogation of Homer’s poem, and its counter-narratives — which draw on mythic material not used by Homer - cleverly unbalance the original. This is the case throughout, from the unsettling questions that drive Penelope’s tale forward, to more comic doubts about some of The Odyssey’s most famous episodes. (“Odysseus had been in a fight with a giant one-eyed Cyclops, said some; no, it was only a one-eyed tavern keeper, said another, and the fight was over non-payment of the bill.”)

In fact, The Penelopiad weaves and unweaves the texture of The Odyssey in several searching ways. The Odyssey was originally a set of songs, for example; the new version’s ballads and idylls complement and clash with the original. Thinking more about theme, the maids’ voices add a new and unsettling complex of emotions that is missing from Homer. The Penelopiad takes what was marginal and brings it to the centre, where one can see its full complexity.

The same goes for its heroine. Penelope is an important figure in our literary culture, but we have seldom heard her speak for herself. Her sometimes scathing comments in The Penelopiad (about her cousin, Helen of Troy, for example) make us think of Penelope differently – and the way she talks about the twenty-first century, which she observes from Hades, makes us see ourselves anew too.

Margaret Atwood is an astonishing storyteller, and The Penelopiad is, most of all, a haunting and deeply entertaining story. This book plumbs murder and memory, guilt and deceit, in a wise and passionate manner. At time hilarious and at times deeply thought-provoking, it is very much a Myth for our times.

This is a very short book, and that book description is really long, so I am not sure how much more can be said without telling you the whole book....

Anyways, I am going to be honest, I am not a big Margaret Atwood fan. I know that she is a Canadian icon, but she is just not what I would call my favourite author. For me, she is a hit or miss author that I feel compelled to keep reading because she is a famous, female, Canadian author. I am not so big on the famous, but she is female and Canadian, so those are big pluses for me. So, now I am sure you are wondering what the hits were, well, I will tell you: Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale. Now, I still have a lot of her books left to read, so that can change, but so far, she is just okay.

On to The Penelopiad. I really liked this book, making it a hit. I like Greek and Roman mythology and books that are centred around it are interesting to me. So, even though I was not interested in Atwood's other newer books, I felt compelled to give this a try. It tell the story of Penelope and Odysseus. It is all about the women, though. Normally mythology tends to pay attention to the warriors and the gods, but this story is told from Penelope's point of view and talks about the injustices that were done to her and to the women that served her that were killed.

So, here we have a book where you can hear Penelope's side of the story. If you are still not convinced, read it because there is a trial set in modern day where Odysseus is brough up for his crimes. That was pretty interesting, I have to tell you. The book is divided into sections, Penelope will talk and then there is a song or story or something told from someone else, and then it is back to Penelope again.

I now have three hits from Atwood, so all is well! My thanks to Random House for sending me this book!

4/5