A review by angorarabbit
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Context: I read MaddAddam around 2016, and The Year of the Flood in 2022. I normally don’t read series backwards, but there you have it. 
 
Oryx and Crake starts in such a similar place to MaddAddam that I had to go back to my copy of MaddAddam to make sure I indeed had not read Oryx ad Crake instead. I’m not sure how I would have felt about this novel if I had read the series in order, but read the way I did it was oddly comforting. Is it weird to think of a Margaret Atwood book as comforting? 
 
Anyway, this is all you can want in an Atwood book. Any science things are an extension of what was considered possible when the book was written. Human nature is human nature. The characters are in depth and believable, and are likeable and relatable despite their faults. There is the dry Atwood humour that pops up at the oddest time. Of course, it is well written with a complex but believable plot. There are shifting view points and flashbacks, though I did not find it difficult to keep track of where I was. 
 
And yes, I love the Crackers. They are a lot less creepy than The Snowman’s obsession about Oryx’s life before he met her. Or the monstrosity that Crake committed. I’ve read reviews where the writer though of the Crackers as the author’s idealised version of Indigenous people. To me they are the result of Crake’s idealised sentient species. I think by the end of the series it is obvious that Crake was delusional. Nevertheless the Crackers are funny and kind in an often cruel world. Maybe we should all be a bit more like the Crackers, without the turning blue part perhaps.
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