Reviews

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

earthtomanda's review against another edition

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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.

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eahay85's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

4.0

i hated but loved this book?

tricapra's review against another edition

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4.0

Honestly I have a lot of the same feelings I had about this as I did when I read it the first time in highschool (over a decade ago). It really holds up, and I still die at the idea of Nubbins being 'liberated'

bea_reads78's review against another edition

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3.75

Difficult to read subject matter (very very dark human engineered apocalypse) but beautifully written

vdregenboegen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

nikbookdragon's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

eli_abroad's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective 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

13iscute's review against another edition

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

2.0

2024 Reading Challenges
• ATY #8. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand
• Popsugar #19. A book set in the future

How I selected this book
Because I like dystopians and The Handmaid’s Tale

Plot summary
Jimmy (aka Snowman) thinks he is the only person left in the world after a plague caused by his friend Crake wipes out humanity.  There are some human-like creatures called the Crakes, engineered by Crake.  Snowman remembers his life and how they got to that point, though humanity's bioengineering. Oryx is a girl that both Crake and Jimmy loved, who taught the Crakers. At the end, we have a cliffhanger where Snowman finds a few humans on the beach and doesn't know what to do.


Thoughts
I didn't really like it but I still might want to read the next book in the trilogy?  Just kinda slow and meandering.  More post-apocalyptic than dystopian.

elizalavenza's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad

2.0

frankenqueer's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75


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