Oryx and Crake

Some parts of this review are more subjective, and I just want to warn about that. Also spoilers are discussed, but it's not detail-heavy.

I thought the world pre-dystopia was interesting, though on the generic side. It isn't anything that i haven't seen before. Genetically modified animals, rampant consumerism centered around vanity, massive and unethical corporations, people fully giving into vices such as lust and gluttony, a world made up of 1% elites and 99% poverty-stricken masses...But I guess sometimes things don't have to be super interesting or mind-bending to still be engaging to read about. But there were some really interesting parts, parts that I wish were expanded upon more. Without going too much into detail, the relationship between the Crakers and Snowman was something I wish we got more of. Their interactions were always kind of fascinating for me to read. The sub-story of progressing through society through the eyes of a character growing up in it was also a neat way to explore it.

The prose...I'm mixed on. I was also reading The Handmaid's Tale by the same author (though I'm not far into it) and for some reason, it just feels so much more weighty in Oryx and Crake, and not in a really good connotation. I really appreciate how poetic Atwood can get in her writing. It's beautiful and almost musical in some places. In other places, it's so bothersome to work through. It's a jumble of complicated words and sentence structure and lots of word play. I don't know, maybe if I was in a different mood while reading this, I'd feel different about it. This is pretty subjective, and it's probably based on my own shortcomings. It's strange because in the few pages I've read of the Handmaid's Tale, it seems to be executed so much better? The prose there seems to have that same poetic quality without making it feel like I have to decipher a paragraph. This was especially evident in Crake's dialogue. Oh god, it was a struggle not to just skim through all his dialogue. I'm glad that not everyone talked like him, I don't know if I'd be able to get through the book if that were the case.

I'll be honest and say I have mixed feelings about the “two stories/timelines going on at once” method of writing. It really all depends on the execution. I've read books that do really great with it, and it offers a way of unraveling mysteries in a gripping way as you progress through the story. On the other hand, it becomes a jumble of stories that not very coherent and hard to keep up with. This book was in the middle of the two. There's the initial fascination and wonder of wondering how Snowman and the world got into the current predicament, and the anticipation of seeing Jimmy go through the world and wondering at one point do they coalesce. At the same time...wow, did Atwood screw it up with changing tenses and random sparse interjections that come off as jarring. It felt sloppy in a way, and she kind of ruined what could've been an otherwise engrossing set-up to reveal the story.

(spoilers ahead)

For the characters...the only remotely interesting one was Snowman, and I was really only interested in his change to Snowman and his interactions with the Crakers and how that shaped his identity (of which we get little of). I cared little for Jimmy. Crake was only interesting in his goals and not in the character in himself, and Oryx...she was just implemented so weird. She hardly felt like a character at all, more like a last minute addition. She's alluded to as a symbol throughout much of the story and there's a gigantic build-up to her eventually being introduced into the story, and when she is introduced...it was weird. Most of her inclusion was just through her backstory, and I have no clue what that was supposed to add to the story, since it didn't really add anything at all. It was almost like a big tangent, like Atwood made up this character and had trouble fitting her into the story, and just shoved her in there because she didn't want to waste time. It would've worked so much better if Oryx had a bigger impact earlier on, so she didn't feel like a disappointing “pay off.” Or maybe just stay as a symbol instead of feeling like she was shoved in to justify the giant childhood sex slave story that Atwood felt she had to put in the middle of the book.

Also, I note that the official summary calls this story a “love story.” Uh...did I miss that? Where does it become a love story? You mean when Oryx pointlessly starts narrating her life story to Jimmy to emphasize that child porn is bad (or not even that, since Oryx apparently isn't all that broken up at being sold as a child and being forced into doing child porn)? You mean the two pages that say “Crake loved Oryx (though we're never really shown or have it elaborated on) but Jimmy starts to sleep with her” and then the book ends about 30 pages later? That's an “unforgettable love story?” Really?

All in all, it was a book with redeeming qualities that kept me reading through the end, but was bogged down by its flaws that keep me from confidently saying it's a great book. I guess I could say it's a good book? For me, it hovers in that in-between area of “ok” and “good.”

But there is one thing I want to say in this review: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson kept on popping up in my head at certain times when I read this. They have some similarities but they're totally different books, I think it was just in the speculative fiction nature of them both and how they touch upon some similar themes at times? I feel like the prose in the two books are near opposites, and they both have a habit of jumping around different places, though Atwood's book focuses more on different times and Stephenson focuses more on different characters. I prefer The Diamond Age to Oryx and Crake so...I don't know, if you found this book disappointing, try that one, I guess. A weird note to end a review on, but it would've bothered me if I didn't say it.