Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

32 reviews

josiemeyer's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jwjames's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Ableism

allym's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Rape, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

allydee's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

earthtomanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. My first full-length Atwood novel, and I am amazed at just how many aspects of humanity she is able to capture. While the plot should seem fantastical, she stays firmly in the plausible and (perhaps) the likely. Many scenes are incredibly graphic though, so tread lightly if that’s a concern — Going through the content warnings, it was hard to find something that wasn’t at least mentioned in this book.

I did struggle with how prominent discussion of sexual abuse towards children was. It was incredibly disturbing. I am still grappling with why that was a necessary inclusion — though it is Atwood, and I’m sure it was not done without some thought. Also, Jimmy can fight me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book gives me a weird sense of nostalgia, I read it for the first time at 17/18 and it was my first foray into speculative fiction. 

I think it's the perfect combo of speculative fiction, interesting writing, characterization, intriguing plot, and weirdness.

The only bad thing about this book is that you can never get the first reading experience back once you know what happened to the world. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Rape, Excrement, Alcohol, and War

Child sexual abuse/ trafficking

vetrina's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

What a great book! I absolutely loved the writing style and how Atwood switched between past and present timelines seamlessly. The world-building and plot is amazing, very dark, and shocking. It's a great critique of capitalism, eugenics/genetic engineering, technology, the pharmaceutical industry, classism, and climate change. And it's a great exploration of human nature in general too. Very excited to read the next book (The Year of the Flood).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, War, and Classism

erinishuman's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

ac_rva's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jcqscottclifford's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

In Oryx and Crake, Atwood presents an intriguing and broken world whose roots you slowly discover as its principal character recounts his personal history. There are many clever links readers will quickly pick up on, and her prose is well thought out. The fall of Oryx and Crake's world is different than other dystopias and 

its discussion of bioethics, animal gene splicing, and human gene splicing

ring true even 20 years later.

However, her characters can become boring and a slog, especially when they explicitly wax about the morals the book presents. The most difficult part is 

hearing about Jimmy's past, especially his difficulty with women, when I really wanted to see more of the present self wgise.

, but the end retroactively makes those parts more bearable and lets the reader feel like it wasn't worthless. Additionally, the creativity of 

the Crakers and the gene spliced animals are a delight to behold, and they are present all throughout the book

It isn't a "fun" book, but it is thought provoking and engaging. Ultimately, I finished the book and am curious how the series plays out.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Violence, Trafficking, and War

Even the world of flashbacks in this book is messy and cruel. There is the mention of child porn but without any description of rape/sexual interaction.