Oryx and Crake (4)

I finished my book this week, and I read roughly around 3 hours I would say at least. The finale of everything coming together was a fast read; I really did not want to put the book down until I finished everything. Although I could see some of the events coming, I was completely shocked by some of the events that happened in the ending. We find out that the "plague" that has hit the entire world and completely destroying the whole human race is actually a result of a drug that Crake and his company has created. This drug, called BlyssPluss, is a single pill that would do all the following:
(a) would protect the user against all known sexually transmitted diseases, fatal, inconvenient, or merely unsightly;
(b) would prolong youth;
(c) would provide an unlimited supply of libido and sexual prowess, thus reducing the frustration and blocked testosterone that led to jealousy and violence, and eliminating feeling of low self-worth.
Since I already knew that "something" had to be killing the entire human race, I kind of figured there was something involving these drugs that had to be the cause. Crake had Oryx go around to various parts of the world (pretty much every country) to sell these BlyssPluss pills that the company knew that NO ONE could resist but purchase the pill. While Oryx was going around and doing this, she would come back and "please" her boss (Crake), but she only did this for business affairs, not because she had feelings for him. Shortly after she pleased Crake, Oryx would go spend the rest of her time with Jimmy (Snowman) since she actually enjoyed his company and had feelings of love for him. Jimmy, however, constantly asked her why she "pleased" Crake and pestered her by saying that they could run away together to the pleeblands (the real world outside of the Compound). Oryx simply insisted that Crake was good to her and that Jimmy had nothing to worry about since her feelings were not for Crake but for him instead. On one of these late night excursions Oryx told Jimmy that she would go pick up some pizza for them to eat. She did not return for hours. Worried and frantic, Jimmy knows that something must be wrong since she would not take this long to return to him. Then he heard his cellphone ring and answered it to find a frantic Oryx crying on the other end of the phone. She sobs to Jimmy and says that she is sorry and did not know... Jimmy is confused by this statement and questions her about this. She tells him that it was in the pills she was giving away, the ones she was selling to all those countries. She says that they were supposed to help people. Then she goes on to say what Crake said to her, but the phone call was cut and Jimmy cannot get ahold of her again. Jimmy could not bear to think that something had happened to Oryx or if she had taken the pill herself and wondered if she was already infected with the fatally contagious bleeding disease the pills brought upon the user. Then Jimmy has everybody leave the airlocked biodome where the Crakers are at; he tells the workers to all go back to their suites and rest up since they would need to work strenuously after their night's rest. He lied to them and locked everyone out but himself and the Crakers. Crake shows up with Oryx in his arms and says she's had a hard time tonight and to let him in. Jimmy does not want to in case both of them have acquired the disease, but Crake insists that Jimmy is already immune to it all since they both have taken pleeb vaccines before entering the pleeblands. Jimmy codes the door to let them in and finds blood all over Crake's collar. Crake lets Oryx fall into one of his arms and directly tells Jimmy unsmiling that he is counting on him (to take care of the Crakers). Crake then slits Oryx's throat and Jimmy shoots Crake at the same time. Jimmy finds himself alone without his best friend (his only friend) and his true love both dead on the floor. Everyone else dies outside of the biodome as Jimmy waits it out inside and then guides the Crakers to the outside world where they begin their new life outside of the enclosed biodome. The ending is strange because Snowman finds three surviving humans of his own kind. He wonders whether they will accept him, kill him, or if he will end up killing them. He turns to look at his watch which shows zero hour (a blank face). He then decides it's time to go.

Oryx and Crake (3)

