Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Nan Talese, 2003.

I've got very little to say about this book, despite having liked it a good deal. I could tell you the general premise (takes place in North America in a future where the ice caps have melted and toying with DNA of creatures and plants has become the driving industry of the market...everyone seems to be dead, except for one man and a race of superhumans). I could tell you some interesting themes/approaches to sci-fi it takes (the way Atwood calls it not a science fiction, but a speculative fiction, and that she doesn't invent anything she just carries things to their logical (?) conclusions...but isn't this what all sci-fi does anyway?). But I don't really want to get into these things.

What is there to say about books that are great stories about people you care about having to deal with pretty tough obstacles, all the while unfolding themes are very much relevant to today, and that subsequently make you think about your actions in the world you live in?

What's funny is that it takes a book like O&C, one that did pretty well in terms of sales, I imagine, to remind me that this is why the majority of the world reads: to stop and spend some time up-close and personally with somebody made up, to follow them through hardships, to think about things they've known all along but have often forgotten to think about. It seems to me that this is an extremely hard thing to do, make people care about your stupid creations/ideas. I don't think I can ever write a book like this one.

What a great title, though, eh? Say it aloud: Oryx and Crake. Oryx and Crake!