MaddAddam
The final book in Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy is less of a conclusion than I expected it to be. Instead of moving significantly forward, the book mimics the format of the previous two, delving into Zeb's past and the founding of both the God's Gardeners and the MaddAddam movements. It does resolve the conflict with the painballers, but beyond that it raises almost as many questions as it answers. The final pages look towards the future with hope, but with as little resolution as the previous two books.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. The trilogy feels both like it could be complete and like there could be another three books, following the Crakers into the next generation and their new life. Seeing if they can maintain their truce with the pigoons and continue to repopulate the world.
Zeb's story is interesting, and helps to make the world feel much bigger. His story moves from the east coast to LA and San Francisco. As far south as Rio and farther north than the Arctic Circle. It shows how interconnected the world has become at this point, how easy it was for one company to wipe out everyone. Though those connections get a little outlandish at times, with the sex club, Scales and Tails playing an almost improbably big role in bringing all of the characters together.
What I really got out of this book (and ultimately the whole trilogy) is an interesting meditation on the nature of stories. The stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell each other. The ways those shape both our pasts and our futures. And how easy it is for religions to spring up among the more ignorant or naive, like the Crakers, who crave a simple explanation for the world. Watching that form was my favorite part of the book.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. The trilogy feels both like it could be complete and like there could be another three books, following the Crakers into the next generation and their new life. Seeing if they can maintain their truce with the pigoons and continue to repopulate the world.
Zeb's story is interesting, and helps to make the world feel much bigger. His story moves from the east coast to LA and San Francisco. As far south as Rio and farther north than the Arctic Circle. It shows how interconnected the world has become at this point, how easy it was for one company to wipe out everyone. Though those connections get a little outlandish at times, with the sex club, Scales and Tails playing an almost improbably big role in bringing all of the characters together.
What I really got out of this book (and ultimately the whole trilogy) is an interesting meditation on the nature of stories. The stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell each other. The ways those shape both our pasts and our futures. And how easy it is for religions to spring up among the more ignorant or naive, like the Crakers, who crave a simple explanation for the world. Watching that form was my favorite part of the book.
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