First impressions review: Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood

This book tells the story of a genetically-engineered apocalypse that befalls the human world as we know it, and a new Edenic world that rises from its ashes, from the point of view of "Snowman" the last remaining old human (so far as he knows, anyway).

Things I liked: 

The story unfolds almost like a mystery, making it quite a page-turner. How did this apocalypse happen? Who are these new humans, these "children of Crake" or "Crakers" that Snowman talks about, and why does he feel so alienated from them? The descriptions of the pre-apocalypse and post-apocalypse worlds are also really vivid, with lots of description of the plants, the animals, the smells, the hazards. It is a very immersive story.

Things I didn't like: 

Snowman is an unreliable narrator, which is fine. But I would have expected that, since he knew both the title characters, we would find out more about them. And the lack of development of the female title character in particular was disappointing. To explain why will require *spoilers* - see "further thoughts" below.

Things I wasn't sure about: 

Is the reader supposed to like the post-apocalypse world or not? Snowman hates it, but Snowman is rather unlikeable himself. And the descriptions, as mentioned, do seem rather Edenic - at least for the Crakers, who are well-adapted to living in it. The ambiguity regarding how you are supposed to feel about the world might be intentional, but I'm honestly not sure. Further *spoiler* discussion of this below.

Recommendation: Overall, if you like immersive sci-fi worldbuilding, you will probably enjoy this book, even if you have a few issues with it, as I did. However, I'm not sure I will re-read - I'm more likely to go back to The Windup Girl if I want this kind of genetic-engineering-apocalypse tale.

 

Further thoughts:

So, regarding the title characters....we learn that Crake is the person who both killed the old world and created the new humans, but I didn't get a strong sense of why he decides to do this, or whether he feels at all morally conflicted about it. I really like the short story "The Last Flight of Doctor Ain" by James Tiptree Jr. (pen-name of Alice Sheldon), which is told from the perspective of a character much like Crake. He thinks of the earth as if she is his lover, who humans are killing; it is very beautiful and haunting. I don't feel any of that passionate love of nature from Crake - so why? We learn even less about Oryx - she seems to have been a child sex slave/porn actress, she becomes both Crake and Snowman's love interest, and she helps train the new humans, who refer to animals as "children of Oryx". But she seems to be there mainly as this ethereal, mysterious, muse-like figure. We don't really find out what she wants, and she is bizarrely serene about her probably very traumatic past. I expected better from the author of 'A handmaid's tale'.  Both might get cleared up in 'The year of the flood', but in this book that element of mystery felt unsatisfying.

      On a more minor note, Crake claims he is producing a pill that promises health and vitality but makes the user sterile - to fight overpopulation, he tells Snowman - but it actually releases a disease that kills off humanity. This seems like an odd thing to put in a book that came out in 2003, since birth rates are dropping across the globe, being below replacement rate in many countries. The places where they are still high, like sub-Saharan Africa, are that way due to a lack of medical access and, in many cases, lack of education and opportunities for women. Those are not the places that would have much of a market for such a pill. It feels like the same bad understanding of demography exhibited by Thanos (in the Avengers film 'Infinity War') - and in both cases it is never pointed out by anyone to be just incorrect as well as morally wrong.

    Regarding how we are supposed to feel about the new world: The Crakers are specifically designed with a number of odd traits that should help them thrive in their environment. They are immune to a lot of diseases; they have a digestive system that can process high-cellulose leaves and grass and so can survive on a 100% vegetarian diet even without beans and similar leguminous crops; they have predator-repelling pee, etc. Crake also added features that are supposed to make them less violent and troublesome than the original humans - besides being vegetarian, they have a mating system meant to reduce jealousy. However, the Crakers are starting to exhibiting some human traits that Crake did not expect - like making myths and art - so perhaps they are just a more mellow version of us. In light of that, I don't know if we should we be pleased or apprehensive when there are, at the end, signs that other old humans might survive.

    If any of the old humans had been likeable and if we had gotten to know the Crakers as people too, then it would have been clear that the author wanted us to be unsure whether to prefer the old world or the new. As it is, it feels like maybe we are supposed to take it as a given that one or the other is better - but I don't know which. Usually in a post-apocalypse it is assumed to be a good thing if there are survivors who can rebuild, but the new world is just so verdant and lovely...Arggh! Normally I love an ambiguous ending, but I was annoyed about this one for days.

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