It’s that time of year where the course catalog is sent out, where I agonize over what courses to take because there are so many options, and where I help everyone else figured out how to take chemistry, biology, statistics, and psychology 102 in a semi-reasonable fashion. This Thursday is the day I register for spring classes, and it looks like I’ll be taking Introduction to Literature. I need a “verbal expression” class for my liberal arts requirements, and speculative fiction sounds way too much like political science fiction. Therefore, it looks like I’ll be reading these books come next spring:
I’ve heard great things about Complete Persepolis, and Oscar Wao, which won a Pulitzer Prize, was quite popular on the blogosphere a while back. The others, though, I’ve never even heard of before.
Quite a few people considered it cute when Pride and Prejudice was infused with zombies; I saw it as a mockery of a classic novel. Then, in July, Quirk Classics announced it would be publishing Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and I said no way, no how. August saw the introduction of Mr Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange, whose first attempt at conveying Darcy’s thoughts left me less than satisfied.
And then I found out at the beginning of October Del Ray Books was jumping on the band wagon with Little Women and Warewolves, which is set to be released in June 2010. (Not to be out done, Quirk announced four days ago about it would be releasing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, a prequel to their bestseller.)
Little Women is one of the first books I remember receiving as a gift. My mom gave me a beautiful hardback copy that I love probably even more than I do the story. I thought this had gone too far with Pride and Prejudice because j’adore Jane Austen, but Little Women is a very special book to me and this just feels wrong. So wrong.
Anyways, what do you think about “monsterfication”? Should these classics be left alone? Or can you just not wait to get your hands on a copy of Little Women and Warewolves, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, and/or Mr Darcy, Vampyre.
Title: Oryx and Crake
Author: Margaret Atwood
Pages: 374
Published: 2004
“With the stunning blend of prophecy and social satire she bought to her classic The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood gives us a keenly prescient novel about the future of humanity — and its persent.
Humanity here equals Snowman, and in Snowman’s recollections Atwood re-creates a time much like our own, when a boy named Jimmy loved an elusive, damaged girl called Oryx and a sardonic genius called Crake. But now Snowman is alone, and as we learn why we also learn about a world that could become ours one day.”
Oryx and Crake was an extra assignment given to me by my Political Science Fiction professor after I went to her and told I was “understimulated” (her words, not mine) by my classes. At the time we were about to start The Handmaid’s Tale, which I read this past May and enjoyed, and upon mentioning this fact, she instructed me to read Atwood’s finalist for the 2003 Booker Prize and the 2003 Governor General’s Award. Since she listened the audio book, her plan was that I would read it and upon finishing it, we’d compare notes. I’m interested in what she’ll have to say about her experience listening because my experience reading certainly does not match up to her previous statements. Needless to say, I struggled to enjoy Atwood’s science fiction novel.
Snowman, the main character and perceivably the only human left living, is the caretaker of the Crakers, or the Children of Crake, the mad scientist of this tale. Complicating this story, though, are the friendship between Snowman (also known as Jimmy) and Crake – formulated in their youth, this friendship struggles to last through college after Crake heads to the prestigious Watson-Crick Institute and Snowman to the arts-based Martha Graham Academy – and each boy’s relationship with Oryx, the character we’re given the least insight into. Originally, Oryx’s mother sells her to a man who blackmails others for trying to have s*x with her; later, she’s passed along to a child p*rnographer and the video she “stars” in is the first time Snowman and Crake see her. The video haunts Snowman; it’s barely a blimp on Crake’s screen. After landing a job at a biotech corporation, Crake creates both the Crakers – innocent and peaceful, these genetically engineered humans are herbivores whose, um, parts turn blue during their limited breeding seasons – and a genetic pandemic that, apparently, kills all humans except for Snowman. His final product, though, provides the climax of this tale.
I liked the concepts behind the novel – corporate parasitism, ethics, humanity, science over arts, genetic engineering – and I thought quite a bit of it was a reflection of life today. Of course, this is the whole point of science fiction novels, and I would have been disappointed if this had not been the case with Oryx and Crake. One thing I did noticed, though, was the similarities between Atwood’s novel and several I have read for my political science fiction class. For example, in “The Product of the Extremes” by Brenda W. Clough, a genetically-based pill eliminates racism and, ultimately, race; in Oryx and Crake, Crake believes the BlyssPluss pill will eliminate racism. It will certainly make a good talking point when I meet with my professor on Friday.
So what didn’t I like about this tale? I really struggled to get into the novel because I didn’t like any of the characters. Crake was too much of a mad scientist, Snowman rubbed me the wrong way, and Oryx played both men. Ultimately, though, it was the lack of information and lack of characterization of all three main characters that bother me. Structurally speaking, Oryx and Crake suffers from being both physically too long and from taking too long for the story to move forward. The whole thing is told in flashbacks as Snowman reminisces as the Crakers pester him for stories of their creator. The vulgarity and the fact that sex was everywhere in this novel really turned me off to it. As boys, Snowman and Crake play “Kwiktime Osama,” which mimics the actions of its reference, and “Blood and Roses,” a graphic videogame where players play historical rivals and battle to the bloody, gory death. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Commentary on today? Of course. Unnecessarily nauseating? Resoundingly yes. And I still don’t understand Crake’s motivations for his actions; there’s no clear reasoning for anything that happens, and that’s ultimately this novel’s downfall despite the open ending.
Apparently The Year of the Flood, which was released towards the end of last month, is the follow-up to Oryx and Crake, but I don’t plan on reading it.
Rating: 1
Balance of Opinion: 1 More Chapter, Book-a-Rama, DogEar Diary
I’m starting to think the Classics Challenge ‘09 isn’t my cup of tea. This year, I didn’t read a single book of my original list, and instead had to “resort” to old favorites to get anywhere on the challenge. (Huck Finn and I just were not getting along.) The challenge ran from April 1 to Oct. 31, 2009, and I tried to participate at the “Classics Snack” level, which means I was aiming to read four classics plus a bonus book.
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
- Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
- Emma (Jane Austen)
- The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
- Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)
- Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
I’m starting to think that maybe I just wasn’t meant to participate as a reader in Dewey’s Read-a-Thon. Last year, I had prom on the same day at the read-a-thon; this year I have the Worcester Novice Invitational Regatta until late morning, an alumni dinner from early afternoon to the wee hours of the night, and in between all of this I’ll be helping my friend, Katie, move from one dorm to another. But I thought I would share some of the books I would be reading if I was participating just as I did last year. So if you haven’t finalized that list year or are making one more trip to the library, here’s what I would be reading.
- Baghdad Diaries (Nuha Al-Radi) — One woman’s account of the life in Baghdad during the first war on Iraq.
- The Cage Keeper (Andrew Dubus III) — By the author of House of Sand and Fog, this one is a collection of stories about those who stand on the fringe of society — ex-cons.
- Digging to America (Anne Tyler) — I bought this one at my library’s book sale because I really, really liked the cover.
- The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) — This is a reread for me (my review), but, alas, it’s for a class and I need a little refresher before I start writing my paper on it.
- The Lexus and the Olive Tree (Thomas L. Friedman) — I’ve been having a difficult timing getting into Friedman’s From Beirut to Jerusalem, so I’m hoping I’ll have better luck with this one.
- Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood) — I told my adviser and professor I was under-stimulated by my classes, so she promptly threw this book at me and we have an appointment to discuss it in November.
