The second of Margaret Atwood’s books I’ve read, the first being The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake explores science, genetic engineering and the hand that humans play in tinkering with the world.
Set in a possible and not too distant future the novel follows Snowman, survivor of a lab created pandemic, or waterless flood, that has wiped out civilisation and left behind only the genetically perfect creations of Crake. The story snakes through Snowman’s present and his past, when he was known as Jimmy, chronicling his friendship with the brilliant but driven Crake and his obsession with the enigmatic Oryx. As Snowman interacts with the Crakers, genetically engineered ‘perfect’ humans, and dodges wolvogs, rakunks and pigoons on his journey to survive in a world no longer fit for regular humans we gain some insight into what has happened to the world and who made it happen.
I don’t want to give too much of the story away but I really enjoyed reading this book, chilling as it sometimes is. The future depicted is not so strange and alien that it couldn’t exist. Margaret Atwood has looked at current events, science and technology and pictured a future of unrestrained usage. The internet is awash with live executions and shadowy, complex games, all food is genetically modified and the balance of power rests with scientists and geneticists who compete to control markets and thereby people.
I would recommend Oryx and Crake as a very interesting book that poses compelling questions about society, civilisation and our future.
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