“"Oryx and Crake" has all the flaws and qualities of a reknown fiction author writing SF. The writing and characterization is very solid, but the SF feels tired, hesitant, incomplete. And given that the characters in Oryx and Crake are distant and difficult to relate to, that doesn't leave much to like at all.
The prose is definitely good. Atwood knows how to draw human character, and the writing itself makes the book worthwhile. The first act of the novel is strong, with the story of Jimmy growing up in a disintegrating marriage.
Unfortunately, the novel fell apart for me when the titular Crake enters the scene. Crake is obtuse and unlikeable. Now, the story justifies portraying him as inhuman, but if at least he had been depicted as fascinating, then I could have endured his friendship with the protagonist. Instead, their friendship felt empty, void of human feeling. As best as I can tell, their friendship is defined by watching porn and snuff movies in the dark. Things aren't much better when Oryx comes around. She's a cipher, and her backstory was pointless and sad.
Jimmy's life might have been more interesting, except he doesn't do much. He is not the actor of his own life; he's only there to survive the novel's devastation of humanity. Even as the sole survivor of humanity, Jimmy still doesn't do much. He's a poor survivor, who looks headed to his own death through carelessness and stupidity.
Besides this, not much happens in the novel at all. The most excitement happens when the protagonist nearly gets jumped by a herd of pigs. The future world Atwood describes never reaches high enough levels of verisimilitude, and so I'm left grappling with how I feel about the characters, and whether their universe is merely highly allegorical, or meant to be taken as serious speculation.
The more I think about "Oryx and Crake", the more I feel Mrs. Atwood should have written this one as a short story, or perhaps a novella. As a novel, it was too long, and felt somewhat pointless.”
