raetracer's review against another edition
5.0
I'd recommended this book to Ian and decided to re-read it myself. I love how Atwood injects some humor into such a grim setting. I'm looking forward to rereading the next two asap, since my gap between them the first time around was so long that I forgot a lot of the plot points. :/
siobhanward's review against another edition
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I keep picking up books by Margaret Atwood thinking they'll be great. Some of her works are fantastic and hold up well and others just aren't that. I think part of the problem is there's a certain style to her works and some aspects I love while others I'm just done with. This book just didn't work for me - while I will say some aspects were pretty eerie after an actual global pandemic, one clever portion of the book did not make up for the rest, which was just meh.
I found my biggest issue was how slowly things moved. There was so much background that it seemed to take ages to figure out what was actually happening in the book. There were also some really graphic descriptions of child abuse, so be warned about those. Atwood has a gift for writing female characters caught in miserable situations, and her strongest works are ones where they can find the power to change those situations, while her weakest books are the ones where they just fall down and can't be saved.
I found my biggest issue was how slowly things moved. There was so much background that it seemed to take ages to figure out what was actually happening in the book. There were also some really graphic descriptions of child abuse, so be warned about those. Atwood has a gift for writing female characters caught in miserable situations, and her strongest works are ones where they can find the power to change those situations, while her weakest books are the ones where they just fall down and can't be saved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual assault
Moderate: Death, Medical content, and Animal death
yeahhails's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this book was interesting and right off the bat could tell that I really appreciated Atwood’s writing style. The only reason why I’m giving this book 3 stars instead of 4 or 5, is that for the majority of the book there were certain things that I was really waiting to find out, and although she spent a lot of time describing and slowly building up to it, she only reserved the last 35-40 pages to tell the parts that I was most interested in. However, I’d definitely like to read the second book in the series, which I can only imagine will have a pretty different storyline from the first. I also read this book during the height of the coronavirus outbreak, which if you make it to the end, you’ll see how the experience made it a little more creepy for me!
h_scarf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-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
hyena's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
seorary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ilyad's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bibliophyle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
5.0
I really truly don't know why I liked this book so much. It should have been beyond depressing—a post-apocalyptic world in which it appears just a single human called Snowman has survived, with a handful of genetically engineered almost-humans as his only company. That's the makings of a nightmare, and I haven't even mentioned the gene-spliced predatory animals that are on the loose, or the memories of his role in the catastrophe that torment Snowman both waking and sleeping. This is not warm and fuzzy stuff; it's not a summery beach read. I turned 29 last week, and I was a little concerned when scheduling dictated that I would be reading Oryx and Crake on my birthday—wouldn't it be too much of a downer? Who wants to dwell on the ethics and dangers of bioengineering on a day when the fact of one's own inevitable aging is driven home with greeting cards and pastries set ablaze?
I needn't have worried. I was forgetting one crucial fact: Margaret Atwood writes like a boss.
(Seriously, stop it, girl. Your prose is so beautiful and devastating, it makes my teeth hurt. Just stop. (Ok, don't stop. Keep writing forever, please. The world needs your timely warnings, dire buzzkills though they are.))
So here's the rundown: Snowman lives in our world, but it's our world after something terrible has happened. The details of the terrible thing and Snowman's part in it are slowly revealed through periodic flashbacks. In the meantime, Snowman scrapes out a meager existence with the help of the Children of Crake, creatures who are human-like but different somehow. Simpler. There's a lot they don't understand, and they look to Snowman for explanation, most of which he invents. It's clear that Snowman feels responsible for the Crakers, but it's not clear why that is, nor do we fully understand their strange origins until late chapters.
Snowman wasn't always called Snowman. Before the catastrophe, he was just Jimmy, and he had a childhood friend named Crake. Crake is exceedingly brilliant and is recruited to work in the most elite Compounds where the latest advancements in biological engineering are made. Everything is a product that can be bought for the right price: new skin when you become wrinkled, new organs grown from livestock when yours wear out, even made-to-order designer babies, pre-screened to eliminate disease and unfavorable characteristics. Crake has a disturbing vision for how the world could be, one that Jimmy doesn't recognize until it's too late to reverse.
Oryx is more enigmatic. Jimmy loves her, but he doesn't understand her. She's soft and docile despite years spent in abusive situations. Crake too is fascinated by her and installs her as a vital emissary in his experiment, though the full, tragic scope of her role is unknown even to Oryx until the end.
This book is the first in a trilogy, and it's now one of my top priorities to read both [b:The Year of the Flood|6080337|The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam Trilogy, #2)|Margaret Atwood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327906873s/6080337.jpg|6257025] and [b:MaddAddam|17262203|MaddAddam (MaddAddam Trilogy, #3)|Margaret Atwood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366394020s/17262203.jpg|17613051]. Not because I love and adore apocalyptic dystopian crisis-fests, but because Atwood's writing is sure to be glorious despite the weighty subject she's chosen. And also because I know it doesn't hurt to remind myself every now and then of some basic truths: Aging is natural. My Nexus 7 can't save me (even when connected to wi-fi). And to stop critically evaluating the world around me would be a sort of living death.
This book is part of a series on my website, the Summer of Sci-Fi Challenge. You can find the full text of this review, more information about the Challenge, and many other book recommendations at www.readingwithhippos.com.
