Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It is definitely an odd novel, but it is a very good read. I would love to ask the author about some of the themes in the novel, if she feels our would is heading down a similar path. I would also want to ask her about Crake, why he decided to wipe out humans. Another thing I am also confused about is Oryx's character. It did not seem like she had that big of a part in the novel, but she had such a huge and lasting impact on Jimmy. 

What I really liked about the novel is the writing style. I like how the time frame would jump all over the place and you would not really know where you are in Jimmy's life until the end. For example, in the middle of the book there would be chapters devoted to Jimmy talking with Oryx, yet Oryx was not introduced in the novel yet. We only truly meet her in the end, where we find out Jimmy was an adult.

I liked getting to know Jimmy and Snowman as two separate people until the time frame blurs and Jimmy becomes Snowman. I think that represents how much Jimmy changed in the short amount of time what the world was in chaos. He wanted to be a different person. He wanted to leave Jimmy behind in the compounds.

I would also have liked to know what happened to Jimmy's father. Most likely he also died with the infection, but it would have been interesting to have one last meetup with Jimmy and his dad because they have not seen each other in a long time.

The ending also kind of threw me off. Snowman is just about to meet the other humans, and it ends. Also with his foot infection. Does he meet the other humans, and then dies? Or does he outlive the infection? I would like to think he does, but maybe it is irony. Everyone else in the world dies from this horrible disease which Jimmy is immune to, but he ends up dying from a small cut on his foot.

Even though there are questions left to be answered, I really did enjoy the book. It is not as bad as I thought it would be to read between the lines and make up conclusions for myself.