Week 13 - Oryx and Crake

Over the last two weeks, I chose to read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.  I think this is one of the first novels in the last few weeks that I've found really fascinating because it has a combination of elements that make it different from science fiction or fantasy, but it is not the type of pure distopian literature that I am used to.  This novel felt like it had a lot of history to it... it felt very personal like I knew each of the character's and their motivations.  I guess Oryx and Crake was just really something that made me want to know where exactly things would end up because it had everything I love - it had a really cool backstory, mulitple converging plotlines, and I don't know, I just loved getting to go back and discover how the world ended up as it did.  I think I was really fascinated to by Jimmy (Snowman's) life growing up because as odd as it was, it felt very familiar to my own.  I particularly loved how well both his parents were painted - Jimmy's mother, odd, obsessive, controlling, especially when Jimmy brings home the rakunk after his mother had refused to get him a cat or a baby brother.  The characters just all felt so nostalgic... down to how Jimmy acts at his new school or when Jimmy's mother ulitimately gets rid of the rakunk.  Though I haven't quite finished... I'm really excited as to where the novel keeps going, and I'll continue to post as I finish it.