Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1) in Beyond Reality

Aug 11, 2009 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, reread, read-2014, read-2009

5 Stars

Oryx and Crake really needed a second read through for me to appreciate the quality of this story. Atwood has created a well thought out, well written, and a detailed post apocalyptic novel that others will be measured against. The style of this book along with the writing is what sets it apart. This is not a heavy action novel, nor is the world very different from countless other fictional ones. The characters are very identifiable but not really remarkable. The cause of the worlds end i 5 Stars

Oryx and Crake really needed a second read through for me to appreciate the quality of this story. Atwood has created a well thought out, well written, and a detailed post apocalyptic novel that others will be measured against. The style of this book along with the writing is what sets it apart. This is not a heavy action novel, nor is the world very different from countless other fictional ones. The characters are very identifiable but not really remarkable. The cause of the worlds end is often the subject but it is not the star or the center of this book.

Atwood uses a technique of world building through bouncing the story line back and forth from the present back to the past. This really works at keeping the reader interested and the story made more complete. Atwood then adds to her craft by featuring two main protagonist women. She sets them apart by telling one in the first person always, and the other in the third.

Although I really liked this book the first time I read it, I loved it the second time through.

A sample of her themes and her writing:

“”…Jimmy, look at it realistically. You can’t couple a minimum access to food with an expanding population indefinitely. Homo Sapiens doesn't seem able to cut himself off at the supply end. He’s one of the few species that doesn't limit reproduction in the face of dwindling resources. In other words - the less we eat, the more we fuck.””

highly recommended!!!

I just started my reread.

Oryx and Crake was a mixed bag for me. For a novel it was just OK, the protagonist is likeable and the supporting cast not bad either. The world is well detailed and described, and it is very much like our own. The story is well paced but suffers to me from an ending that just does not live up to the tension built within.
Oryx and Crake is successful on a higher intellectual level when the story is done and you have time to digest just what it was all for. The “What If” scenarios of this book are so plausible that I have had further conversations with my wife about them. I do recommend this book for any searching for a satisfying, realistic, fictional apocalypse story. ...more

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