Review: Margaret Atwood’s Maddadam

McLelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2013

Review by Rita Button

It's the year 25 in Margaret Atwood's latest novel, Maddadam, the final book of the trilogy begun with Oryx and Crake and followed by The Year of the Flood. A pandemic described in Oryx and Crake has wiped out most of the human race, and the survivors in the novel live in a cobb house in the midst of a desolate landscape. The story of Zeb, Toby and others from previous novels, continues and a new character, Blackbeard, a Craker child who epitomizes the innocence of youth and of the Craker race is introduced. The Maddadamites, a group of human survivors of the waterless flood, described in the second book of the trilogy, are left to re-create their new world, a process which includes understanding that the Crakers will be a part of the new world.

The Crakers, a creation of Crake whose abilities in biology led to a few experiments, are human-like, but have certain qualities which make their lives easier such as bodies that have no need for clothes or insect repellant or protein in the form of meat. In their quest for meaning, they have created a kind of religion with Crake as their god, and Snowman the Jimmy, a human character as their un-willing prophet.

Connections between the old world and the post-pandemic world are created through artifacts such as Jimmy's old red baseball cap which becomes a sacred object to the Crakers. The person who tells the story at the end of the day-previously Jimmy, but then Toby-must wear the cap and listen to the "shiny thing" which is actually Jimmy's broken watch but which is seen as a communication device between Crake and his prophet. The story teller must have these two objects to be credible. The Crakers crave stories-at first stories of their origins and then stories of events in their lives.

In the year 25, life is composed of dealing with the basics-finding food and shelter, fending off enemies, creating a community where people live together and help each other. The search for survival includes the need to create a kind of order through ritual. Even the most sardonic of characters, Zeb, uses a remembered ceremony to make a promise of love.

It's a great book which exposes truths about the current world while exploring a vision of the future.

Although this novel is the third part of a trilogy, it can be read on its own since Atwood thoughtfully writes a review of what occurred in the previous two novels. However, once you've read this one, you'll want to read the others as well.