The premise of this novel, and the details of the future world it depicts, are so outlandish that you must either accept them immediately or stop reading. I accepted them. I was instantly subsumed in the fascinating, disturbing world that Atwood has created.

The novel opens in a post-apocalyptic shore-side wilderness where the only survivor (presumably), Snowman, is barely surviving. He sleeps in a tree and spends his days in a hallucinatory stupor. The only breaks in the monotony are visits from children who turn out to be genetically engineered post-humans, with glowing green eyes and the ability to eat leaves.

Gradually, Snowman — whose pre-apocalypse name is Jimmy — reveals the events leading up to the disaster as he remembers them. He grew up in a corporate compound separated by walls and guards from the “pleeblands,” where the poor lived in crowded, polluted slums. His father worked for a powerful company conducting research in genetic engineering to come up with new products designed to relieve food shortages, prolong life and preserve beauty, resulting in such bizarre creations as the pigoon and the rakunk. As a teenager, Snowman befriends a brilliant but anti-social young man who calls himself Crake, whose genius enables him to attend a prestigious and luxurious university and then get a high-profile job conducting top-secret eugenics research. Crake brings his old friend into the compound where he works, and there Snowman learns that Crake has engineered a new race of people who don’t have many of the “problems” we do.

Also there is Oryx, the beautiful, victimized woman who both men love. Yes, this is a grand story about the downfall of the human race, but it is also the oldest story of all: a love triangle.

This book kept me fascinated and disturbed until the very end. There were so many outlandish details, but at the heart it explores some fundamental issues: the unchecked power of people wielding science, without regard for consequences; the calamitous effects of environmental abuse; the potential within us to destroy ourselves; the follies of playing god. The only criticism I have is that the ending is a bit unsatisfying. It just leaves us hanging. But overall, Atwood is a terrific writer exploring the science fiction themes of apocalypse and dystopia, and Oryx and Crake is a terrific contribution to this genre.

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I began Oryx and Crake with low expectations since I had heard from so many people that it was slow moving and hard to get into. However, I was throughly captivated by this book from the first page until the very last.

I just finished the audio version of this book and part of me really enjoyed it but a bigger part is really dissappointed. It was a little slow to get going , and then it seemed like she just all of a sudden decided to wrap it up quickly, and then there was absolutely no resolution at the end.
Maybe I’m just missing something or dense, but I didn’t get the ending at all. I loved the book until the last half page, and then I couldn’t believe that that was how it ended?

Atwood is one of my favorite authors, but it took me a while to get into this novel. I liked the characters and they were interesting to read about—it’s just that it took me a while to get over the depressing setup of the book. But I’m glad I read it. It’s definitely given me some food for thought about the direction our society is heading.

Oryx and Crake is very thought provoking. Read it after reading ‘Short history of progress’ and the impact of the novel is felt keenly.

Simply put, the novel is about a future (very probable future in my opinion) where society is organized explicitly into classes with the rich having access to genetic manupulation, etc. to become even better and richer.

The book is sickening because it ties together many of the vices of us humans. And in the end, these vices prove to almost destroy us.

If nothing else, I hope this book will make you realize how precarious our situation in this world really is.

Throughout the novel, I found myself stopping to think how it related to today’s world. The pessimistic part of me feels like it will all come to pass eventually.

I love the entwining of past and future that Atwood does in this book. I picked up the audio book, which is a rare thing for me, especially with an author who I so adore. But I am really digging the audio version—the reader is excellent and I have such a great sense of who Snowman is, the allure of Oryx and the mystery of Crake. Excellent.

A very strong comment on the lives we currently lead and a future that may not be to far off.

A modern classic. A great, original story, beautifully told. Highly recommended.

Disappointing. It didn’t really go anywhere.

I love Atwood, and I’d heard wonderful things about this book. I think that those two combined lead me to expect too much.

There were parts of it that were good, but I spent most of my time trying to fight off the urge to skip to the last chapter to see how it all ends. When I finally reached the end, I found myself wishing that I’d just given in to the temptation.

This is what happens when Margaret Atwood gets a subscription to Wired.

Atwood attacks the distopian future theme again and while it’s not quite THMT, it’s still compelling.