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tampax's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
pibbert18's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
ehlane's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
odin45mp's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. This was not an easy book to read as fears of the COVID-19 spread mounted. As we have a President* who cares more about his own image than about his constituents. As we see health care held over our heads as a guillotine rather than a human right as part of a larger society.
There were parts of this book that I could have done without. The sexual exploitation was almost entirely unnecessary, the graphic nature of it completely so. The underlying message and experience was key to growing the path of a main character, so I will allow it, but my goodness I did not need a chapter and a half on it!
The rest of the book was exemplary, as Atwood gets inside the head (both heads) of a teenage boy, full of hormones and thoughts and angst, and shows us what it is like to be Jimmy and Snowman in this dystopian future, and his relationship with Crake. I want to read the rest of the series now. Well written, well spoken.
There were parts of this book that I could have done without. The sexual exploitation was almost entirely unnecessary, the graphic nature of it completely so. The underlying message and experience was key to growing the path of a main character, so I will allow it, but my goodness I did not need a chapter and a half on it!
The rest of the book was exemplary, as Atwood gets inside the head (both heads) of a teenage boy, full of hormones and thoughts and angst, and shows us what it is like to be Jimmy and Snowman in this dystopian future, and his relationship with Crake. I want to read the rest of the series now. Well written, well spoken.
luviluv's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
theogb451's review against another edition
2.0
I am a fan of Atwood in general but this was not a fun read. Post apocalypse is a hard thing these days given the world is about to pass the point of climate disaster and the Covid pandemic looming large, but this one lacks any hope in the backdrop at all.
On top of that our main character is a weak man who seemingly takes no real responsibility until its too late. The passive character in awe to their more impressive friend is an old cliché and not one I care hugely for (didn't like A Prayer for Owen Meany or The Goldfinch) and when you add in the maddening nature of Oryx it all gets too much. It's almost a satire of the genre but if do I didn't feel it worked on that level either.
Overall a fairly horrible dark book that never let's up.
On top of that our main character is a weak man who seemingly takes no real responsibility until its too late. The passive character in awe to their more impressive friend is an old cliché and not one I care hugely for (didn't like A Prayer for Owen Meany or The Goldfinch) and when you add in the maddening nature of Oryx it all gets too much. It's almost a satire of the genre but if do I didn't feel it worked on that level either.
Overall a fairly horrible dark book that never let's up.
sydthewitch's review against another edition
This was painfully slow to start and difficult to totally follow, so I looked at other reviews. I found that it continues much the same way, and I learned that it has rather prolonged and graphic descriptions of child trafficking, which I hadn't previously known and don't care to read at this time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Trafficking
sarahgordis's review against another edition
2.0
I hated every character in this book. Hating Crake and Jimmy/Snowman, ok, maybe that's expected and intentional. But Oryx angers me to no end. We only see her used as a sex slave, throughout (literally) her entire life. She comes off as a wise, above the fray, monk-like character, who accepts and has no anger about her life as a sex slave. This is so starkly contrasted to The Handmaid's Tale, isn't it? So presumably Atwood isn't trying to say that Oryx actually liked being a sex slave, but whatever Atwood intended Oryx to be, she was not. If we ever saw anything from her perspective, maybe that would make her, you know, interesting, and not just a personification of some off-kilter Freudian Madonna-whore.
By the end of the book, it becomes obvious that the relationship Jimmy has with Oryx is entirely manufactured by Crake, and possibly by Oryx as well. He's completely deluded. So it is possible, on this assumption, that Oryx is much more than she ever let on to Jimmy, because he was nothing but a client to her. I truly think that this needs to be made obvious earlier in the book. Because I don't want to read an entire book where a character has the potential to become interesting -- I want to read a book where the characters are interesting! That Oryx would be worth reading about. But reading about Crake's Eve to his (Madd)Adam in his manufactured Garden of Eden is not interesting. Her whole character is, Oh Jimmy, you are so funny. Tee-hee. I'm gonna get naked now and eat pizza. She is, to a T, Gillian Flynn's "Cool Girl" a la Gone Girl. While this could be intentional on Atwood's part (meaning that Oryx is putting on the Cool Girl front), I don't find that that's explored enough to really make that assumption. She's simply a figure for tragedy in Snowman's life. I really really did not like the writing of Oryx.
Also, this book was kind of boring.
By the end of the book, it becomes obvious that the relationship Jimmy has with Oryx is entirely manufactured by Crake, and possibly by Oryx as well. He's completely deluded. So it is possible, on this assumption, that Oryx is much more than she ever let on to Jimmy, because he was nothing but a client to her. I truly think that this needs to be made obvious earlier in the book. Because I don't want to read an entire book where a character has the potential to become interesting -- I want to read a book where the characters are interesting! That Oryx would be worth reading about. But reading about Crake's Eve to his (Madd)Adam in his manufactured Garden of Eden is not interesting. Her whole character is, Oh Jimmy, you are so funny. Tee-hee. I'm gonna get naked now and eat pizza. She is, to a T, Gillian Flynn's "Cool Girl" a la Gone Girl. While this could be intentional on Atwood's part (meaning that Oryx is putting on the Cool Girl front), I don't find that that's explored enough to really make that assumption. She's simply a figure for tragedy in Snowman's life. I really really did not like the writing of Oryx.
Also, this book was kind of boring.
ameliasmom's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0