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steel_aurora's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
joshgroven's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
some uncomfortable stuff happening in here but pretty interesting overall
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
mvasso's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, what to say about this one? One of the better dystopian books I've read. There's sort of a mystery embedded in it, and the ending was a big surprise for me. I like that the the "villain," Crake, is so complicated and not flat-out evil, as the bad guys usually are. His motivation is never really clear and it's hard to tell what exactly he's trying to do. I think we're going to discuss Oryx and Crake at one of our 20/30-something book group, and it should be really interesting.
cayleighgb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
wack
morgpurv's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jml4231's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kleedc73's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
emhilman's review against another edition
I couldn't do it. Annoying main character, really tough topics, and prose that didn't make me want to keep reading.
ruthlessly's review against another edition
4.0
what's up frienderinos, I re-read this book that I read eleven years ago and had absolutely NO idea what it was about. Obviously, it was over a decade ago but I couldn't have told you a single thing that happened in this book, which I wasn't best pleased with it. When I was re-reading, some of it felt almost familiar but not enough that I could've told you what happened. I'm not sure if this was a good or a bad thing.
I think with the experience of 11 years, this maybe hit me a bit less than it did in the past. I didn't find it quite as shocking, but maybe that's desensitising -- it could, almost, play into Atwood's larger point in this book. This is a dystopian set in the future, with a big sci-fi element. There's a lot of science here. Essentially, the rich of the world have got richer, working with gene splicing, living in high-tech compounds while the poorer people of the world live outside and are left to fend for themselves. Climate change was ravaged the world, countries have sank. The internet has become so extreme that there's websites dedicated to watching executions that have become monetised, become drama and fodder. There's a significant element of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The world of this novel is grim and unpleasant, exposing the worst parts about humanity.
Atwood clearly positions one of her characters as the Humanity Dooms Itself scientific overlord character and the other as Art Is Important, People Are Worth It. But it's more complicated than that. Atwood is always more complicated than that. While Jimmy clearly believes art is important, that there's an ephemeral nature to the human soul that cannot and should not be squashed out by Science, he's often a hard character to sympathise with. I'd say I've easily read around a dozen or so Atwood books and she's a huge fan of characters that you can empathise with but may find repugnant in some way. Jimmy/Snowman obfuscates, he's steeped in self-delusion, self-pity, cowardice. I skimmed reviews and a number of them mentioned how unlikeable a narrator he is. He is. But there's something extremely Human about him and I felt sorry for him continually.
This is an often heavy novel, but it's very funny. It has huge ideas about the dangers of Creationism. I'm using the word specifically but I mean it without religious connotations, as Crake would, as Atwood means. I felt like this was a really funny but arresting exploration of the question about scientific advancements, about ethics and morals, about how far it could be pushed and what was too far, about whether the signs would be ignored when it came to it and how complicit we would be.
Her books always leave me thinking!!! I think I maybe didn't enjoy this quite as much this time but it's genuinely a fun, thought provoking read. It's a wee bit mad, but that's generally what I enjoyed. I'm excited to finally be able to finish this trilogy, because I'm almost sure the third wasn't published in paperback when I first read this, so I wouldn't buy it.
I think with the experience of 11 years, this maybe hit me a bit less than it did in the past. I didn't find it quite as shocking, but maybe that's desensitising -- it could, almost, play into Atwood's larger point in this book. This is a dystopian set in the future, with a big sci-fi element. There's a lot of science here. Essentially, the rich of the world have got richer, working with gene splicing, living in high-tech compounds while the poorer people of the world live outside and are left to fend for themselves. Climate change was ravaged the world, countries have sank. The internet has become so extreme that there's websites dedicated to watching executions that have become monetised, become drama and fodder. There's a significant element of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The world of this novel is grim and unpleasant, exposing the worst parts about humanity.
Atwood clearly positions one of her characters as the Humanity Dooms Itself scientific overlord character and the other as Art Is Important, People Are Worth It. But it's more complicated than that. Atwood is always more complicated than that. While Jimmy clearly believes art is important, that there's an ephemeral nature to the human soul that cannot and should not be squashed out by Science, he's often a hard character to sympathise with. I'd say I've easily read around a dozen or so Atwood books and she's a huge fan of characters that you can empathise with but may find repugnant in some way. Jimmy/Snowman obfuscates, he's steeped in self-delusion, self-pity, cowardice. I skimmed reviews and a number of them mentioned how unlikeable a narrator he is. He is. But there's something extremely Human about him and I felt sorry for him continually.
This is an often heavy novel, but it's very funny. It has huge ideas about the dangers of Creationism. I'm using the word specifically but I mean it without religious connotations, as Crake would, as Atwood means. I felt like this was a really funny but arresting exploration of the question about scientific advancements, about ethics and morals, about how far it could be pushed and what was too far, about whether the signs would be ignored when it came to it and how complicit we would be.
Her books always leave me thinking!!! I think I maybe didn't enjoy this quite as much this time but it's genuinely a fun, thought provoking read. It's a wee bit mad, but that's generally what I enjoyed. I'm excited to finally be able to finish this trilogy, because I'm almost sure the third wasn't published in paperback when I first read this, so I wouldn't buy it.