With Oryx and Crake, the first book of her MaddAddam series, Margaret Atwood delivers a dystopic (but not completely hopeless) depiction of Earth following a catastrophic mass extinction event. The novel opens with an introduction to Snowman, a survivor whose story will be revealed through flashbacks and real-time descriptions in a world that has become intolerably hostile to human life. The reader is marooned in an environment of disturbing alterations- left to ponder the series of events that have led to such a devastating future. Atwood’s narrator Snowman (aka Jimmy), is character that is ultimately unreliable and frequently despicable. His skewed depiction of events and his selective memory is all the reader has as a guide, yet it cannot hide Snowman’s complicity in the catalyzing events that ultimately lead to the downfall of civilization. Margaret Atwood is truly gifted at worldbuilding, and the immersive setting is visceral and raw. Oryx and Crake sets the stage for the one of the main themes of the trilogy: the dichotomy of man’s relentless quest for dominance over the natural world, and his undeniable dependence upon it. This is deservedly one of Atwood’s most lauded books in her long career of excellent works.

 

Good for: Dystopic/Futuristic Science Fiction; highly rated award-winners; works addressing controversial environmental topics; genetic modification positives and negatives; Canadian authors; Science Fiction/Literary Fiction blends.

 

You may like this book if you liked: Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (or the Hulu series based on the book); Netflix’s Black Mirror Series; William Golding’s Lord of the Flies; and works by Octavia Butler, Colson Whitehead, Ursula Le Guin, and Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games trilogy).

This is the first Margaret Atwood novel I've read. The MaddAddam series keeps raising its head on many sites I frequent because I read a lot of dystopian fiction. I blame William Gibson's "Neuromancer" for my inclination to this genre (and cyber/techno punk).

 

I will save for another day a my thoughts about why dystopian fiction is a popular genre, particularly with the YA population.

 

Ms Atwood sets up a very interesting universe and a more interesting lexicon to go with it. She uses combinations of words in such a manner that you cannot readily tell when the first one ends and the second one begins. At least that is the way it seems to me; example "pleebrats'. I appreciate word-play.

 

The novel flows backwards and forwards in time to tell the story of Jimmy (Snowman) and his relationship with Oryx and Crake. There is not a lot of hard science here and no back story as to how the 'corporate-compound' economy was formed but that is intentional and without those elements I found the story to be straight forward and not complex.

This book is kinda really depressing but really amazing. Atwood describes this book as speculative fiction and I totally agree (and thus it's really depressing).

 

Okay how do I explain the plot of this book without giving to much away.  Snowman leads and teaches the innocent Crakers following a catastrophic apocalyptic event, while sorting through how life got to be the way it is, and mourning the loss of Oryx and Crake.

 

This book is told through flashbacks but I didn't find them clunky. I've hear that people were bothered by the pace of this book. It's kinda slow.  It's goes through Snowman's whole life via flashback while he is doing stuff in his present, but none of that stuff is like super riveting. 

 

Since I love Margaret Atwood and science I'm not surprised that I loved this book. I am surprised that pace of this book didn't bother me, sometimes I get super ADD when reading and am just dying for the author to get to the point, but Atwood really took me on this journey, I was fascinated by the world. I wondered about Snowman's sanity. I pondered the mystery of what happened to get Snowman and the Crakers to this point. 

 

Overall totally recommend it, it's part of a trilogy that I can't wait to read more of but I also think this book could be a standalone.

This is one of my favorite novels ever, and it’s the first book in one of my favorite trilogies ever. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read it since it came out. I’ve been in a reading slump recently, so I picked it up again because I knew that I would enjoy it. I still love it as much as I did the first time I read it.

The story follows Snowman as he struggles through a post-apocalyptic world. His job is to protect a group of genetically engineered humans who are known as the Children of Crake. Through flashbacks, the story shows how Snowman unwittingly helped Crake—his best friend—create the plague that destroyed the world.

This book is amazing. Like all of Margaret Atwood’s novels, the writing is beautiful and the characters are complicated. Every time I read one of Atwood’s books, I’m in awe of her talent.

There are so many things that I like about this book. Crake is an unusual “bad guy.” He’s funny and charismatic and (somewhat) likeable, even though he does horrible things to people. I love his complexity. He definitely has some good qualities and some really, really bad ones. He’s my favorite character in the book.

Another element that I love is the role religion plays in the story. The Children of Crake are genetically engineered by Crake. When they start asking Snowman why they exist, he creates a religious mythology where Crake is a god-like figure. Crake destroys the world and creates a new one in its place. He’s a god to some people and a villain to others. I think that’s really interesting.

Even though the story deals with serious subjects, it’s surprisingly funny. The humor comes at unexpected moments and catches the reader off-guard. Some of the dialogue between Snowman and Crake is hilarious.

Like all of Atwood’s novels, this one is character-driven. There isn’t much of a plot. It’s all about the people, their lives, and their pasts. The lack of a fast-paced plot doesn’t bother me because the characters are interesting enough to make up for it.

Now that I’ve reread Oryx and Crake, I have to go reread the rest of the trilogy.

26/12 - I found this a little bit tiresome to read for at least half the book. It wasn't until we started to see what had happened to bring about the apocalypse that I really got interested. And then Atwood finishes it just as a really exciting and mystery-revealing scene was about to happen, a bit like a cliff hanger on a tv show season finale but without the guarantee of there being another season (or book, as the case may be). I'm still not sure why the apocalypse happened, why Crake might have caused it.

15/1 - Re-reading this because I'd like to finish the series, but other than the names and the fact that an apocalypse happened I can't remember anything about the plot. To be continued...

 

17/1 - I'm nearly half way through and I just can't come up with anything intelligent to say. I'm enjoying it, probably more than I did six years ago, but it's not inspiring me write. Snowman isn't much of a hero and is a bit irritating to listen to. I'm looking forward to finding out why he's the only non-Craker left (at least as far as he/we know), although from what I remember of my previous reading it's not made clear in this book. It's all still a bit mysterious at the end, as is normal for the first book in a trilogy. Hopefully reading further will inspire my creative writing side and I'll be back next time with more a scintillating update. To be continued...

 

27/1 - It turns out I feel pretty much the same about this book as I did last time I read it. I got really bogged down in the middle and couldn't work up the enthusiasm to keep reading, playing The Sims was more enticing for a number of days during the reading of this. But I did finish it and now I can go on to the next book, which I have high hopes but realistic expectations for. I do want to note that I now know how the apocalypse happened, but I still don't understand why Crake did it, and also why Crake left poor old Jimmy alone (at least as far as Crake knew) to deal with the aftermath. I don't really understand what happened between him and Oryx, or rather (again) why, either. I hope our world isn't headed for this kind of future, so amazed by our own cleverness that we ignore the lessons of the past. Creating, merging all those animals for no particularly good reason that I could see - kangaroo + sheep = lots of good meat + good immune system, wolf + dog = better attack animals for security, snake + rat = what a stupid idea that is, how is that useful to anyone! I also wasn't clear on how the pigoons got so smart, or what the 'oon' part of their name came from. Anyway, will put the next book in the series on hold at the library and look forward to seeing what happens next.

 

PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge: A Trilogy