I needn't have worried. I was forgetting one crucial fact: Margaret Atwood writes like a boss.
(Seriously, stop it, girl. Your prose is so beautiful and devastating, it makes my teeth hurt. Just stop. (Ok, don't stop. Keep writing forever, please. The world needs your timely warnings, dire buzzkills though they are.))
So here's the rundown: Snowman lives in our world, but it's our world after something terrible has happened. The details of the terrible thing and Snowman's part in it are slowly revealed through periodic flashbacks. In the meantime, Snowman scrapes out a meager existence with the help of the Children of Crake, creatures who are human-like but different somehow. Simpler. There's a lot they don't understand, and they look to Snowman for explanation, most of which he invents. It's clear that Snowman feels responsible for the Crakers, but it's not clear why that is, nor do we fully understand their strange origins until late chapters.
Snowman wasn't always called Snowman. Before the catastrophe, he was just Jimmy, and he had a childhood friend named Crake. Crake is exceedingly brilliant and is recruited to work in the most elite Compounds where the latest advancements in biological engineering are made. Everything is a product that can be bought for the right price: new skin when you become wrinkled, new organs grown from livestock when yours wear out, even made-to-order designer babies, pre-screened to eliminate disease and unfavorable characteristics. Crake has a disturbing vision for how the world could be, one that Jimmy doesn't recognize until it's too late to reverse.
Oryx is more enigmatic. Jimmy loves her, but he doesn't understand her. She's soft and docile despite years spent in abusive situations. Crake too is fascinated by her and installs her as a vital emissary in his experiment, though the full, tragic scope of her role is unknown even to Oryx until the end.
This book is the first in a trilogy, and it's now one of my top priorities to read both [b:The Year of the Flood|6080337|The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam Trilogy, #2)|Margaret Atwood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327906873s/6080337.jpg|6257025] and [b:MaddAddam|17262203|MaddAddam (MaddAddam Trilogy, #3)|Margaret Atwood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366394020s/17262203.jpg|17613051]. Not because I love and adore apocalyptic dystopian crisis-fests, but because Atwood's writing is sure to be glorious despite the weighty subject she's chosen. And also because I know it doesn't hurt to remind myself every now and then of some basic truths: Aging is natural. My Nexus 7 can't save me (even when connected to wi-fi). And to stop critically evaluating the world around me would be a sort of living death.
This book is part of a series on my website, the Summer of Sci-Fi Challenge. You can find the full text of this review, more information about the Challenge, and many other book recommendations at www.readingwithhippos.com.
rromanereads's review against another edition
5.0
another dystopian novel set in a near future ? Yes. I do see a pattern here.
this is the first volume of the MaddAddam trilogy. it’s been such a long time since I started a series! I chose well, the first volume is epic.
Snowman (formerly Jimmy) is the last man alive after a plague struck and eradicated the world’s population. One thing I really appreciate about Atwood is her ability to push a subject to the extreme and create a whole parallel universe around it. Here, she focus in genetic engineering. Morality has long been left aside and the economic stakes have pushed the engineers to first create genetically modified animals, before the projects drifted and attacked the creation of "new humans", the children of Crake (who became the thinking head behind this project, and who is also Jimmy's childhood bestfriend). These humans are devoid of anything that could trigger violent behavior, frustration, envy of others, etc. There is a real reflection brought with the character of Oryx (who has been abused and a sex slave for several years) on what triggers rape and how to annihilate these deviant behaviors by programming a cyclic, multi-partner sexuality, dedicated to the appeasement of all, which would ultimately prevent sexual violences. This being one among a million topic addressed. This is a puzzle to explain but please bear with me. Overall, the reflection is around the fact that an elitist and hierarchical society is doomed - the society before the plague. Whereas a society where the concepts of jealousy, dominance, masculinity and hierarchy do not exist is the key to sustainability.
Regarding the writing and the book itself: I really love backward type of novels like this one. Meaning the opening scene is actually the present and the novel unfolds by going back in time to explain everything that happened before this scene.
this is the first volume of the MaddAddam trilogy. it’s been such a long time since I started a series! I chose well, the first volume is epic.
Snowman (formerly Jimmy) is the last man alive after a plague struck and eradicated the world’s population. One thing I really appreciate about Atwood is her ability to push a subject to the extreme and create a whole parallel universe around it. Here, she focus in genetic engineering. Morality has long been left aside and the economic stakes have pushed the engineers to first create genetically modified animals, before the projects drifted and attacked the creation of "new humans", the children of Crake (who became the thinking head behind this project, and who is also Jimmy's childhood bestfriend). These humans are devoid of anything that could trigger violent behavior, frustration, envy of others, etc. There is a real reflection brought with the character of Oryx (who has been abused and a sex slave for several years) on what triggers rape and how to annihilate these deviant behaviors by programming a cyclic, multi-partner sexuality, dedicated to the appeasement of all, which would ultimately prevent sexual violences. This being one among a million topic addressed. This is a puzzle to explain but please bear with me. Overall, the reflection is around the fact that an elitist and hierarchical society is doomed - the society before the plague. Whereas a society where the concepts of jealousy, dominance, masculinity and hierarchy do not exist is the key to sustainability.
Regarding the writing and the book itself: I really love backward type of novels like this one. Meaning the opening scene is actually the present and the novel unfolds by going back in time to explain everything that happened before this scene.