Oryx And Crake

Oryx And Crake, by Margaret Atwood

Oryx And Crake, by award-winning Canadian author Margaret Atwood, is a not-so-inconceivable tale foretelling the end of humanity as we know it. Snowman, the story's protagonist and seemingly sole-survivor of a global biological holocaust, is a man haunted by the memory of his best friend Crake, and the love of a mysterious woman, Oryx. He recounts a world ruled by ruthless corporations that vied with one another for top intellectual talent, talent that was granted free reign to create designer genetically-engineered abominations in the name of corporate profits. Atwood's prose is rich and inventive in its description of an elitist, market-driven society where the dollar means everything and the building blocks of life are the means by which to acquire it. I consider this story extremely pertinent to our "real" world where governments are allowing corporations to sell genetically-modified food and to patent genetic code not even invented by them, but by Mother Nature. Oryx And Crake left me wondering whether the human race truly is its own worst enemy, and whether we won't eventually be pushed aside for a species less inclined to destroy itself and everything else around it.
-Will