Here’s a review of a different sort; I recently finished reading Oryx and Crake, the latest novel by Margaret Atwood. I purchased the book on a bit of a whim. I read the opening chapter in the bookstore and decided to pick it up. I’m glad I did. I know it’s wrong to do so, but I had typecast Margaret Atwood by her looks – dowdy, middle-aged, housewife / author who probably wrote gentle books for Canadians. Boy was I ever wrong!
The novel takes place in the not too distant future. The central character is known as Snowman. Obviously this isn’t his real name, but so much has happened so quickly that trivialities such as names no longer seem relevant in his world. In fact, when we first meet Snowman we find him slowly starving to death in a world gone horribly wrong. As the tale unfolds we follow Snowman as he tries to both take care of a tribe of innocent villagers, and scrounge for the necessities of his own limited existence.
The book draws us into Snowman’s past when as a child he was growing up in a broken family. Snowman’s father worked at a well-to-do corporation and as a child, Snowman wanted for nothing in a materialistic sense. Yet throughout Snowman’s childhood we can see an underlying emptiness. Later in his teen years, Snowman meets Crake who is the new kid at his school. They form a lifelong friendship that leads us to the next phase of the book.
In this future world, giant corporations are deeply engaged in genetic research. Cross-breeding of plants and animals is rampant. Each corporation is greedily earger to develop the Next Big Thing. Employees and their families are well taken care of and housed within the walls of the corporate complex. Outside these walls lies the rest of the world – the plebes who live in decaying cities along with the problems and decadent baseness of existence. Eventually Crake becomes a top research scientist at one of the best-regarded corporations, while Snowman struggles in a mediocre position at a lesser corporation. When Crake hires Snowman to work for him, he meets Oryx who is one of Crake’s assistants; Snowman is immediately taken by her. They begin a relationship which leads to catastrophic results.
To say more would be to give away too much of the plot. But the writing of this book is so sublime that the story almost seems real. We feel the emptiness in Snowman’s life, we feel the longing sadness of Oryx, and we are drawn into the madness of Crake. The dialogue in the book is smooth and flows without effort. Far from being a dowdy, middle-aged, housewife / author, Margaret Atwood uses language common to the everyday person. There’s nothing highbrow about this book yet it is intellectual in nature. The genetic engineering described in the book is clearly do-able too. One is horrified to think that some things in the book could actually come to pass unless rules and regulations are put into place and laws enacted to control the budding field of genetic engineering.
Oryx and Crake is a great novel that’s both well-written and well-thought out. Highly recommended!
The novel takes place in the not too distant future. The central character is known as Snowman. Obviously this isn’t his real name, but so much has happened so quickly that trivialities such as names no longer seem relevant in his world. In fact, when we first meet Snowman we find him slowly starving to death in a world gone horribly wrong. As the tale unfolds we follow Snowman as he tries to both take care of a tribe of innocent villagers, and scrounge for the necessities of his own limited existence.
The book draws us into Snowman’s past when as a child he was growing up in a broken family. Snowman’s father worked at a well-to-do corporation and as a child, Snowman wanted for nothing in a materialistic sense. Yet throughout Snowman’s childhood we can see an underlying emptiness. Later in his teen years, Snowman meets Crake who is the new kid at his school. They form a lifelong friendship that leads us to the next phase of the book.
In this future world, giant corporations are deeply engaged in genetic research. Cross-breeding of plants and animals is rampant. Each corporation is greedily earger to develop the Next Big Thing. Employees and their families are well taken care of and housed within the walls of the corporate complex. Outside these walls lies the rest of the world – the plebes who live in decaying cities along with the problems and decadent baseness of existence. Eventually Crake becomes a top research scientist at one of the best-regarded corporations, while Snowman struggles in a mediocre position at a lesser corporation. When Crake hires Snowman to work for him, he meets Oryx who is one of Crake’s assistants; Snowman is immediately taken by her. They begin a relationship which leads to catastrophic results.
To say more would be to give away too much of the plot. But the writing of this book is so sublime that the story almost seems real. We feel the emptiness in Snowman’s life, we feel the longing sadness of Oryx, and we are drawn into the madness of Crake. The dialogue in the book is smooth and flows without effort. Far from being a dowdy, middle-aged, housewife / author, Margaret Atwood uses language common to the everyday person. There’s nothing highbrow about this book yet it is intellectual in nature. The genetic engineering described in the book is clearly do-able too. One is horrified to think that some things in the book could actually come to pass unless rules and regulations are put into place and laws enacted to control the budding field of genetic engineering.
Oryx and Crake is a great novel that’s both well-written and well-thought out. Highly recommended!
