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Gambler
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« on: June 12, 2015, 11:40:07 pm »

I finished Oryx and Crake a few month ago, started The Year of the Flood just now. I recall them being hyped through the roof here. Hm. The books are mildly entertaining, but that's about it. They are choke-full of fashionable cynicism, of the kind that is often used as an excuse to bitch about everything while doing nothing. There is no aim, no real point to it.  After reading a few books of this type I find this omnidirectional misanthropy rather boring.

So what is this series? It's not a warning. It's not an attempt to use the post-apocalyptic setting as a thought experiment--to analyze and derive conclusions. It's not even a case of using end of the world as a catalyst for some particular story that would be hard to jump-start otherwise.

In general, the storylines are very sparse. Most of both books are just day-to-day descriptions. Jumping in time and place, showing how absolutely horrible everything is in that fictional future. I supposed that's the main appeal for the modern reader. Reveling in generic negativity. "Look, shitty little people with their shitty little lives controlled by evil corporations! Decadent society with no interest in anything! People destroying the nature and themselves with horrible things like science and engineering. Caboom, it's all gone to shit! Mua-ha-ha-ha."

The worst part is probably characterization. I really don't mind minimalist characters in situational science fiction. Asimov spent very little time chiseling out personalities and still managed to write masterpiece books, because he was focused on something entirely different. But this is not applicable here. Or maybe it is, but not in the same way. Atwood doesn't eschew characterization on purpose, but everyone in her books ends up faceless anyway. What can you tell me about Snowman, for example? Most of the Oryx and Crake book are dedicated to describing his life, but what kind of person is he? I really can't tell anything beyond that he is a bumbling mediocrity. What does he look like? Can't picture it. What are his interests outside of watching some messed up crap on the Internet? Making up words and fake motivational booklets. Now, imagine that in real life.

A well-written character is not just a set of described behaviors. Behaviors only exist within a particular situation. A proper character, however, is someone we can imagine outside of the situations in the book. The fact that I cannot do this for someone who got so much spotlight indicates that Atwood characterization is shallow. I would say that the fault here lies with the aforementioned brand of cynicism. I've seen the same thing in every single book that exerted it. Everyone ends up as a heap of annoying trivialities. Even supposedly "great" people like Crake.

Speaking of Crake. He easily wins every moral or philosophical argument he has with Jimmy. It's so laughably one-sided that initially I thought maybe the author was sarcastic. I thought she was showing how a fucked-up ideology can bloom and prosper in a place where there is no one to counter it. But now when I am reading Year of the Flood it seems increasingly likely that wasn't sarcasm. The books decry corporations and consumerism, that much is obvious. But really, what do they say about the likes of Crake and God's Gardners? If Crake didn't off most of the people on the planet he would easily be one of the only two "positive" characters in the novel. Almost everyone else there is drowning in horrible personal traits and he has close to none. He is the most intelligent character of the book and also the only one with clear agency (i.e. he is the only one who chooses how to act, rather than being forced to do things by the environment). Also, in retrospect, the whole end-of-the-world affair reads less like a planned act of murder on unprecedented scale and more like humanity being "punished" for it sins,  which Atwood so eagerly demonstrates in almost every chapter. "Look at a this horrible, horrible humanity. Look at those pure, wonderful Crakers."

Something similar goes on with God's Gardners from the second book. They are a religious cult, but they are made look like the only decent people in the midst of rape, robbery, poverty and effective slavery.

* * *

Science fiction that hates science. The novels show no interest in non-materialistic aspects of research. Gaining knowledge, reasoning about the world, constructing something new. Scientists (except Crake) are show as boring drones.  Every single engineering product in Oryx and Crake is either a catastrophe in making, a tool for corporate oppression or some branded, glittery, toxic trash made specifically for "plebs". Nothing is ever good in its own right. Nothing is appreciated for its design, ingenuity, elegance, efficiency.

* * *

I find it ironic that the relentless cynicism of these books is a direct product of the very consumerism they decry. It's a fashion statement, not a genuine belief based on experience. And apparently it sells.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2015, 10:33:25 am by Gambler » Logged
sporky
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« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2015, 12:32:16 pm »

What about the pig things? Those were awesome, for a scary monster. I might just be scared of smart pigs, though.
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People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there.
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Gambler
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« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2015, 08:20:45 am »

Can't say anything bad about pigoons. They were a good choice for "natural" enemies. Not too monster-like.

Although, some other splices are rather dubious. The sheer quantity of them, their nature and cutesy two-part names quickly started to annoy me. Snats? Liobams? Really? Stuff like that looks extremely superficial, like modern-day version of killer robots.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2015, 11:59:35 am by Gambler » Logged
sporky
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« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2015, 05:18:23 pm »

Pigeons! That's the name. I thought those were chilling.
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People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there.
CORMAC MCCARTHY, The Road
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