Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7765 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Erica Wagner, The Times
'Atwood has an advertiser’s eye for naming, and her coinings make the novel glitter'

Boyd Tonkin, The Independent
‘A complex and effective exploration of a futuristic nightmare’

Fiachra Gibbons, The Guardian
‘The Canadian master’s most successful venture into the near future since The Handmaid’s Tale’

Customer Reviews

An intelligent and satirical vision of the future of humanity
"Oryx and Crake" is the eleventh novel by celebrated author Margaret Atwood. The man who calls himself 'Snowman' is the last survivor in a future Earth in which the human race has been mysteriously wiped out. Struggling to sustain himself in an alien world, his only remaining companions are the rakunks and wolvogs - genetically-engineered hybrid animals - and the Children of Crake, a race of modified humans. But Snowman also remembers a time before, when homo sapiens still ruled the world, when he was known not as Snowman but as Jimmy, and when events conspired to cause a global catastrophe.

The novel is told through two timeframes: the first following Snowman in his day-by-day struggle to survive; and the second (which forms the bulk of the story) tracing Jimmy's childhood and adolescence through some unspecified time in our own near future. Atwood's portrayal of the heavily-traumatised, guilt-ridden mentality of such a survivor is handled well. Similarly, Jimmy's eccentric and ultra-intelligent childhood friend Glenn (more commonly known throughout the book by his nickname, 'Crake') is well-drawn and holds the reader's interest whenever he appears. On the other hand, the character of Oryx is never fully realised and it is difficult to understand the fascination and desire that Jimmy has for her.

The plot develops slowly and some patience is required of the reader - at least in the early stages - although both pace and suspense build rapidly in the second half, as the novel moves towards its climax. Generally, however, while the two worlds of present and past are interesting, there are few surprises for the reader in the way the plot develops. There are tantalising hints that other homo sapiens survivors may exist in the aftermath of the catastrophe, but these are never followed up on; indeed, for most of the book Snowman himself - frustratingly for the reader - shows little interest in these signs.

The issues of genetically-modified (GM) foods, and the potential to create so-called 'designer babies' have generated a huge amount of debate over the last decade and more. What Atwood has done in "Oryx and Crake" is to take a number of ideas considered plausible in current bioscience and to follow them through to the most extreme outcomes imaginable. In the dystopian future that she presents us with, scientists have mastered the techniques of genetic modification, able to create hybrid organisms and radically alter the genomes of animals at a whim, to suit the needs of human consumption. Indeed in many ways this is a book about what it means to be alive, and what it means to be human: from dealing with the potential effects of scientists 'playing God' with our genetic code, to the imagined implications of abandoning art, faith and compassion in favour of hyper-rationalism.

Imaginative, intelligent and satirical, "Oryx and Crake" is a thought-provoking read, as well as a timely reminder of the human race's terrifying capability to devastate its environment and engineer its own demise.

A bleak vision of the future of mankind ...
Not her best, (I'd pick The Handmaid's Tale), but certainly readable and a truly thought-provoking comment on modern society's excesses and one vision of what could happen.
I did find it hard to engage with the characters - you can sympathise with Snowman's predicament, but you couldn't like him very much. Most of all, I had hoped it would lighten up by the end... there was no more than the faintest glimmer of hope for humankind that I could see. But then that would be using a tried and trusted SF formula which is not Atwood's style!

Not science fiction
I'm a Margaret Atwood fan, the Handmaids Tale was the best book I had read until I read Oryx and Crake, WOW, this isn't science fiction, this could very well be the day after tomorrow.
Brilliant reading and I will never tire of it.