Conceptually it’s fine in the overall scheme of what could happen in a theoretical human future. And using members of an environmental religious cult to outline how the changes wrought on the planet might bring about our downfall is clever. The narrative Style did however grate over time, especially when it started to pace like a trashy holiday novel toward the end. The end reminded me that despite everything that was good about Oryx and Crake - the opening chapters - much of the rest of that novel is already lost to my memory and I suspect this one will do the same.
She is more of a literary fiction writer than SF, but her near-future bio-apocalypse scenarios are chilling, although I did chortle a little bit about characters whose emails appear on their sleeves still using DVD players. I would not have expected her to resort to fridging the only female character in the book who wasn't a fling or an absent mother, or for that character to be an archetypal Wise Asian Sex Worker, but it's probably a good thing she appears to be moving on to different protagonists in the subsequent books.
Alpha : The Hobbit Beta : Harry Potter Gamma : Old Man and the Sea Delta : The Martian Zeta : Charlotte's Web Theta : Ringworld Kapa : The Road Lambda : The Shining Sigma : Dune Omega : The Hunger Games
Alpha : The Hobbit Beta : Harry Potter Gamma : Old Man and the Sea Delta : The Martian Zeta : Charlotte's Web Theta : Ringworld Kapa : The Road Lambda : The Shining Sigma : Dune Omega : The Hunger Games
Atwood's books have become ever stranger since the wonderful "Handmaid's Tale". This is the the third volume of a trilogy. I've already read "Oryx and Crake" and "The Year of the Flood" and I advise you to do the same; I don't think you can read this without them.
Atwood is not a superficial writer so it is best to put some effort into exploring the layers she puts into these books.
The tale is set in a future where much of the human race has been destroyed and there are a few genetically engineered companions for the remaining few, including pigs with some human brain tissue and almost humans called Crakers. Through flashbacks and other devices, we learn some of the back story.
Atwood is a master storyteller, she just keeps moving things along, with mixes of horror, sadness and laughter. Here is a sample sad part, about us, …
Atwood's books have become ever stranger since the wonderful "Handmaid's Tale". This is the the third volume of a trilogy. I've already read "Oryx and Crake" and "The Year of the Flood" and I advise you to do the same; I don't think you can read this without them.
Atwood is not a superficial writer so it is best to put some effort into exploring the layers she puts into these books.
The tale is set in a future where much of the human race has been destroyed and there are a few genetically engineered companions for the remaining few, including pigs with some human brain tissue and almost humans called Crakers. Through flashbacks and other devices, we learn some of the back story.
Atwood is a master storyteller, she just keeps moving things along, with mixes of horror, sadness and laughter. Here is a sample sad part, about us, today:
They cannot understand what they are doing to the sea and the sky and the plants and the animals. They cannot understand that they are killing them, and that they will end by killing themselves. And there are soç many of them, and each one of them is doing part of the killing, whether they know it or not. And when you tell them to stop, they don’t hear you.
And I found this to be a happy part, about the Feast of Cnidaria:
The Gardeners had been thorough - no phylum or genus was left out of their list of feasts and festivals
Who can resist a book where the non-human world plays such an important role?
While reading this book I was frustrated. I liked the world, the bleakness and everything else that goes along with post apocalyptic stories but I found the hook, the reason to keep on reading, came a little too late in the book for me to really enjoy this. I liked Snowman in present time and his flashbacks to when he was Jimmy and what life was like before "things went bad", however I found no purpose to really sink my teeth in to.
As far as post apocalyptic stories I thought of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" while reading this. Where "Oryx and Crake" did a fantastic job of setting everything up at least "The Road" had a destination; it had a purpose and that encouraged me to read more. To Atwood's credit the detail of story and building up backstory to make reveals significant was incredible, the characters were well …
While reading this book I was frustrated. I liked the world, the bleakness and everything else that goes along with post apocalyptic stories but I found the hook, the reason to keep on reading, came a little too late in the book for me to really enjoy this. I liked Snowman in present time and his flashbacks to when he was Jimmy and what life was like before "things went bad", however I found no purpose to really sink my teeth in to.
As far as post apocalyptic stories I thought of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" while reading this. Where "Oryx and Crake" did a fantastic job of setting everything up at least "The Road" had a destination; it had a purpose and that encouraged me to read more. To Atwood's credit the detail of story and building up backstory to make reveals significant was incredible, the characters were well described but waiting until 80% of the story to get somewhere was frustrating...and then you don't really get anywhere, you just eavesdrop on a story for a few days and leave.
I wasn't considering reading the next story in the MaddAddam story but I may just to continue reading just to continue to experience the world of life after JUVE.
