Oryx and Crake (spoilers, maybe)

Cafe Society
1

So I just finished reading it, and I have a few things I’d like to discuss:

  1. What was the purpose of Oryx? She seemed to play no role except as love interest (and as a way to show how depraved the world is, which could easily have been demonstrated in a different way), which strikes me as a very uncharacteristic thing for Atwood to do. I kept waiting for her Secret Role to become apparent, and the ending was kind of suggestive, but I still don’t really know what she was there for.

  2. One of the things I love about Atwood is they way she writes her female protagonists - they’re amazing. In contrast, for instance, John Irving usually writes as a man, and when he’s written as female (A Widow For One Year) it really wasn’t believable, for me. So, the question, addressed to men: how was she, as a man?

Overall I thought it was great, although not one of her best.

Other comments?

2

Been done here

3

Been done here

I enjoyed the read, but she is one of my all time favorite authors, so I am kinda biased.