Oryx and Crake

Here's what I wrote about Oryx and Crake over on Goodreads:

Michael Crichton's semi-plausible science fiction meets Kurt Vonnegut's penchant for absurd human-triggered apocalypse meets George Orwell's dystopian apathy. This was thought out and imaginative, with genetically engineered monsters run amok and a miserable human being clinging to life all alone in a changed climate - kind of like a more restrained Hunger Games where Katniss is the only character. Two different timeframes here: before the end of the world and after. Before is all character backstory and worldbuilding; after is all existential depression and reflection. Only issue is, where's the beef? The story's in the flashbacks and the cataclysm comes and goes in a few pages near the end. Couldn't blame a reader for wanting something more from this.

I stand by all of this, but here on the blog, where I can ramble a little more with the comfort of knowing that no one but two or three dear friends will ever see what I'm saying, I'll add some bullets.

• This is my second Atwood book, the first being The Handmaid's Tale, which I liked a little more than this one, and which they're making into a TV series over at Hulu, coming out in April, which should be great.
• This book came out in 2003, and it shows just a little bit; Atwood was maybe ahead of her time in recognizing just how important the Internet would be in shaping our minds and communication in the near future where her novel is set, but the vocabulary and stylistic conventions are very much "of their era:" The Net, rather than the Internet; e-message, rather than simply message; and a whole host of camelcase-titled corporations like OrganInc, AnooYoo, and RejoovenEsence. It's tough to blame her, but it stands out just a little bit in an otherwise undated story.
• Atwood followed this up with two sequels, both of which are now in my backlog. I've grown weary (more like exhausted) of dystopian trilogies lately, but this is distinctly not YA stuff, so I've got high hopes.
• The backstory - the worldbuilding I was talking about above - if you don't know and want to, revolves around genetic engineering at "Big Pharma" in the near future. Remember that recent news story about how they grew a human ear on a rat? (I think that happened after this was even published, so, kudos, Atwood.) Well in this book they've made giant fast-growing pigs with eight human kidneys. They've made military-grade vicious wolf-dogs for security companies. They've made raccoon-skunk hybrids and snake-rat hybrids just for testing purposes, but different specimens have escaped, and the wilderness is now overrun by these "rakunks" and "snats" and other terrifying things.
• The book ends on a cliffhanger of sorts when - SPOILERS! - Snowman, the last man on earth, comes across a group of three other people. He's debating whether or not to greet them in peace or try to murder all three and take their food and supplies, in what he knows is probably a suicide mission. And the book ends right here. Now, there is a sequel - and another one, as mentioned above - but it really feels like this was meant to be a stand-alone story for the longest time, just the last man on earth clinging to life in a world overrun by genetic monsters before ultimately killing himself, before Atwood decided, "but wait, I've got another story to tell here." The abrupt left turn really cheapens and deadens the helpless vibe of the rest of the book, and I hope the next two novels are worth it - for now, Oryx and Crake seems like it would have been better off as a stand-alone title. But we'll see!