A man-made plague has swept the earth, but a small group survives, along with the green-eyed Crakers – a gentle species bio-engineered to replace humans. Toby, onetime member of the Gods Gardeners and expert in mushrooms and bees, is still in love with street-smart Zeb, who has an interesting past. The Crakers’ reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy, is hallucinating; Amanda is in shock from a Painballer attack; and Ivory Bill yearns for the provocative Swift Fox, who is flirting with Zeb. Meanwhile, giant Pigoons and malevolent Painballers threaten to attack.
Told with wit, dizzying imagination, and dark humour, Booker-prize-winning Margaret Atwood’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood and http://margaretatwood.ca/) unpredictable, chilling, and hilarious MaddAddam takes us further into a challenging dystopian world and holds up a skewed mirror to our own possible future. Another marvellous display of controlled authorial satire from Atwood. Her coal-black chuckling and uncanny, powerful grasp on the human condition make this novel a treat.
Margaret Atwood
416 pages in Bloomsbury Press
First published August 2013
ISBN 978-1408819708