Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood (2003)
“A satire of corporate science run amok, told by the last human on Earth — a man who loved the genius who destroyed everything.”
Short Summary
Snowman — formerly Jimmy — appears to be the last natural human alive, living in a tree beside a colony of genetically engineered post-humans called the Crakers. Through alternating flashbacks, we learn how his brilliant, sociopathic best friend Crake designed a plague disguised as a sexual enhancement pill called BlyssPluss, exterminating the human species while releasing his 'perfect' replacement race. The mysterious Oryx, whom both men loved, distributed the pill worldwide. Jimmy was left alive as the Crakers' guardian. The novel ends with Jimmy discovering three human survivors and facing an impossible choice.
Detailed Summary
Jimmy, now calling himself Snowman, wakes in a ruined world. He lives in a tree near the shore, malnourished and sunburned, tending to a group of beautiful, placid, genetically engineered beings called the Crakers who regard him as a kind of prophet. Through fragments of memory triggered by hunger, ...