Book two of my not really holiday reading was Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. I first read this about eight years ago (and when I realised that I was a bit shocked!) but it’s one of a series so I got all three to read back to back.
The story is about a man called Jimmy, or Snowman, and is set in a future where science has overwhelmed nature: people, plants and animals are genetically modified. Society is split into people in the Compounds – the areas of Corporations managing the scientific activities for profit – and the pleeblands, where everyone else lives.
When a global pandemic wipes out virtually all humanity, Jimmy has to save not only himself but the Crakers, a group of bioengineered humanoids created by Jimmy’s best friend, and find a way to survive the new world, with its newly released science experiment animals.
I won’t say more than that because I will be giving away too much of the story!
I chose this book because I enjoy reading Atwood’s work, because I knew I wanted to revisit the book, and because I love a dystopian future. I didn’t read it for writing purposes.
Having said that, it’s always interesting to read Atwood – the concepts in this book are intriguing and disturbing, and I found myself wondering at what point I would think genetic manipulation had gone too far. At what point do we as a society move from horrified to accepting?
There is also moral consideration about the behaviour of both Jimmy and Crake in relation to each other, to Oryx who is loved by both men, and to humanity as a whole.
It’s a hard future and much like other dystopian novel, there are elements already creeping into reality which make it particularly unnerving in places.
Reading it on a sun lounger wasn’t really the right environment… Still, I found it moving, thought-provoking and engrossing. It stood up well on second reading, although the gap may have helped 🙂
I have read the next book in the trilogy and am onto the third, so more on the future of humanity will follow!
Happy reading,
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
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