Search - Oryx and Crake

Up-front confession: I am a total Atwood fan. I love dystopian literature, and her female characters are so eloquently drawn. I was therefore confused and appalled to discover that I just didn't like Oryx and Crake. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it either. First, it largely revolves around Jimmy (Snowman) and Crake, both of whom are men. Part of the reason I read Atwood is that I trust her to write engaging female characters in stories other than chicklit. Oryx and Crake entirely fails to deliver on that. Additionally, the emotions behind the events are badly drawn or are unrealistic. Some people enjoy a dry "then these events happened" read, but I'm not one of them. Thankfully, I read Year of the Flood first, so I know that Atwood switched back to her usual style.

Check out my extended review.

In this dystopian science fiction novel, the end of the world comes through biotech. I've read all of Margaret Atwood's early novels and short stories. The funny thing is how much continuity there is between Life Before Man and Oryx and Crake. The same sense of the grieving fugue state of the protagonist, the crumbling of the boundaries of the civilized world and the desire and fear of reversion to a state of nature, but this time with scary bio-engineered animals and people!

An okay read... I have read a lot of sci fi and many tackle apocalyptic type scenarios and this one covers the topic adequately and wasn't boring, but definitely isn't one of my favorites either.

This is the first book I ever read by Margaret Atwood. It was a great story, well-arranged and flowed nicely. I will likely read more from her in the future, though I don't feel a 'burning need' to acquire all her novels.

Initially, this was suggested to me as a 'post-apocalyptic style survival story', and in that area it disappointed. Very little was about survival, it was more of a character-growth/discovery/acceptance; which was still good, just not what I expected.

Atwood is definitely a good writer, however I would have liked to have seen more character development and background. For example, Oryx was just a bit too much of an unrealistic being, and little of Crake's history alluded to his seemingly sociopathic tendencies. Otherwise, definitely a good read, very interesting, and quite the possible future were our ethics compromised more than they already are.

Nearly as good as A Handmaid's Tale. Atwood is a great SF writer.

I'm somewhat of a connoisseur of post-apocalyptic fiction, most of which is terrible. Atwood's Oryx and Crake is a fine example of the genre at its best, a believable hypotheses, sympathetic characters, and a compelling storyline. This is a very dark tale, so it's definitely for the tenderhearted.