Book Chatter

Oryx and Crake
By Margaret Atwood
Vintage, 2004, 400pp.

The Short of It:

You know when they say that books should make you feel things? Yeah. Oryx and Crake will definitely leave you feeling things.

The Rest of It:

*No Spoilers*

I purchased this book at least a decade ago. I started it a few times and couldn’t get into it, but then a group of us online picked it as a book club pick, and so I looked for my copy, found it (amazing given the pile of books I have) and dove in.

I’ll be careful not to give much away because most of what you feel while reading it, is shock and dismay that such things can exist, and actually do today.

Atwood describes a bleak world. There is the before, and then there is the after. As a reader, you get a glimpse of how we got here but there is much left to the imagination as to what prompted it all. Dystopian worlds are bleak and lifeless but with Oryx and Crake, the story is teeming with life but in the most disturbing way.

Animals are hybrids. For example, Raccoons and Skunks become their own breed. Pigs? Something else entirely. People, aka humanoids, run around without clothing as there is no need for it. Food is scarce. But just like now, there are the HAVES and the HAVE NOTS. The Haves are pulling the strings and everything in this story is Biblical in nature.

Think Adam and Eve and the serpent.

Oryx and Crake is part of a trilogy which includes The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam. This book was a tough read. It was hard on my soul. Not just because of the times we are living in, but because the subject matter is delicate and that is why I will include a trigger warning here for sexual content because Atwood does not handle it in a delicate way. It’s front and center, in your face. I had to put the book down a few times but since it was a group read, I kept going.

Atwood called this story a “romance” and that just blows my mind.

Will I read the others in the trilogy? Probably, yes. Because as numb as we can all be to the nonsense of this world, you have to feel things now and then to know that you are still here.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Cat’s Eye
By Margaret Atwood
Vintage, 1998, 480pp.

The Short of It:

What a read. Took me forever to get to it, but so glad I did.

The Rest of It:

Cat’s Eye is the story of Elaine Risley, a controversial painter who returns to Toronto, the city of her youth, for a retrospective of her art. Engulfed by vivid images of the past, she reminisces about a trio of girls who initiated her into the the fierce politics of childhood and its secret world of friendship, longing, and betrayal. ~ from the publisher

When I chose this book for club, some online readers immediately warned me that it was a rough read. Oddly enough, I didn’t get that at all. Yes, maybe some childhood trauma in relation to bullying but honestly, I’ve experienced much worse. Instead, what I felt was a return to our younger years. The formative years where what others say, shape you.

Also, the impact of friends and their parents. You never know what a child is remembering or how any act of kindness or cruelness is perceived. Elaine Risley runs around with a pack of girls, a pack. You know the kind. The kind with a ringleader. The kind where every action is scrutinized and your membership in the group hangs on every word that comes out of your mouth.

Elaine is a painter though. Everything that she takes in, eventually comes out on a canvas. Her art is controversial. Criticism abounds and yet, she manages to find places for her work to be displayed and has made a name for herself. She calls herself a painter but not an artist. Interesting. As if just the title of artist means something less than what it is.

But those girls. It made me think about gender and how it plays a role in cruelness. Girls can be mean. Very mean. Their words are like daggers and their criticism can slice right through you. Boys can be mean, but I’d argue that they tend to be more physical. They can duke it out in a fist fight and be friends again by the end of the day.

The impact of those relationships in childhood is never ending. As we discussed the book, we could not help but revisit traumas we experienced in childhood. Bigger evils, lesser. It’s all relative but what happens to you in childhood sticks.

Atwood is an amazing storyteller. She can pivot on a dime and does. Her depiction of childhood is spot on. Highly recommend.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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