From Molecules to Magic

Well, I finished The Year of the Flood this week and I must say I was somewhat disappointed.  I never did understand all that was happening to the people in scientific terms.  Who perpetrated the "flood"?  I think it was done deliberately, but I'm not sure, because Atwood did not really make it clear.  The story surrounding the characters was interesting, and I did care about what happened to them.  But the rest of it was pretty incomprehensible. 

I don't know if Atwood researches the science before she writes a book like this, but I found the descriptions and explanations for how things got the way they are kind of vague and sometimes confusing.  It reminded me of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where the information about how the not-so-good doctor managed to bring his patched-together person to life is never provided.  (Movies made from the book simply make up that part.)  Since Shelley's was one of the first science fiction novels, I suppose Atwood is in good company.  But today's readers expect more realism in their sci-fi, or at least more plausibility, and that comes from being specific about how the science works (or could work in the future).

I don't recommend this book unless you must know what happened to the characters in Oryx and Crake.

After Atwood, instead of leaping into the "T" collection, I decided to finish off the "A"s with the second novel I have by Isabel Allende, Of Love and Shadows.  It was made into a movie, apparently, starring Antonio Banderas.  It takes place in Chile, as most of her novels do, during the rule of Pinochet.  As usual, there is the spirit world familiar to magic realism fans, as well as the super-real world of life under a ruthless dictator. 

In contrast to Atwood, Allende doesn't leave you guessing about anything.  Her lush description is legendary and always compelling.  So far I'm enjoying it.

In between the two novels, I read a short book, John A. Roebling, about the man who designed both the Cincinnati and the Brooklyn bridges.  It was somewhat informative, but lacking information about the building of the bridge, I thought, especially of the deaths of the workers.  It was a quick read, though, and was written by Don H. Tolzmann, which satisfies the "T" requirement of my next list.

Until next time . . .