Saturday, February 05, 2005

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

I read Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale when I was in high school and the book, quite simply changed my life. It opened my eyes to everything a woman needs to see about the world and often choses to ignore. The book made me realize how much we stand to lose, how much we are gradually losing and painted a chilling tale of what our future may hold.

Since then, she's been one of my favorite writers.

With Oryx and Crake she returns to her prolific, Handmaid's Tale form. This book is a tale of science gone mad - completely out of control. The ideas are extreme. This book is brutual in its starkness.

I read most of this book sitting directly in front of my fireplace during the coldest days of winter. It is not exactly a cozy, snuggly kind of book, but then again, I'm not really a cozy, snuggly kind of person. It leaves you with a lot to think about while sitting alone in a cold house on an empty February night. I've lost count of the nightmares I've had that have stemmed from this book.

My only problem was the ending. If you've read Handmaid's Tale, then you are familiar with this sort of ending. She leaves you hanging, guessing. After all that reading, I get to the final page and feel like, "that's it?"

My recommendation: Excellent book. But harsh, paints the picture of a very frightening future. Certainly not for everyone.