etc.

First off, this is the first time I’m reviewing a book I haven’t finished reading. That said, let’s not call this a review shall we? Let’s instead call it my thoughts on reading Oryx and Crake. Secondly, I’m not going to weigh in on the science-fiction-or-not debate mostly because I don’t read science fiction or fantasy and therefore cannot add any educated comments to the debate on whether or not this book is a work of sci-fi/fantasy and if it is, whether or not it is GOOD sci-fi/fantasy.

Now that’s all out of the way, I will say this: I really didn’t like this book. Partly because of the science fiction thing — I find most allegory too heavy-handed — and partly because I just wasn’t in the mood for flights of futuristic fancy. It took me a week to plod through 200 pages, which, if you know my reading habits, is an agonizing pace for me. I would have put it down sooner if it hadn’t been nominated for the Booker and if it wasn’t Margaret Atwood, a writer who I have loved and hated in the past. She did an adequate job of invoking sympathy for the protagonist (Snowman), and I had a marginal amount of interest in the underlying narrative (how the earth came to be a wasteland), but at the heart of it, I suppose I would just rather read a factual cautionary tale than an allegorical one. If you feel the same, have a look at this list of sources on the publisher’s site.