I fell into this trilogy by Margaret Atwood completely by accident. I was out with a friend who was in a rush. I wanted to browse but I was informed that there was no time for such shenanigans. So, I barrelled through the store, grabbing what I could. Oryx and Crake was one of those books. I’m so glad I picked it.
By powerhouse author Margaret Atwood Oryx and Crake is a study in what happens when humans meddle with nature thinking they know best.
Our main character is a man named SNOWMAN. In a previous life his name was Jimmy. He is mostly alone on Earth but has a small band of humanoid-like creatures for company. They bring him what food they can find and look to Snowman for teachings and attention. Despite the creatures bringing him small food items; Snowman is very near starvation and decides to set out to find the compound he once lived close to.
As he undertakes this journey, we follow him into his previous life, via flashback. We discover that he lived in compounds created by various companies to protect their valuable employees from the outside. Outside the compounds, life and the environment are quickly becoming hostile. Jimmy befriends a boy he eventually calls Crake; they spend their days watching various videos or playing an online game that they call Extinctathon. Both boys graduate from school Jimmy finds work as a copy editor. While Crake gets a job at the very respected Watson Crick company. One day Crake invents a peaceful humanoid creature known as a Craker. He hires a teacher for his creatures and begins to develop a relationship with her. He introduces this teacher to Jimmy as Oryx.
One day, Crake invents a pill that is lauded as a miracle pill. Health and Happiness is the pills tagline. However, it has a hidden agenda in that it causes sterilization to combat the wildly out of control human population. As the pill is distributed, it begins a global pandemic. Which causes mass panic outside the protected compounds.
Jimmy realizes that Crake knew exactly what would happen with his miracle pill and must defend himself and Oryx in a horrific way.
A study in what happens when humans believe they know best. A brilliant novel that is the first in a trilogy called MaddAddam.