I have waited and waited to read this book. I am a fan of Margaret Atwood, after having read The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin. Oryx and Crake seemed rather promising. Who doesn't enjoy a good sci-fi mystery told by the talented Atwood?I am sad to say but I was sorely disappointed. I guess I never really believed the world she creates in this narrative told in two parts--by Jimmy and Snowman. Jimmy starts off as a young boy with two scientist parents who help to engineer new species. Snowman is a bald man who runs around in a floral sheet fighting to stay alive in a world that was ravaged by some disaster that left very few survivors. The novel fluctuates between these two narrators, who only tell us little bits, and make us follow their disjointed retelling of how Snowman ends up running around in nothing but a sheet.
I guess I expected too much. The ending didn't surprise me. I really like to be surprised, so I was left wanting more. I wanted more than the character of Jimmy or Snowman could give me. Perhaps this is Atwood's style. The satirical nature of the story, the warnings against consumerism, against the way our society conducts itself were not lost on me though. I found it scary, and quite possibly almost too accurate.
2 comments:
The most critical detail missing from your response, I'd have to say, is how Snowman wore the sheet. Did he show cleavage? Or was he wrapped entirely? Or did he run around waving the sheet like a flag?
When you set my mind a-running, Peen, please be kind enough to give it ample direction.
Well, I think the sheet was wrapped around him like a cape, which means it left ample room for exposing Snowman's other carrot...I was uncertain as to whether or not the general public wished to share in this information but I suppose it is an important detail and must be clarified.
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