|
‘Margaret Atwood’s 11th novel delivers two huge surprises: a male protagonist and an action-movie plot. Atwood has never emphasised action. She is a novelist of ideas and commitments, a Swiftian satirist fond of what she herself calls “gallows humour”, but also a poet obsessed with language and its incantatory powers. In contrast, Oryx and Crake is a highly cinematic adventure story of daring and survival ... Oryx and Crake is a success and a breakthrough. Who would have guessed that she could do male teenagers so brilliantly, or produce such a fast-paced thriller? And that she could so smoothly integrate these effects with a tightly worked-out and intellectually gripping sci-fi mystery? The male undergraduates who groaned and grimaced over The Handmaid’s Tale in my Contemporary Fiction courses should feel a lot more at home with this book. Hey, Alex, Seth and all you boys in the back row: this one’s for you.’ Elaine Showalter, London Review of Books ‘A landmark work of speculative fiction, comparable to A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World . . . Atwood has surpassed herself.’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Rigorous in its chilling insights and riveting in its fast-paced "what if" dramatization, Atwood's superb novel is as brilliantly provocative as it is profoundly engaging.’ Booklist
|
 |