Wow is Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake” from 2003 a wild, dark read. I had been bemoaning the choice of it which a member of my book club selected for us to read this month. I had put it off and put it off till the last possible minute, not wanting to read another dystopian futuristic novel full of gobbledygook and destruction. And the first 200 pages I stayed bemoaning it, but then I latched on to the story and the last 150+ pages flew by quickly. Now I’m looking to read her two others sometime in this trilogy: “The Year of the Flood” (2009) and MaddAddam (2013). So much for bemoaning it; I ended up enjoying its strange imagery and story.
I guess that’s what’s great about a book club; you read selections you might not otherwise read and it broadens your reading scope. I’m glad now to have read “Oryx and Crake” although it’s not necessarily an easy read. It challenges you in ways. It’s often harsh-mouthed and graphic, critical and over-the-top, but that’s Margaret Atwood for you — strong in her convictions, especially concerning science, the environment, and politics.
But how can I explain “Oryx and Crake,” which Atwood disputes as science fiction and calls speculative fiction because she says it doesn’t deal with “things that have not been invented yet.” Set sometime in the future, it’s about a survivor named Snowman (originally named Jimmy) who’s seemingly the last human on Earth after a virulent pandemic strikes the world. He’s left to dodge unfriendly predators and weather conditions and take care of some bioengineered humans his friend Crake once pioneered. He has painful memories of what transpired on Earth and how everyone died.
The narrative shifts back and forth from his present bleak state as a survivor to decades earlier when Earth was populated and Jimmy met his very intelligent friend Crake in grade school in the secured compound where their families lived. The story follows their lives thereafter in college and then getting jobs in corporations and their love for the same girl named Oryx, who they first saw on a porn website. I didn’t say this story would be normal, did I?
It’s a world in which biotech firms like Crake’s are creating super pills and experimenting with genetically engineered humans, and where global warming and overpopulation have taken a severe toll, especially on the pleeblands outside the secured compounds. The narrative leads up to what happened on Earth and the roles Jimmy, Oryx and Crake play. It’s suspenseful in a “Walking Dead” kind of way as the doomsday unfolds.
Although at first I feared the novel would be too dense or strange, I got into after awhile with Snowman (Jimmy) as the narrator. It turned out not to be too hard to understand or wacko. Its underlying message of the destructive direction our society is headed gets a bit heavy at times but not so far-fetched as not to be believed. Who’s not to say humans will hasten their own demise.
Apparently Atwood was in the midst of writing “Oryx and Crake” around the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, which made her stop for a few weeks. No wonder: its negative scope. By the end though I was entangled in its web and left wanting to find out more in book two. I’m sure “Oryx and Crake” will make for an interesting discussion for my book club this Tuesday evening.
How about you — have you read this novel or any of this trilogy? And what did you think?
Yep, that’s the beauty of book clubs – they stretch your reading. I’ve yet to read Atwood but my son has read at least one of her books and says she’s very talented.
Yeah you’re in a book club, right Kathy? I think it is fun to be pushed out of your reading zone at times, which my book club sometimes does for me.
We read The Year of the Flood without realizing that there was a book before it. Even though the story seemed to start in the middle (imagine that) we quite enjoyed it.
Thanks for being a regular reader of my blog. I didn’t know how to find you because your link on your profile didn’t take me to your blog. So I am glad that I finally found you.
Thanks Anne for stopping by. I’m glad you found me too. Interesting that you still liked the 2nd one without reading the first. That must have been disorienting!
Oryx and Crake was the only one of the trilogy that I didn’t read. Year of the Flood was pretty good; I didn’t like MaddAddam at all.
I usually enjoy Margaret Atwood, but maybe I’m just not a big fan of speculative fiction, except for Handmaid’s Tale, to which I could relate.
Maybe that wasn’t speculative. Or perhaps just dystopian. I’m confused on the lines between these…LOL.
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Ha. Me too Laurel. Speculative, dystopian, sci-fi. The terms seem to overlap at times. I will give Year of the Flood a try too. Thanks!
I loved this trilogy quite a bit. I think the second book, The Year of the Flood, is even better than this one. The world of the books just keeps expanding and expanding in interesting ways.
Thanks Kim. Good to hear! I plan to read the other 2 sometime in the future. The Flood book sounds intriguing.
I love dystopian novels but I could not get into this series! I have all of the books too but every time I try to read the first book, I get bored with it.
I think it takes awhile to get into it. I had to be patient but it did pay off. I’ll wait a bit before reading the 2 others.
I have the first two books in the trilogy but have always though they’d be too dense to be truly enjoyable, even though I love Atwood. So I’ve put them off for too long which is just silly. I’m glad you gave this one a shot and enjoyed. One of my bookish goals this year is to complete this series.
Yeah Brooke, once you got into the trilogy, I think you would like them, especially since you like The Walking Dead etc. I was dubious thinking the trilogy was dense as well but my tune has changed. It’s not that dense! Remember when the Walking Dead Season 1 had some episodes at the CDC? I was reminded of that a bit towards the end of Oryx and Crake. Just generally.
The idea of starting with the second wouldn’t be bad in this case (then O&C, with Maddaddam last of course. The stories are parallel but TYotF is a little more inviting (in a way that I can’t explain without spoilers).
Yeah I heard Year of the Flood is playing out at the same time of O&C. Just out in the plebe lands, right? I will have to get to it!
I reread both O&C and TTotF so that I could read Maddaddam this summer, and I found that I enjoyed all three immensely, the first two books even more than I had enjoyed them on first reading. There were all sorts of subtle details that knit the stories together, and as soon as I finished Maddaddam I wanted to reread all three once more. I completely agree that bookclubs introduce a fresh element into reading that is quite wonderful. Enjoy the next two books, whenever you get there!
Wow that’s great you’ve reread them. So many details in each, I agree. Which is your favorite Atwood book? Hmm.
My answer to that changes, partly due to my own reading mood and timing. When I was rereading/reading these three, I would have chosen them for sure, because I honestly hadn’t noticed just how much detail there had been in the crafting/layering of the stories. But I have a soft spot for Cat’s Eye and I love The Blind Assassin’s structure and story. And the short stories are wickedly good. But I haven’t said a thing about Handmaid’s Tale and I’ve reread it more often than the rest. What an awful question! What’s *your* favourite? 🙂
I need to read more Atwood for sure to make a definitive pick. I’d like to read The Blind Assassin sometime. So far, I like Alias Grace best from 1996. It takes place in Kingston (at the Pen) where my husband grew up and where we visit often. Not the Pen but the town.
Don’t you love it when that happens? I haven’t yet read this book, but I do want to. I hope to read Blind Assassin in April, and am looking forward to it. My husband swears I will like it–so we’ll see.
I’d be interested to hear what you think of Blind Assassin. Obviously she’s one of the most talented authors. I havent read that one, but I think my favorite of hers is Alias Grace from 1996. Give that a whorl sometime!
That’s the beauty of a good book club: encouraging you to read books you otherwise wouldn’t have. It doesn’t always work out well but I think it’s worth it for the times when you discover a real gem.
Thanks Kate. Yeah I’m noticing being in a book club has really opened up my choices this past year. And so far, that’s been a good thing
I was like you. I was somewhat reluctant to the this novel on. I don’t know why. But finally with little else to read at some point I downloaded it only iPad. It took me a while to get into it but I loved it. It wash;t what I thought a Margaret Atwood novel would be like at all. I like it so much I read The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam immediately after. I loved them too. I couldn’t put this story down.
Oh that’s great you got into them. Yeah I plan to read the other two sometime, but just not right away. I hear The Year of the Flood might be the best of the 3. thanks for stopping by