I really, really am into this book now. It is already becoming one of my favorite books ever to read. I am losing count of how much I read since I try to do it when I get little breaks, but I assume I read somewhere between 3 and a half to 4 hours this week. The story has become increasingly "twisted" and completely spins you off track the more you find out. Snowman is slowly dying - to put it bluntly - from starvation and lack of essential nutrients. He has decided to leave his safe shelter in the tree where the wolvogs, pigoons, snats, and all the other animal splices cannot reach him; he does this since he has already eaten all the nearby food within reach. He decides to tell the Crakers (the newly created species) that he has decided to visit Crake on a voyage, but they should not follow him. He tells them this lie since he does not want them to come looking for him while he is searching for food near the Compounds, which is where he used to live (the enclosed perfect community). On his way to the Compounds, he hears what he believes is the typical mating ritual of some of the Crakers. Crake had developed a new way for these species to procreate. He was always telling Jimmy (Snowman) that you could find everything you needed in nature and just adapt it. This is exactly what Crake did for these species as he used the same genes from the chimpanzees. The chimpanzees only mate when the female's bottom brightens to a red (I think the same goes for the males as well). Therefore, the Craker female is in "heat" only when her girl parts become blue, thus signaling to the Craker males that it is time for mating. Crake has also adapted from the penguins that during this "blue" time that the males would present her with flowers (penguins present the females with rocks) and the female would choose four different flowers. The four selected flowers would end up being her four chosen mates. The five of them are supposed to do their mating somewhere private and secluded from the rest of the Crakers, though. This is where Snowman believes he hears one of these rituals going on. Once Snowman makes it to the Compounds he finds the whole place completely desolate except for all the dead bodies around. I could not figure out at first why everyone was dead, but I know for sure that whatever it was they (the real human species) acquired was contagious, spread rapidly, and fatal - much like an epidemic or plague. Snowman searched in one house to find food and found a man in the bathroom. He finds everything in place except for the broken mirror, which he assumes that the deceased man smashed in a fit of rage as he watched himself agonizingly die of the "outbreak" that makes people bleed from their eyes, gurgle up their own blood, and even excrete their internal organs and everything inside of them. This part was very extreme to read about, but it has also helped me to find out more about what has happened to the human species. I still have not figured out HOW this outbreak became, so I need to keep on reading to find out more about this dilemma.

Oryx and Crake (2)

I continued reading in Oryx and Crake this week. It has gotten really, really good. This may be why I read more than 4 hours in the story this past week. As I said previously, the book reminded of The Giver. It did, however, remind me a lot of The Giver at first, but it has now thrown me into a completely different loop. It is definitely for a mature audience; I probably would not let high school students read this book even due to much of the content. Still, it is a very great story for those able to handle it. Our world is completely mocked through the book as I have noticed. Jimmy (Snowman) remembers his time with Crake and how their friendship became so close. Crake is a complete genius - the opposite of Jimmy who is merely a mediocre individual who is decent with words. One of the things Crake and Jimmy do together is look at pornographic websites and videos. This is when they both get their first glimpse at Oryx as a little sex slave for one of the sites. They save the picture and there are some pieces missing here because Snowman (Jimmy) thinks about his time with Oryx and their conversations together at an older age. I just haven't read enough to piece together when they met up. A lot that I read has to do with Oryx explaining how she was sold to some man whom treated her well, as she says, because she sold flowers and gave all her money to him at the end of the day in exchange for minor scraps and a shabby place to sleep. Eventually she was told that she should go with the gentlemen who asked her to go up to their rooms with them for more money. Although her "boss" always saved her before anything actually happened, Oryx was exposed to a lot of real world situations. She was then sold to another man who made her a "movie star" where she revealed herself in nude shows. Jimmy hates her past, but Oryx keeps on insisting that she didn't know any different and that Jimmy needs to not worry about the past - the present is all that matters now. I left off at Jimmy's college years (before he met Oryx). So, I will know more the more I keep reading.

Oryx and Crake

I began reading a new book this week - partly because I need to read this book for my Responsibilities for the Future class. The book is Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It is a BIG book!! (I usually tend to not select books that are too big). However, it is a national bestseller novel; therefore, I decided it couldn't be anything too bad then. I read the first page and was confused, so I googled the book's summary online. I read this and then decided I could tackle this book after knowing the basics to it. I began reading the story yesterday and have read for at least 2 hours now, which is a common rarity for me to read this much in a book in such short of time. The story is a bit different and kind of weird, but I tend to enjoy books of this sort. Right now the book reminds me a little of Lois Lowry's The Giver - one of my favorite books. It is different, however, from The Giver in that this society is based in the future of the 21st century. This society is the aftermath of many of the things we are researching today and close in perfecting. For instance, Jimmy (the main character) has a mother and father who work for a genetic engineering place where they grow organ tissues inside "pigoons" in order to replicate more organs for a better system of transplants to humans. They live in a closed-in community that is away from the rest of the real world; this is to help keep out any diseases or viruses that could infect the pigoons. The community is almost utopian that is filled with malls, schools, clubs, golf courses, pools, restaurants, etc. However, it is completely blocked off from the rest of the world. Therefore, there are some problems within this "perfect" community, which I guess I will find out the more I read in this book.