MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

[kennyc]

I'm about halfway through and loving it after finally getting it from the library! It's the third and final (I presume) volume in the Oryx and Crake trilogy.

One thing I'm particularly enjoying is that is is set in what could be the relatively near future (the coming century or so) and has many contemporary items/features/systems that either still exist (Oreos ) or are slightly 'pushed' to what is a very logical extension. And some of the names she's made up are hilarious - Anooyou Spa etc, etc, etc.

The middle part where I'm at is currently seeming a bit slow, but still interesting.

I highly recommend the entire trilogy!

http://www.amazon.com/MaddAddam-A-No.../dp/0385528787

[kennyc]

From my GoodReads review:

Just finished this last night. Loved it. A fitting conclusion to the trilogy, but I could easily see more books in this near-future world based on the ending. I wouldn't say there was any particularly surprises in that ending but the time-frame becomes very compressed in that last chapter more or less summarizing/concluding/and setting a future that the reader can see coming.

I loved how she wove in real-world ideas, objects, products, (and even people) to the narrative, which interestingly in many ways becomes a telling of the story within the story.

I don't read a lot of novels, but this one was well worth the time spent!

[HomeInMyShoes]

An author I have never read. As a Canadian I should probably be ashamed.

[kennyc]

Yes, you should! Get thee immediately The Handmaid's Tale!
Or the first in this trilogy - Oryx and Crake!

She also writes non-sf works as well such as The Blind Assassin, Cat's Eye, The Edible Woman....

and she doesn't like to call her work SF

[Ninjalawyer]

I recently read Oryx and Crake, and I'm still not sure how I felt about it. On the one hand, Atwood has really great style, and the book was often fairly funny; but on the other hand, it sometimes felt like a bog-standard apocalypse/post-apocalypse story.

The best way I can explain it is when you read a genre book by an author that usually does literary fiction; it sometimes feels touristy, like the author has only absorbed the most superficial memes and tropes of the genre, and is parroting those back. In any event, I've had a hardcover version of the second book in the trilogy for awhile and will probably crack that soon.

Interestingly, there was a ballet version of Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale being performed not that long ago. I think I'll wait for the upbeat, musical version.

[AnemicOak]

Right now Diesel has the The MaddAddam Trilogy omnibus for $9.99 which is a real bargain when compared to the individual books.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

I recently read Oryx and Crake, and I'm still not sure how I felt about it. On the one hand, Atwood has really great style, and the book was often fairly funny; but on the other hand, it sometimes felt like a bog-standard apocalypse/post-apocalypse story.

The best way I can explain it is when you read a genre book by an author that usually does literary fiction; it sometimes feels touristy, like the author has only absorbed the most superficial memes and tropes of the genre, and is parroting those back. In any event, I've had a hardcover version of the second book in the trilogy for awhile and will probably crack that soon.

Interestingly, there was a ballet version of Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale being performed not that long ago. I think I'll wait for the upbeat, musical version.

Ballet? Oh My! That actually sounds interesting though. Like "King Lear" or something.

And I'd agree with you a bit, this trilogy is not the sweeping, awe-inspiring SF that some are, but it was a darn fun read and in my case years ago when Oryx and Crake was released it got me back into reading novel-length SF which I'd pretty much given up on at that point.

I certainly wouldn't put this in the same category as Dune or Foundation or even The Handmaids Tale but it's a darn fun read, particularly I found for its near-future relevance and and a few Lulz based on current society. I rated it 4/5 at Goodreads.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Right now Diesel has the The MaddAddam Trilogy omnibus for $9.99 which is a real bargain when compared to the individual books.

That's a deal! I have the first one in paper, maybe I'll go buy that just to have it all together!

Thanks!

[ccowie]

I really liked Oryx and Crake, kinda liked The Year of the Flood and didn't like MaddAddam.

I found the later works were interesting, but filled with that characteristic anti-male nonsense I get so sick of with Atwood. Every male character is eventually a lying, cheating abusive narcissist. I'm just tired of it and if overshadows interesting stuff.

[Barcey]

What a coincidence, I just saw this old interview with Margaret Atwood in the Huffington Post.

www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/14/margaret-atwood-cbc-hana-gartner-take-30-video_n_4595681.html

It's almost impossible to imagine this cringe-inducing interview taking place today when everything a prominent person says is tweeted, facebooked and analyzed for orthodoxy. The risk would simply be too great.

Atwood, age 37, chastises Gartner again and again for failing to understand her collection of short stories "Dancing Girls" and for asking what she considers to be silly questions.

The highlight comes at 7:18 when Atwood asks, "Can I say something very rude?" and then suggests that Gartner should perhaps stick to reading Harlequin romances.

Ouch.

[owly]

A movie was made of the Handmaids tale that was so-so http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099731/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[bgalbrecht]

If I didn't care for The Handmaid's Tale because I didn't care for the religious dystopia and didn't think we could plausibly get from here to it, would I be likely to dislike the MaddAddam trilogy as well?

[49Kat]

I had purchased Oryx and Crake back when I got my first e-reader. I think it was 2010. I didn't read it, I guess I just found other stuff to read instead and this book got left by the wayside. Learning that it was part of a trilogy piqued my interest, and then finding that I could borrow the other 2 from e-libraries made me decide to give it a try. I had only read one other Atwood book, The Blind Assassin, and I remember feeling so-so about that, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this trilogy.

I was pleasantly surprised. I found myself really enjoying the books. By the time I got to MaddAddam I found myself chuckling as I read accounts written from Zeb's perspective, as well as the passages about the Crakers as Toby tried to explain things to them. I had a feeling that the author herself enjoyed writing this book, and I think her dry sense of humor really came through.

[dakini]

I read Oryx and Crake when it first came out, had no idea until MaddAdam came out that they were part of a trilogy. Now to find time to re-read Oryx and Crake ... might take a while before I have the time to devour all three books!

[ccowie]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

If I didn't care for The Handmaid's Tale because I didn't care for the religious dystopia and didn't think we could plausibly get from here to it, would I be likely to dislike the MaddAddam trilogy as well?

My guess would be that you wouldn't like the series. It's better than Handmaid's Tale, there's a slightly better chance we could get from here to there (not really, but I like the scary future of genetic modification) and it's really heavy on the religious dystopia.