Le dernier homme (2003)

I almost gave up on this one. 150 pages in, and I wasn't 'feeling it.' You know, 'too many good books, too little time.' But, I hung in there for one more day and darn if I wasn't hooked. The story finished strong and I will read the second in the series. Slogging through this time paid off. ( )

This is definitely a different take on the post-apocalyptic cataclysmic novels that are normally written. First of all, this is written in a non-linear fashion and second of all, the apocalypse is just an event and not really a part of the major storyline. The non-linear fashion is interesting but there were many times where I thought I had skipped a part of the book as a leap in time or a leap back in time would make it feel as if I should know what's gone on before. In a lot of ways, the story sets itself up in a universe very much like "A Brave New World". The hyper sexualization into nominalization, the elite vs. the savages, and the society over the individual plays itself very similar to Huxley's novel.

I will say that this novel is probably above my head in that there are a lot of unanswered questions that seem like it would have been easy for the author to give but doesn't. The story takes forever in parts to get going where we hear more about a small aspect of life for three chapters but the final two chapters are like a mad sprint. There are no characters to root for, there are no good or really even partially good guys. The reveal isn't a surprise, although I'm not sure it was suppose to be one. For a post-apocalyptic book, this was a really tough one to stay with, care about, or get through. I feel like the book set up the world fine enough but at the expense of the attention span of the audience. I am more interested in the later half of the book than the early life, teenage life, young adult life of the main character. I am most likely to not read the others in the series and this one will not be added to my recommend list. Final Grade - D ( )

Una conmovedora historia sobre el último habitante del planeta en un inquietante mundo postapocalíptico. Primera parte de la llamada Trilogía de MaddAddam.

Oryx y Crake es una inolvidable historia de amor y una conmovedora imagen de un cercano e inquietante horizonte postapocalíptico.

Conocido como Jimmy antes de que el planeta se viese asolado por una serie de desastres naturales, Hombre de las Nieves llora la perdida de Crake, su mejor amigo, y de la bella y esquiva Oryx, de quien ambos estaban enamorados, mientras lucha por sobrevivir en absoluta soledad sobre la faz de la Tierra.

A merced de los elementos, acechado por los recuerdos y sin más compañía que la de los Hijos de Crake, esos seres de ojos verdes que lo consideran una especie de profeta, Hombre de las Nieves se pregunta cómo ha podido cambiar todo en tan poco tiempo y emprende un doble viaje hacia su pasado y hacia la burbuja de alta tecnología creada por Crake, el lugar donde empezó todo.

An interesting mix of sci fi and dystopia. The flashback format is usually pretty hard for me but this seemed more organic in the telling. ( )

I read Oryx and Crake on a whim after seeing it suggested. I have mixed feelings on this read. More of the time spent discussing the menial aspects of Crake and Jimmy's childhood could have gone to explaining the science behind what happened or what led to ALL of society enjoying watching people being tortured, child-porn, and torture. The world itself and questions raised were intriguing at first but I quickly grew bored with the repetitiveness. Am I supposed to like this horrible society, or even care if they survive?

Characters - The characters were fairly one dimensional. Once I realized there wasn't anything particularly interesting happening with Oryx, Snowman, or even Crake for that matter I was disappointed. Oryx is this mysterious character dangled on a string for 90% of the book and is gone in one sentence? For as much mystery was written around her, I expected more. Oryx had limited dialogue and character development, other than us finding out that both Jimmy and Oryx were in love with her (according to Jimmy, but he seems to be confusing sex and obsession with love). Very unsympathetic characters that make it hard to care. Crake is insane. Jimmy/snowman is boring. Oryx is uninteresting and unrealistic.

Plot – Intriguing, thankfully this was a quick read but still felt too long. Lots of flashbacks throughout, while I understand this as a literary device and appreciate it when it is well done, in this instance I found it distracting and unnecessary as the majority felt like filler. I can't see myself continuing with the trilogy. I guess Oryx and Crake is more of a dystopian speculative fiction rather than sci-fi, but I would have preferred more information about the biotechnology used, back story of how society got to this point, not just information about Jimmy's childhood and his pointless obsession with Oryx. ( )