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Jenny (Reading Envy)'s Reviews > MaddAddam
MaddAddam (MaddAddam, #3)
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by
Jenny (Reading Envy)'s review
bookshelves: read2013, audiobook, sci-fi-fantasy, post-apocalypse-and-dystopia
May 23, 2013
bookshelves: read2013, audiobook, sci-fi-fantasy, post-apocalypse-and-dystopia
"There's the story, then there's the real story, then there's the story of how the story came to be told. Then there's what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too."
Preach, Mother Atwood. This past week has had me reimmersed into the MaddAddam trilogy, starting with a fifth re-read of Oryx and Crake since we discussed it for an SFF Audio podcast. (That was a great discussion, by the way. It answered some questions that I've had for years. Years!)
When you read all the books of a trilogy close together, and you already know the story having read each of them at least once before, it is a lot easier to fill in the gaps and see the intricate detail that Atwood has built into this world. It isn't just the Waterless Flood causing the dilemmas the Crakers are born into, the world was going to hell for decades before that. This book tells more of that story. While Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood were parallel narratives, MaddAddam starts from where those books end, and then traces back around to tell the story of Zeb. His story is told largely by Toby, to the Crakers, in the form of myth-like bedtime stories. What is the power of myth? The minute someone tells it, it has a high likelihood to change, whether that is to protect the listeners or to make it easier on the storyteller. So much about story in this novel.
"People need such stories, Pilar said once, because however dark, a darkness with voices in it is better than a silent void."
I scanned these books for questions I had from the first. (view spoiler)
Preach, Mother Atwood. This past week has had me reimmersed into the MaddAddam trilogy, starting with a fifth re-read of Oryx and Crake since we discussed it for an SFF Audio podcast. (That was a great discussion, by the way. It answered some questions that I've had for years. Years!)
When you read all the books of a trilogy close together, and you already know the story having read each of them at least once before, it is a lot easier to fill in the gaps and see the intricate detail that Atwood has built into this world. It isn't just the Waterless Flood causing the dilemmas the Crakers are born into, the world was going to hell for decades before that. This book tells more of that story. While Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood were parallel narratives, MaddAddam starts from where those books end, and then traces back around to tell the story of Zeb. His story is told largely by Toby, to the Crakers, in the form of myth-like bedtime stories. What is the power of myth? The minute someone tells it, it has a high likelihood to change, whether that is to protect the listeners or to make it easier on the storyteller. So much about story in this novel.
"People need such stories, Pilar said once, because however dark, a darkness with voices in it is better than a silent void."
I scanned these books for questions I had from the first. (view spoiler)
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Reading Progress
May 23, 2013
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 23, 2013
– Shelved
August 31, 2013
–
Started Reading
September 2, 2013
–
14.47%
"I'm going to read the audio and the hardback when it comes. Loving the different narrators though!"
page
57
September 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
read2013
September 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
audiobook
September 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
sci-fi-fantasy
September 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
post-apocalypse-and-dystopia
September 6, 2013
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
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Sandi wrote: "Did you listen to the audio? I absolutely loved Bernadette Dunne's narration when Toby is telling the stories of Crake and Zeb to the Crakers. She's so funny. "Interesting theories Sandi... I'm going to think about those.
I DID love the audio, and how the last narrator shows up at the end, just perfect.
Perfect choice of quotation to head the review.
What I do wonder is if the Maddaddamites had taken the vaccine without Glenn knowing. So many of them survived the plague, I think they must have. (hide spoiler)]
Did you listen to the audio? I absolutely loved Bernadette Dunne's narration when Toby is telling the stories of Crake and Zeb to the Crakers. She's so funny.