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| Oryx and Crake | 
 enlarge | Author: Margaret Atwood
Publisher: Virago Press Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.33
You Save: £7.66 (96%)
New (40) Collectible (1) from £3.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 8662
Media: Hardcover
Edition: New edition
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.3
ISBN: 1844080285
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781844080281
ASIN: 1844080285
Publication Date: March 25, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Pseudo-intellectual drivel September 25, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was sent a copy of this book by my sister who knows I like science fiction. However I only like science fiction written by people who like science fiction, not people who sneer at the genre yet don't mind using it for the purposes of semi-political polemic.
If you are a member of the self obsessed literati who reads a book because you like to look clever in front of your peers you will enjoy this (after your fashion). If you want to read a decent story, try something else. Anything else.
Utter tripe of the highest order
 The book is way too short September 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As with any really good story, when you live it you don't want it to end. For me the only criticism of this book is that it is too short. I would have loved to have read more about Snowman's exploration of the deserted streets in the pleeblands and the Rejoov compound. I would also like to read more about his encounter with those he meets at the end of the book (trying not to give much away here) and how things ultimately develop. The ending is crying out for a sequel although it is a common strategy to leave the reader wanting more, asking questions, pondering how the story might develop further, I would like to know Margeret's thoughts on how she personally saw things panning out.
For those interested in human development and how humans may evelove then I recommend Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon. Oryx and Crake can be seen as a tiny sub story from Olaf's book.
Welcome to the new world Snowman... September 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
'Oryx and Crake' tells the story of Jimmy, who is now known as Snowman, a name he has given himself. Snowman is the only survivor of a virus, a virus created by Snowman's friend, Crake (his real name is Glenn).
After the virus, Snowman now lives in a tree, (Snowman survived the virus because unknown to him, Crake had been giving him the vaccination for the virus) and is responsible for Crake's children, species which Crake created, they are the perfect being, they have been created without the basic human need to quarrel, etc, they mate and they exist.
'Oryx and Crake' explores many ideas that are currently being discussed now, genetically modified animals, in Oryx and Crake, they are called 'Pigoons', Pigs whose DNA has been spliced with human genetic information and they were engineered to grow multiple organs for transplants, but now, they roam the land, packs of Pigoons which Snowman avoids.
In 'Oryx and Crake', Margaret Atwood highlights Snowman's isolation well, he may have the Children of Crake but Snowman is a different specie to them, they look at him with interest and feed him fish on a weekly basis, they only interact with him when they want to hear stories of Oryx and Crake. Snowman is a brilliant character but a jaded one, he tries to do the best that he can, while at the same time living with the voice of his former lover, Oryx, who torments him on a daily basis. Oryx was also the former teacher of Crake's children.
'Oryx and Crake' explores a world which has now changed, it highlights Snowman's isolation, frustration, confusion brilliantly but at the same time endears Snowman to the reader, you will feel genuinely sorry for Snowman. The book makes you think and I could not help thinking at the end of the book that humans are their own worse enemy.
Rating: 10/10
An intelligent and satirical vision of the future of humanity April 25, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
"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 ... April 12, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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!
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