Reviews with content warning for Violence - Oryx And Crake

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Oryx And Crake by Margaret Atwood

31 reviews

mthornburg13's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

mionnechan's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

"À quel moment force-t-on la note, à quel moment va-t-on trop loin?"

Voilà la citation qui résume à la perfection ce roman.
Parce qu'on contemple les conséquences de l'humanité sur une Terre pas si lointaine de la notre. Des effets météorologiques extrêmes, plus rien, plus de civilisation.. Juste Snowman. Le dernier homme.
C'était une lecture difficile par tous les sujets qu'elle aborde, parce que - contrairement à ce que j'avais pensé - nous n'avons pas un récit d'un nouveau monde mais de la chute de l'ancien. À travers les souvenirs fugaces, flous et désorientés de Snowman, on comprend que les humains allaient droit dans le mur depuis très longtemps, mais que le coup degrâce a été porté par une unique chose.

Un autre homme, Cracker, qui est pourtant à la base de la nouvelle civilisation, celle de ces humanoïdes naïfs et sans défauts, du moins pour le moment. Nous avons également Onyx et tout ce qui l'entoure. Son histoire m'a vraiment mis mal à l'aise (je sais que c'était l'effet recherché) mais je ne m'attendais pas à tomber sur de la pédophilie décrite si crûement.

J'ai eu du mal à rentrer dans le récit, mais je pense avoir du mal avec la plume d'Atwoodmême si j'adore ces récits de dévstations qu'elle nous livre. Le passage du passé au présent était logique, mais m'a dérangée au final.
Il était pour ainsi dire impossible de s'attacher au personnage principal, même avant la fin.

Quoi qu'il en soit, cette lecture m'a bouleversée par les similitudes qu'elle a avec notre réalité, et par ce qu'elle cherche à faire.
Je ne sais pas si je lirais la suite, mais cette lecture m'a beaucoup fait réfléchir.

Content Warnings

opossumble's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

violator's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

mybestfriendsarefictional's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

agnela's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm left speechless.
This book will make an impact on you, you will feel it, you want it or not. You will feel like Snowman, you will feel like the world has crumbled, you will feel like someone you liked and cared about just died. You will feel like you have to be loyal to Oryx and save Cake's children, because she asked, not because he did. You will notice so much that should have been only fiction but we had to deal with ourselves. Look, this is a book you would read again and again, if only it wasn't 400 pages long. I swear to you. It starts slow, and it picks up even slower, but when it does, you suddenly understand that you are driving down a hill and your breaks just broke. Damn, I want to read it again and look for things I didn't notice the first time.
I can't tell if Margaret is a genius or a prophet. But before you take this book, check the content warnings, there's a lot, even if most aren't graphic it's still there, some even don't have a dedicated warning, like experiments with animals.

Content Warnings

parkbenj's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Like many others the only other Margaret Atwood book I have read is Handmaid’s Tale. Unsurprisingly Oryx and Crake is also deeply disturbing, with multiple chapters containing unnecessarily graphic descriptions of the physical and sexual abuse of children. I say unnecessary because I skipped over these scenes and did not feel like I’d missed anything important. Especially as the abused child in question (Oryx) has zero character development and seems to only serve as a plot device to move Jimmy/Snowman’s story forward.
That being said Margaret really is a beautiful writer and as she said of Handmaid’s Tale “nothing went into it that had not happened in real life somewhere at some time.”
I don’t agree with the reviews that say this book is slow and boring, her descriptions and storytelling are truly captivating.
I think this book is worth a read as long as you go in prepared to read many deeply disturbing scenes.

Content Warnings