The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

★★★

"You can forget who you are if you're alone too much."

I recently finished Margaret Atwood's 'Oryx and Crake' and loved it so I was really excited to read this one as well.  I finally finished all of my required reading for my two library school classes and finally and able to read books that I don't have to read or finish within a week - a much appreciated change!

This second book in the trilogy is a parallel story to the first one.  The chapters go back and forth between two women who have survived the 'Waterless Flood' - both of whom were briefly mentioned in 'Oryx and Crake.' Ren has been locked in a high-end sex club where she worked as a dancer and Toby survived in a spa where she was able to live on many of the edible treatments.

I didn't end up liking this one as much as the first.  I enjoyed reading more about the world - which Atwood does an excellent job of building - but, overall I felt that the novel was a bit slow and uneventful.  The book went into a lot of unnecessary detail and there were way too many coincidences with the characters knowing each other.  I know they were all part of the same organization, but it seems like nearly everyone else on the planet is dead so how did all of these people with connections survive?  I felt like I might have been better off just reading the first book and calling it quits.  There was also a lot of unanswered questions, which I hope are resolved in the third book!