2004; 434 pages. Book 1 (out of 3) in the “MaddAddam” trilogy. New Author? : No. Genres : Post-Apocalyptic Fiction; Genetic
Engineering Sci-Fi. Overall Rating : 9*/10.
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Snowman, once known as Jimmy, ekes out a solitary existence. As far as he knows, he’s the last living
human being on Earth. The only one with
immunity to the Plague.
I guess you could count the
genetically modified “Children of Crake” as fellow human survivors. Unfortunately, thanks to their designer,
Crake, they have a built-in, self-destruct trait in them. At age 30, they drop over dead. Immediately.
Automatically.
Ah yes, Crake. Snowman’s best friend. A genius at just about everything. And Oryx. Such a sweet young lass, although worldly-wise since childhood. She loved both Snowman and Crake, and was
loved by both of them in return. Crake and Oryx are gone now, both of them.
Snowman can’t go on living
like this. The pigoons and wolvogs are becoming intelligent predators, and sooner or later they’ll catch Snowman, rip him to shreds, and eat him for lunch. It’s time for Snowman
to start planning a trip.
What’s To Like...
Oryx and Crake
is the first book in Margaret Atwood’s “MaddAddam” post-apocalyptic
trilogy. The title could be expanded to “Oryx and Crake and Snowman”, since the latter
is whom we primarily follow in the book.
For the most part, the storyline jumps between the present-day “post-” and the past “pre-" apocalypse”. You can tell which time period you’re in by whether our protagonist goes by “Snowman” or “Jimmy”.
The disaster scenario reminded me of Cormac
McCarthy’s The Road. But here the steps leading up the
civilization-ending plague are gradually revealed via Snowman’s flashbacks.
The world-building is complex and thought-provoking. Global warming
has wreaked havoc on our planet. God’s Gardeners remind everybody that the End
is near for humanity. BlyssPlus pills keep everyone happy, but at a
deadly cost. And the working class is
forced to live in company compounds which means the corporations control every
aspect of their lives.
Genetic-tinkering has a
major impact on the coming catastrophe.
It’s original aim is well-intended: grow your own replacement
organs. But it rapidly goes awry. We’re now up to our ears in pigoons, wolvogs, snats, rakunks, bobkittens, spoats,
giders, hemorrhagics, Crakers, and kanga-lambs;
all carving out their niche in the creature pecking order.
There are some interesting
characters to meet and greet, including Uncle En the child pimp, Jimmy’s
wayward mom Sharon, and Jimmy’s crazier-than-a-loon dorm mate, Bernice. The character development of both the primary
and secondary persons is excellent.
The ending is hopeful,
terrifying, sad, and terrifying all at the same time. Things stop at a logical place, as the
present and past timelines of Jimmy/Snowman finally merge. The how and why of the
apocalyptic event are fully explained, and it is strongly hinted that the
sequel holds a “first contact” scenario in store for Snowman.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.3*/5, based on 12,763 ratings
and 1,568 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.01*/5,
based on 269,400
ratings and 16,881 reviews.
Kewlest New Word ...
Caecotrophs (n., pl.) : nutrient-rich fecal pellets.
Others: Gestalt
(n.), Suttee (n.), Kakking (v.)
Excerpts...
The rakunks had begun as an after-hours
hobby on the part of one of the OrganInc biolab hotshots. There’d been a lot of fooling around in those
days: create-an-animal was so much fun, said the guys doing it; it made you
feel like God. A number of the
experiments were destroyed because they were too dangerous to have around – who
needed a cane toad with a prehensile tail like a chameleon’s that might climb in
through the bathroom window and blind you while you were brushing your
teeth? Then there was the snat, an unfortunate
blend of snake and rat: they’d had to get rid of those. (pg. 57)
“These are the floor models. They represent the art of the possible. We can list the individual features for
prospective buyers, then we can customize.
Not everyone will want all the bells and whistles, we know that. Though you’d be surprised how many people
would like a very beautiful, smart baby that eats nothing but grass. The vegans are highly interested in that
little item. We’ve done our market
research.”
Oh good, thought Jimmy. Your baby can double as a lawn mower. (pg. 359)
Kindle Details…
Oryx
and Crake sells for $12.99 right now at Amazon, as do
the other two books in the series, The Year of The
Flood and MaddAddam. Margaret Atwood has more than a dozen other
novels for you, ranging in price from $4.99 to $17.99,
plus a couple of short stories for $0.99 apiece.
Is this purgatory,
and if it is, why is it so much like the first grade? (pg. 417)
There’s a moderate amount of
profanity in Oryx and Crake. I noted 18 instances in the first 20% of the
book, and later on, male genitalia are referenced. There are various “sexual situations”
presented, including ones involving minors.
None of them are lurid, but still, you probably don’t want little Timmy
or Susie asking you what those passages are all about.
I spotted two typos, both of
which involved word splitting, which makes me think they occurred during the
formatting stage in the e-book.
The funniest one of these was the phrase “antique
roadshow” being split up into “anti
queroadshow”.
But I pick at nits. Post-apocalyptic tales ought to
have gritty and nasty parts, otherwise they wouldn’t be realistic. Oryx and Crake fully met my
high expectations for any novel penned by Margaret Atwood, and I have the other
two books of the trilogy waiting for me on my Kindle.
9 Stars. One last teaser. If you happen to be into role-playing games, Jimmy and Crake get hooked on a bunch of them here, including Blood & Roses, Barbarian Stomp, Three-Dimensional Waco, Kwiktime Osama, and my favorite (and theirs) Extinctathon. Won’t somebody please develop and market real-world versions of these?
