Oryx and Crake

By: Margaret Atwood

Narrated by: Campbell Scott

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A stunning and provocative new novel by the internationally celebrated author of The Blind Assassin, winner of the Booker Prize

Margaret Atwood’s new novel is so utterly compelling, so prescient, so relevant, so terrifyingly-all-too-likely-to-be-true, that listeners may find their view of the world forever changed after listening to it.

This is Margaret Atwood at the absolute peak of her powers. For listeners of Oryx and Crake, nothing will ever look the same again.

The narrator of Atwood's riveting novel calls himself Snowman. When the story opens, he is sleeping in a tree, wearing an old bedsheet, mourning the loss of his beloved Oryx and his best friend Crake, and slowly starving to death. He searches for supplies in a wasteland where insects proliferate and pigoons and wolvogs ravage the pleeblands, where ordinary people once lived, and the Compounds that sheltered the extraordinary. As he tries to piece together what has taken place, the narrative shifts to decades earlier. How did everything fall apart so quickly? Why is he left with nothing but his haunting memories? Alone except for the green-eyed Children of Crake, who think of him as a kind of monster, he explores the answers to these questions in the double journey he takes - into his own past, and back to Crake's high-tech bubble-dome, where the Paradice Project unfolded and the world came to grief.

With breathtaking command of her shocking material, and with her customary sharp wit and dark humour, Atwood projects us into an outlandish yet wholly believable realm populated by characters who will continue to inhabit our dreams long after the last chapter. This is Margaret Atwood at the absolute peak of her powers.

©2002 O.W. Toad, Ltd. (P)2003 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Ingenious and disturbing.… A landmark work of speculative fiction, comparable to A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World.… Atwood has surpassed herself.”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Oryx and Crake can hold its own against any of the 20th century’s most potent dystopias – Brave New World, 1984, The Space Merchants – with regard to both dramatic impact and fertility of invention.…Oryx and Crake showcases a nightmare version of the present era of globalization on a globe coming apart at its ecological seams.… It is a scathing (because bang-on) portrait of the way we live now.…Majestic.…” –Washington Post

“Atwood’s new masterpiece.…Extraordinary.… [Atwood pulls] back the curtain on her terrible vision with such tantalizing precision, its fearsome implications don’t fully reveal themselves until the final pages.… A darkly comic work of speculative fiction.” –W Magazine (U.S.)

Amazing

Incredible and again Margaret Atwood astounds with her storytelling- can’t wait to listen to 2 and 3 of the trilogy!

a dystopian trip

Have no idea what I was walking into left not knowing what happened but can’t wait for more

Excellent

This is a dark and absorbing listen that calls to mind other poetic dystopias: Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy and The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk. I'll listen to it again. This is a book that haunts.

Compelling, could not 'put it down'

This is going on my short list of best novels I've read. My only complaint is it was too short, and I've hoping for a continuation in another book as Atwood basically leaves you at a cliffhanger of sorts, but from what I can see a sequel from Atwood is unlikely...and it's almost 2007. Regardless, still a gripping and compelling story, a glimpse of a possible future given the state of the world today.

...........😐

This is a very strange story. I’ve never in my life had to reread as much as I had to do in this book. It’s not a terrible book. The first chapter is so good and hooked me right away. I have never read a book that was written in the style that Atwood wrote for this. I had a hard time understanding where in time we were and it just felt every floaty. There are no characters that are likable which is the point I think. It was defiantly an experience. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading it. It’s different than anything else you’ve ever read I’m sure. I knelt thinking that if I were reading this high I’d understand it more lol.

Dark but satisfying

This was a wonderful listen. It was at times a bit depressing, which one must expect with this sort of apocalyptic science fiction. But it was beautifully narrated, and by the end emerges as a deeply satisfying story. I highly recommend it.

excellent

compelling, like an audible train wreck, you have to keep listening even though you know the end is near. It had the same effect on my coworkers. We devoured it, unable to speak or talk to others while listening to this selection. excellent.

loved this one

a very strange, very enthralling tale of the apocalypse. such a strangely imagined world with so many strange characters and things. not a perfect book by any means. it left me feeling unfulfilled, but perhaps it was meant to?

A book that misunderstands genetic engineering

Cringeworthy story that assumes every paranoid conspiracy about the medical industry is true. Doctors are trying to keep you sick in order to sell you more medicine. If you take genes from a snake and a rat, you get a half-snake half-rat monster. This book has helped spread such nonsense.

The narration is good and the ending is good, but that doesn't make up for the harmful misinformation that fills the rest of the book.

Loved it!

Excited for the next part of the story. Good performance. Can't wait to see it as a movie Enjoyed it!