Margaret Atwood
2004-03-30
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The first volume in the internationally acclaimed MaddAddam trilogy is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future—from the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments
A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century
Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey—with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake—through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.
Atwood's 'Oryx and Crake' is a dystopian tour de force that melds speculative fiction with a searing critique of contemporary society. The novel's dystopian landscape is a chilling reflection of our own world's potential trajectory, and Atwood's prose is as sharp as it is compassionate. The interplay between the narrative's dark humor and its underlying despair creates a powerful tension that is both engaging and thought-provoking. The characters, though born of a speculative reality, are profoundly human, their flaws and desires laid bare in a world that is both familiar and terrifyingly alien.
