Week 13: Oryx and Crake

Blog Post 13: Oryx and Crake

I’ve gotten halfway through Oryx and Crake, and I’m planning on finishing it over winter break. Margaret Atwood is of course an author I’ve heard of before, but strangely I’d never gotten around to reading any of her work until now. She has a really interesting approach to novels, a tonal blend of serious literature and science fiction that I can really get behind. Her writing is very internal, very introspective, which is the way I like my books. I’m the kind of person who’s always living somewhat in their own head, and Atwood’s writing seems to feel very comfortable and natural for me. Even though her character doesn’t share many attributes with me – I’m not a mentally disturbed man wandering around in a post-apocalyptic world where everything is hybridized from a variety of different genes – it feels like I can really understand the character’s mind. Atwood manages to talk about the most horrifying topics with a careful balance between indulgence and respect, so that it feels neither apologetic nor gratuitous. As a writer, she’s incredibly brave. She even delves into the world of child pornography from Oryx’s perspective. She allows her readers to feel disgusted and sad, but not so much that they find it unbearable to continue. I admit that I often have a hard time getting through books which have a very pessimistic tone to them. I don’t really like reading about worlds where everybody is stupid or mean. It’s not that I can’t handle those aspects of human personality, it’s just that I find myself disconnecting from overly pessimistic books since I feel like they aren’t realistic. I know plenty of people who I disagree with fundamentally on a wide range of issues, but I can still sit down and have a nice chat with them about the weather. Characters who seem utterly devoid of this capability make me shrug and move on. Oddly, even though Atwood’s world seems very pessimistic, and the world has gone to trash, it isn’t an unrealistic depiction of a negative outcome. Snowman isn’t a monster, and neither are his mom, dad, or even Crake. She doesn’t cheapen her characters by forcing them into flat stereotypes of being mean or dumb. Crake definitely has some sociopathic tendencies, but he feels like a real person to me. I think that’s why I enjoy Margaret Atwood’s take on an apocalypse so much while I find myself putting down many other books which try to do the same thing.

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