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Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake

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enchantress
Post subject: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Wed 03 Dec , 2008 6:47 pm
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I recently picked this up as my introduction to the great Canadian novelist. It's the first Margaret Atwood book I've read. I don't normally love Sci-Fi books, but this one is more speculative fiction than pure sci-fi. I found it haunting but good. I actually liked it more than I anticipated. Its well written, had me continuously interested. I enjoyed the flashbacks that tell the backstory and introduce the title characters. I found the superimposition of the love triangle and some human drama on the global sci-fi dystopia skillfull and enriching.
Anyone else read this weird little book? ;)

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Axordil
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Wed 10 Dec , 2008 9:31 pm
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Atwood is a fine writer; her prose can be glorious at times, even when she slides into the didactic. This is her most recent offering, isn't it? I haven't caught it yet.

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vison
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Thu 11 Dec , 2008 12:31 am
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I haven't read it yet, either. She is a pretty fine writer, and I 've read all her other books, even a lot of her poetry.

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Ara-anna
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Thu 11 Dec , 2008 3:54 pm
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I like her writing, thanks for the recommendation. I adore The Handmaids Tail, but was bitterly disappointed by the movie.

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elfshadow
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Thu 11 Dec , 2008 6:59 pm
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I read "The Blind Assassin" because it was a requirement for all the freshman at my school. I thought it was decent, but I've heard that some of the books that she's written are much better than this one was.


She came to speak and was a little arrogant, but I guess as a bestselling author she has a right to be.


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Leoba
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Sat 17 Jan , 2009 7:50 pm
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I read this book a few years ago and rather liked it; unusual for me, as I tend to run a mile from SciFi. I've read a fair amount of Margart Atwood though, ever since The Handmaid's Tale was one of my A Level texts.

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Silwen
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Tue 27 Jan , 2009 10:25 pm
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elfshadow wrote:


She came to speak and was a little arrogant, but I guess as a bestselling author she has a right to be.
A Canadian lecturer and friend of mine said exactly the same thing. That's why I doubt I'd like her in person, but her poetry is excellent. When it comes to her fiction, I noticed I really dislike any of her novels that have a hint of sci-fi, unfortunately. Oryx and Crake was the one I liked the least, and it's been too long since I read it so that I can't say exactly what bothered me. Her best book, in my opinion, is Surfacing, followed by Alias Grace.

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vison
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Wed 28 Jan , 2009 1:18 am
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Atwood's latest is quite a departure from her usual subject matter. I haven't read it yet, but I heard the lectures on the radio. Absolutely spellbinding, even given her awful speaking voice.

Payback. It's about Debt. Fascinating.

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Silwen
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Wed 28 Jan , 2009 10:07 pm
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Thanks for the link, vison. It does sound like a very good book; what interests me most is the oral quality Atwood mentions. If done well, as I assume she has, this could be the thing that would keep me reading even if the story itself didn't interest me. Voice is a very important aspect of a story, in my opinion. As far as the topic is concerned, I could see it ending up being told in a manner she has used in books I did not like, so I am hoping that voice saves it for me if worse comes to worst.

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Silwen
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Mon 07 Sep , 2009 7:20 am
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Last night I went to the book launch of Atwood's latest novel The Year of the Flood, which is a sequel to Oryx and Crake. Thought I really disliked O&C, the reading got me more interested in this new book and I hope I like it in the end. Atwood wasn't reading alone - she had three actors with her who read the parts of Ren, Adam One and Toby, and she also had a young girls choir there, representing the God's Gardeners. It was a comboof music and reading and quite unusual.

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None_Elf_Ear
Post subject: Re: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
Posted: Mon 05 Oct , 2009 6:26 am
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@enchantress: I read Atwood`s The Handmaid`s Tale, and it left a very strong impression on me. I wanted to get more Atwood under my belt, so I purchased Cat`s Eye and a collection of short stories called Bluebeard`s Egg. The latter I finished, and it was darn good; the former I`m still getting the gist of. Anyway the idea was that I tried to read Oryx and Crake last year, before trying THT, and it honestly beat me back then, it was too much all of the sudden. But now, having a bit of experience with reading Atwood, I daresay I`ll like it better the second time around.


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