This novel, the first in Margaret Atwood's dystopian trilogy, is a fascinating, dark and thought-provoking ride. Perhaps overshadowing the story itself, Atwood's world forces the reader into tremendous moral reflection. We are made to question the nature of exploitation, the meaning of social consent and whether effort for the greater good can ever be divorced from emotional self-interest. In terms of bigger picture message, if not story, the first book reminds me of Hugh Howey's mesmerizing Wool series. The story centers around Jimmy, also called Snowman, assumed to be the lone survivor of a plague that destroyed humanity. His companions are Crakers: a society of unworldly humanoid experiments designed to eliminate the perceived flaws of normal homo sapiens. The Crakers see Snowman as a relic and link to the "before" times as well as their source of knowledge about their creator, Crake. Jimmy has given the Crakers an origin story, that while false, is something h...
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