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Oryx and Crake |  | Author: Margaret Atwood
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Seller: lookatabook
Rating:  327 reviews
Sales Rank: 2756
Media: Paperback
Pages: 376
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0385721676
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780385721677
ASIN: 0385721676
Publication Date: May 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
In Oryx and Crake, a science fiction novel that is more Swift than Heinlein, more cautionary tale than "fictional science" (no flying cars here), Margaret Atwood depicts a near-future world that turns from the merely horrible to the horrific, from a fool's paradise to a bio-wasteland. Snowman (a man once known as Jimmy) sleeps in a tree and just might be the only human left on our devastated planet. He is not entirely alone, however, as he considers himself the shepherd of a group of experimental, human-like creatures called the Children of Crake. As he scavenges and tends to his insect bites, Snowman recalls in flashbacks how the world fell apart. While the story begins with a rather ponderous set-up of what has become a clichéd landscape of the human endgame, littered with smashed computers and abandoned buildings, it takes on life when Snowman recalls his boyhood meeting with his best friend Crake: "Crake had a thing about him even then.... He generated awe ... in his dark laconic clothing." A dangerous genius, Crake is the book's most intriguing character. Crake and Jimmy live with all the other smart, rich people in the Compounds--gated company towns owned by biotech corporations. (Ordinary folks are kept outside the gates in the chaotic "pleeblands.") Meanwhile, beautiful Oryx, raised as a child prostitute in Southeast Asia, finds her way to the West and meets Crake and Jimmy, setting up an inevitable love triangle. Eventually Crake's experiments in bioengineering cause humanity's shockingly quick demise (with uncanny echoes of SARS, ebola, and mad cow disease), leaving Snowman to try to pick up the pieces. There are a few speed bumps along the way, including some clunky dialogue and heavy-handed symbols such as Snowman's broken watch, but once the bleak narrative gets moving, as Snowman sets out in search of the laboratory that seeded the world's destruction, it clips along at a good pace, with a healthy dose of wry humor. --Mark Frutkin, Amazon.ca
Product Description
Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journeyâwith the help of the green-eyed Children of Crakeâthrough the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 327
 depressing and left wanting an actual story November 18, 2009
Jennifer Jensen (Oceanside, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Like others have said, this is mostly back story. AT the end, where there was about to be a confrontation, the book simply ended. I checked this out at the library and am glad I didn't buy it.
 Over hyped, derivative, hugely disappointing. November 11, 2009
Rambam HaTalmid (Sydney Australia)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Over hyped, derivative post-apocalyptic hogwash.
This has been done much better by many other writers.
I wasted a couple of hours reading this book.
This book is exactly as uninsightful as the first hundred pages suggests.
Beautiful and Depressing Desolation November 10, 2009
Shilom (MI)
This story centers around Snowman, the last(?) man on Earth. After a disease obliterates the world, he is the one left to pick up the pieces, including watching over the Crakers, a race of perfected people created by his friend Crake. The story is told is present and past terms, written like a biography in some ways as Snowman recounts his childhood and the ways he came to meet and befriend Oryx and Crake, two people who came to change the world.
Sometimes raw and disgusting (Snowman is so thirsty he drinks from a toilet-an image that will stick with me), sometimes beautiful and hopeful (the Crakers show us what peace could really be), sometimes just lonely.
I think I would have preferred this to just start from the beginning, instead of having to have flashbacks and timejumps, not a popular theme with me unless its actual time travel. It was told seemlessly so that wasn't the problem, I just personally don't care for timejumps and would have preferred a beginning to end timeline. Thats just a personal preference however it is the reason I gave 4 rather than 5 stars. Overall I would highly recommend it though, and I am already gobbling up The Year of the Flood.
 Good Solid Ateood November 1, 2009
The geacher (Irvine CA)
This is an excellent apocalyptic tale written by a master. If you take the basic premise of the story - disease unleashed by the megalomaniac Crake it's been done before, many times but Atwood somehow makes the story fresh. Sole Survivor explores the country side and slowly rations out the why's and wherefores of what led up to this state of devistation. Nothing new, nothing that hasn't been told in countless novels and stories. BUT - in the capable hands of Margaret Atwood you get to live with the last man (Snowman) as he tells the tale. Her descriptions of the landscape, attitudes and morals of the main characters turn the book into a mind play. I've never used the expression "page turner" but it's time has come. When I wasn't reading the book I was thinking about it. Even for those of you out these who are not into this genre, I think you should give it a try. I predict you'll be pleasantly surprised. bg
Another great novel from Atwood October 23, 2009
Science Girl (Seattle)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I felt compelled to write a review after reading some of the more negative reviews. I personally have read all of Atwood's books, and as such, one could definitely say I'm a fan. Most of the negative reviews seem to find Oryx and Crake tedious and convoluted in the beginning, but this is part of Atwood's style and finesse as a writer. I think if you can give yourself over to the experience, the story becomes MUCH more than a story. The confusion and struggle are part of the experience, which often reflects the confusion and struggle of her characters. Tony Morrison uses a similar technique in Beloved, where the structure of the story is just as important as the words. Not all author's hand you reasons to love their characters on a silver platter, but if this is what you need, then buy a book in the market or better yet, rent a movie! Personally, I find her technique to be challenging, particularly in her later novels, but I would argue that disliking a book because it is a challenging read is a reflection on the reader, not the writer. Some have mentioned that they don't like the cutesy names, however, Atwood actually researches her science and is influenced greatly by what modern genetics does. If you don't believe me, please Google the gene "sonic hedgehog" Yes, it does exist, and as a scientist myself I don't approve, but the world is a wondrous place, and I don't get to name things unless I find them first.
I loved the book: the challenge, the characters, the escape, and the chilling look at what the world could become. Read it and expand your notion of what a book can be.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 327
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