Peachy Reads

The Year of the Flood / Margaret Atwood Click here to check for availability in AFPLS In her latest book, The Year of the Flood , Margaret Atwood portrays a future, a very close future, in which there has been catastrophic environmental and societal collapse. Atwood explored this theme in 2003’s Oryx and Crake , and revisits the same timeframe with even some of the same characters making appearances, though this is neither a prequel or a sequel (maybe a co-quel?). The "flood" in the title refers to a waterless flood, a global pandemic that has wiped out all but a small percentage of Earth's human inhabitants. Flashbacks reveal the main characters in situations leading up to the flood. In The Year of the Flood Atwood creates a future world that is not so unfamiliar from our own, which may make it all the more terrifying. Reminiscent of Jose Saramago's Blindness or PD James's The Children of Men (both of which have been made into film). Often grim, but always th...

Quarantine / Jim Crace Click here to check for availability in AFPLS Five penitents wander into the Judean wilderness for various reasons, known only to themselves, for a quarantine (40 days) of meditation and fasting. Their planned solitude and prayerful reflection are somewhat derailed when they all convene near a waterhole and their destinies interconnect. One of the penitents is named Jesus, and while Crace’s story doesn’t follow the Gospels, and literalists will not care for it, the figure of Jesus is an enigmatic and a charismatic presence in their midst, even though he attempts to separate himself from the others. The characters are well-drawn and all are interesting in their own right. The ending is a surprise, there is death and resurrection of sorts, and this novel will offer much food for thought for readers of any religious persuasion. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 1997, Whitbread Novel winner 1997 ©Ken Vesey, 12 Feb 2010