Oryx and Crake
ORYX AND CRAKE (Margaret Atwood) - Three Stars
This was an enjoyable read and, really, that's about all that one can say about it.
Reading the critical acclaims this novel has garnered might lead one to believe that it is some towering masterpiece that will make a profound impression on a person's life, but it's not. Oryx and Crake is as shallow and easy to see through as a tide pool... but that doesn't mean that it's not an enjoyable read.
Atwood does not set out to discover new frontiers here: the "post-apocalyptic future landscape" scenario she utilizes has been done and done and done again. As has the creation and usage of new words/animals/items to populate such a landscape (indeed, Atwood's over-use of these literary creations in the first fifty pages or so starts to grate).
The story is told in flashbacks, as Jimmy ("Snowman") tries to figure out what led up to the catastrophe that wiped humans off the face of the planet. Again, there is no new ground here, in style or content. What exactly happened is presented as somewhat of a mystery, but there aren't any twists or turns, and the eventual revelation of the truth is unsurprising without necessarily being a let down.
The whole reason for reading Oryx and Crake is Atwood's wonderful development of Jimmy and Crake's friendship, and how it affects them and affects the world around them. Jimmy and Crake are the only two characters that matter to the story (even title-character Oryx's role is minimal: mainly to provide an import link between the two and possibly a flashpoint for the plot), and Atwood is smart enough not to waste much time on the extraneous filler characters that populate Jimmy and Crake's world.
The novel has plenty of flaws. The symbolism in it is generally hackneyed and trite. Some of the "deep" dialogue (particularly between Jimmy and Oryx) is not at all meaningful or purposeful and actually quite tiring to read. The overall narrative voice is sardonic without really providing any decent morals from the story (the novel's warnings about genetic engineering, corporate manipulation, and the overall shallowness of the human creature are obvious and should provoke a "well duh!" response from any reader of even moderate intelligence). The pace of the book is slow (Atwood spends a long time saying not a whole lot), but this didn't bother me too much because the pace is even throughout.
But the development of Jimmy and Crake make it all worthwhile. Atwood's most lasting comments on the human condition come not from her extrapolation of modern sciences to their most extreme, nor from her grim, post-apocalyptic future, but from her development of such a simple thing as human friendship... and how easily it can be used for ill purposes.
This was an enjoyable read and, really, that's about all that one can say about it.
Reading the critical acclaims this novel has garnered might lead one to believe that it is some towering masterpiece that will make a profound impression on a person's life, but it's not. Oryx and Crake is as shallow and easy to see through as a tide pool... but that doesn't mean that it's not an enjoyable read.
Atwood does not set out to discover new frontiers here: the "post-apocalyptic future landscape" scenario she utilizes has been done and done and done again. As has the creation and usage of new words/animals/items to populate such a landscape (indeed, Atwood's over-use of these literary creations in the first fifty pages or so starts to grate).
The story is told in flashbacks, as Jimmy ("Snowman") tries to figure out what led up to the catastrophe that wiped humans off the face of the planet. Again, there is no new ground here, in style or content. What exactly happened is presented as somewhat of a mystery, but there aren't any twists or turns, and the eventual revelation of the truth is unsurprising without necessarily being a let down.
The whole reason for reading Oryx and Crake is Atwood's wonderful development of Jimmy and Crake's friendship, and how it affects them and affects the world around them. Jimmy and Crake are the only two characters that matter to the story (even title-character Oryx's role is minimal: mainly to provide an import link between the two and possibly a flashpoint for the plot), and Atwood is smart enough not to waste much time on the extraneous filler characters that populate Jimmy and Crake's world.
The novel has plenty of flaws. The symbolism in it is generally hackneyed and trite. Some of the "deep" dialogue (particularly between Jimmy and Oryx) is not at all meaningful or purposeful and actually quite tiring to read. The overall narrative voice is sardonic without really providing any decent morals from the story (the novel's warnings about genetic engineering, corporate manipulation, and the overall shallowness of the human creature are obvious and should provoke a "well duh!" response from any reader of even moderate intelligence). The pace of the book is slow (Atwood spends a long time saying not a whole lot), but this didn't bother me too much because the pace is even throughout.
But the development of Jimmy and Crake make it all worthwhile. Atwood's most lasting comments on the human condition come not from her extrapolation of modern sciences to their most extreme, nor from her grim, post-apocalyptic future, but from her development of such a simple thing as human friendship... and how easily it can be used for ill purposes.
"Please, oh Snowman, what is toast?"
Another error, Snowman thinks. He should avoid arcane metaphors. "Toast," he says, "is something very, very bad. It's so bad I can't even describe it. Now it's your bedtime. Go away."
posted by Kevin at 2:13 PM
3 Comments:
Really, only three stars? I thought it was magnificient, but then, I'm the first person to admit that I'm very biased toward Margaret Atwood. Definitely, the dystopia has been done before (by Atwood herself, even, in The Handmaid's Tale) but that I think is just the framework for the true story, as you said. I don't think she ever pretended to be seriously writing a science fiction book, but rather using it as a statement about the current state of affairs. I don't know that I would have said five stars for this one (her Blind Assassin is so much better) but I would have probably given it an extra star for the mastery of language and the deft way in which she delivers plot elements without the reader realizing that it's happening.
Well HERE you are! Thanks for the braingasm, hon. Literary criticism....ahhhhhhhh. Something discussed, not shouted in bitter sound bites. A balm in this edgy time.
Sorry about the job. That stinks. ~LA
Write about irony in Oryx and Crake
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