Přežívá nejsmutnější by Margaret AtwoodMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was a very weird book. And I'm not giving it two stars because it's bad, but because I cannot positively say that I liked it. I'm not entirely sure how I felt about it, but I know that I do not want to say that I have enjoyed a book about child prostitution, white dudes being overly jealous, or white dudes being super intelligent and not making a single mistake ever. I am still glad that I have read it, but it was something totally different from what I'd expected.
This is a perfect example of a speculative fiction filled with a plethora of "what ifs". And a lot of them made me think about some heavy topics I would normally avoid - which is certainly a good thing. But overall this book didn't bring me anything new, it didn't fascinate me the way I hoped it would and it didn't left me wanting something more.
It's written very well and the translation is great too. Atwood knows her craft and knows how to balance telling, showing and also not telling you things, which I think is equally important. However, this book was (sometimes even painfully) slow. Nothing really happens till the very last chapters of the book and the majority of the story is made out of flashbacks. Some interesting, some not. The overall plot is pretty straightforward and while I normally do enjoy slow paced books, the setting was not that captivating to keep me reading. I had to force myself to finish it (and listening to the soundtrack of Horizon: Zero Dawn also helped a lot).
I did enjoy some of the aspects of the story, especially interviews with Oryx and the way the main character Snowman worked with words and went about creating new mythology or how he tried to explain certain aspects of the past.
Overall, I would not really recommend this book. I think you have to be in a really special mindset to enjoy it. Maybe, if you are tired of all the YA apocalyptic dystopias and want something less action-y and more philosophical, this might be a good choice. Just do not expect any big survival adventure or amazing romance or some mind blowing concepts. But it will make you question certain things you are not force to face every day and that is probably the most valuable thing about this story.