Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1) in Classics Without All the Class

May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian-apocalyptic, scifi-future-speculative-fict, usa-and-canada, series-and-sequels

Futuristic, bad new world in the wake of an unspecified environmental/ genetic engineering disaster, told from the viewpoint of a nostalgic but detached survivor. It is as much about personal relationships, sexual exploitation, sexual freedom, religion, creation and original sin as it is cyber-punk sci-fi. The central, though unoriginal, irony is that this dystopia was created from a failed Utopian plan.

Trilogy

O&C is parallel with the equally excellent "The Year of the Flood" (reviewed here: ht ...more

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Dec 16, 2009 Katherine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-project-reads

Not exactly full 5 stars, but very close (4.75).

I was immersed in this surreal yet creepily possible world where GMOs have gone awry and there is no humanity left.

In true Atwood's style, she never sets the scene clean and ready at the beginning of the book. Instead, she prefers the reader to be confused and in limbo land for a while trying to understand their surroundings.

And in this case, as much as it wasn't a page turner, I couldn't let go of the story. Seeing a world where characters have no ...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Leo Walsh rated it it was ok

Atwood is a very talented descriptive writer. You can really see, feel and hear the story's setting as it unfolds. In fact, she does this better than any SF writer I could think of.

Unfortunately, she swings and misses on character motivation. And her use of science and technology seems just "tacked on", and not particularly well thought through. This is instead of being integral to the story--the mark of superlative SF.

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Feb 20, 2012 Ben rated it liked it

Summary: Post-apocalyptic story of the last man on earth; that 'tricks' you into thinking about many contemporary issues.

Things I liked:

Writing is well done. Author seems to reveal elements of the story for a reason. Language is used effectively with particular words chosen to convey particular means. It just feels well executed. The characters are well thought out and make sense rather than being an amalgam of cliches from genre fiction (road-warrior, urchin with a heart of gold etc).

Things ...more

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Aug 24, 2015 Kathleen rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Strange little book, but intriguing. The post-apocalyptic world Atwood imagines can certainly be imagined from the state of our world today. As the first of a trilogy, I wasn't sure I would follow up with the other two books, but the last few chapters hooked me. Overall, I thought the majority of the book was slow, but despite that, I am now caught in the story. ...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Mike Davis rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, fiction

I wouldn't class this as sci-fi but Atwood borrows from it a bit in this novel about biological apocalypse in a model somewhat reminiscent of Orwell. This would be an excellent book club read and can be pushed to several levels of depth. I'm sorry there are no such book clubs available to me to dissect it. Classic Atwood. ...more

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