389 pages
English language
Published April 4, 2004 by Anchor Books.
Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.
MA has hitched her wagon to a bunch of problematic shit in recent days but this book fucking rules. It had a huge influence on me as a teen and just rocked my socks as I listened to the killer audiobook performance by Campbell Scott. Excited to discuss with the book club next week. Corknut!
A nice new combination of several near-future projections, and deft narrative fun. Something bothered me about the scale and neatness though, maybe only 3.5 stars except for how much I enjoyed it.
After an apocalyptic disaster, Snowman is the sole caretaker of a group of Crakers--a simple-minded, genetically-engineered people. But his past haunts him, and he relives the events leading up to the world-altering disaster.
It's hard for me to write anything about this novel without comparing it to Atwood's brilliant "Blind Assassin". The structure is very similar: an important event happened in the past, and the narrator slowly reveals the past while continuing on their life in their present. It's a tactic that worked well in "The Blind Assassin" because the narrator is a grandmother that I'm sure every reader could relate to. However, in "Oryx and Crake", the narrator is a crusty, disgruntled, semi-isolated man who is about as unappealing and uninteresting as a character can get. With "The Blind Assassin", the past event is a death, and we are intrigued right from the beginning because of the human connection, …
After an apocalyptic disaster, Snowman is the sole caretaker of a group of Crakers--a simple-minded, genetically-engineered people. But his past haunts him, and he relives the events leading up to the world-altering disaster.
It's hard for me to write anything about this novel without comparing it to Atwood's brilliant "Blind Assassin". The structure is very similar: an important event happened in the past, and the narrator slowly reveals the past while continuing on their life in their present. It's a tactic that worked well in "The Blind Assassin" because the narrator is a grandmother that I'm sure every reader could relate to. However, in "Oryx and Crake", the narrator is a crusty, disgruntled, semi-isolated man who is about as unappealing and uninteresting as a character can get. With "The Blind Assassin", the past event is a death, and we are intrigued right from the beginning because of the human connection, and we automatically want to know what happened and why. With "Oryx and Crake", the past event is an apocalypse, and somehow the what and why seem like trivialities. Really, it could have been any number of disasters and it wouldn't have made one bit of difference to the story. Pick your disaster. There's no intrigue despite all the background story Atwood conjures up because the characters are only moderately interesting.
One of the few redeeming things about the novel is the social structure that Atwood creates. It's an interesting society we become in her story. It's not too far off from our current model, and as such, offers a nice commentary on where we may be heading. In addition to this, it also offers a discussion about men playing God--in both senses of the concept. One, by creating and destroying the lives of others as if they are wise and all-knowing. Second, in the sense of creating mythology and doctrine for people to follow.
If you're a fan of the genre, then give it a try--just keep your expectations low. If you're a fan of good writing and characters, perhaps "The Blind Assassin" is the way to go as it seems to me with this novel Atwood was too caught up in her creation of the Crakers that she thought she was writing a story for them as well. I expected better.
Here's a spoiler and a major problem that wasn't addressed in the story: Why didn't Jimmy just duplicate the vaccine that Crake had been secretly giving him when he visited the Pleeblands? Surely the technology existed to do it quite easily.
Rant Alert
Overall, this was a very good book. I personally have little or no faith in the writing abilities of Margret Atwood, as I had read many of her short stories and poems in school. This book, however, was strongly suggested to me, and loving books as much as I do, I decided to give it a chance. For the most part I was surprised. I greatly enjoyed it, once I got into it (as it has a slightly slow start).
In the end, though, I feel greatly betrayed: I read nearly 400 pages, and even started to change my mind about Atwood's writing abilities, only to come to the final page to find... nothing. THere is no ending! The book does not end! This might appeal to some people... some people might not MIND inferring the ending of a 400 page story that they took time out of …
Rant Alert
Overall, this was a very good book. I personally have little or no faith in the writing abilities of Margret Atwood, as I had read many of her short stories and poems in school. This book, however, was strongly suggested to me, and loving books as much as I do, I decided to give it a chance. For the most part I was surprised. I greatly enjoyed it, once I got into it (as it has a slightly slow start).
In the end, though, I feel greatly betrayed: I read nearly 400 pages, and even started to change my mind about Atwood's writing abilities, only to come to the final page to find... nothing. THere is no ending! The book does not end! This might appeal to some people... some people might not MIND inferring the ending of a 400 page story that they took time out of their lives to read... However, I like to be able to finish a book, without having to SPECULATE about the ending. I don't mind discussing a book, or a book's ending, but I would like there to be an ending to DISCUSS!
That is why I gave this book a 3/5 instead of a 4. One more page, 5 more minutes of writing and this story could have earned itself a 4/5 or even a 5/5 if I was feeling generous. But as it is I am unimpressed and Atwood has failed to redeem herself.
rant over
