Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood, is a novel that revolves around a man called Snowman. Snowman is the sole human survivor of an apocalyptic event that has wiped out mankind. The world has now become a wasteland through which all manner of genetically modified creatures roam. With the exception of Snowman, the only humanoid beings left are a group of genetically modified humans that Snowman calls "Crakers". As Snowman recounts his experiences, we begin to understand the history behind his dystopian society.
Margaret Atwood has done several things well in the novel. The first is her use of flashbacks. Most of the story is told through a series of flashbacks that Snowman has. These flashbacks cover Snowman's entire life, from his earliest years right up to the present. While Snowman's real name is revealed as Jimmy, the flashbacks are written is such a way that while Snowman and Jimmy are one and the same, we percieve them as two different people. Another element of the writing that worked well in the novel is Atwood's portrayal of society. Society in the early 21st century is controlled by powerful healthcare corporations which are in constant competition with each other. A privileged few work for these corporations and live in "compounds" which isolate them from the rest of society. This creates a sort of ignorance for so called, "compound kids" like Jimmy, who don't truly understand how the rest of society functions. For example, there are rumors that float around the compounds about "packs" of underpriveledged kids in the cities getting together to play loud music, drink, and copulate. While this sounds unbelievable
to Jimmy, it is not unlike the teenage culture of today, adding an element of authenticity to Oryx and Crake.
While I thought that several elements of Oryx and Crake worked well in the novel, my main source of disappointment in the novel stems from the inconclusive narrative. While Atwood describes the the downfall of humanity and Jimmy's part in it quite well, there are many loose ends that are never tied up. For example, we are never given much information regarding the time between Jimmy's friend Crake's childhood and his maturation as the leader of one of the largest health compounds in the world. Crake is also haunted by some event in his childhood, but we are never told what. While this mystery is effective to a certain degree, there are simply too many unfinished side-stories left at the conclusion of the novel. This disappointed me because the rest of the novel was so well-written that I wanted to know more background information about the various characters. However, this information was never given, leaving me with many unanswered questions.
One of the best examples of descriptive writing in the novel is throughout p. 354-368, where Crake explains to Jimmy how he plans to break the cycle of human conflict and save the human race from inevitable destruction. Crake is so smart that he has not only discovered the source of many of the problems plaguing humanity, but he has also found a way to solve them. Jimmy believes that Crake plans to do this through the use of a prophylactic pill called the Blysspluss pill, and the integration of his genetically modified humans into normal society, where they will fix the remaining problems. In reality, however, Crake creates a hostile bioform and distributes it through the Blysspluss pills, thereby wiping out humanity in a matter of weeks and leaving his genetically modified humans to repopulate the planet. This passage appealed to me because many of the problems that Crake discovers are real issues which could probably be solved by Crake's super pill and genetically modified humans. This realism made the story much more interesting, since it touched on issues which are very relevent to today's world.
The second example of descriptive writing that appealed to me was Snowman's return to the RejoovenEsense compound several weeks after the disaster (p. 274-275). Atwood does a fantastic job of giving a sense of emptiness and loneliness to the whole scene, which sets the atmosphere perfectly. This desolate atmosphere gave a great sense of loss to the whole setting, which made the reading much more enjoyable.