Title: Orix
and Crake Original title: Oryx and Crake
Author: Margaret Atwood
Translated by: Erdi Ibro
Genre: Novel
Publication date: October, 2021
Number of pages: 434
Price: 1400 lekë

The book in one sentence

A virus that shakes the world, a pandemic and a complete destruction of all
humanity as we know it today, a warning that comes to us from the past,
a more powerful dystopia than the "Maid's Tale", which today sounds
terribly real and current .

General information about the book

International bestseller!
Nominated for Man Booker Prize for Fiction, in 2003 and Oringe Prize for Fiction, in 2004.

" Orix and Craig " is both an unforgettable love story
and a captivating vision of the future, in a post-apocalyptic world.
The Snowman, known as Jim before humanity was plagued by a
terrible pandemic, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be
the last man on earth. He mourns the loss of his close friend,
Craig, and Oriks, the beautiful and mysterious woman with whom they were both in
love. In search of answers,
Snowman embarks on a journey - with the help of the Crackers, the green children created by Craig's
brilliant and monstrous mind - through the lush, non-lush nature.
long ago it was a big city, until powerful corporations pushed humanity towards an uncontrollable path of genetic mutations.

Snowman is trying to find an explanation, for himself and for the "
Crack children ", created in the laboratory, the only intelligent life form that has
survived on Earth, the fruit of genetic engineering. There are many
things they want to understand, because they are completely ignorant of
human folly .

First published in 2003, Margaret Atwood leads us to a future that is already very current and by no means "dystopian and speculative literature," as it was then called.

With the same mixture of prophecy and social satire in which he wrote
" Tale of a maid ," Margaret Atwood novel gives us a
sharp warning to the future of humanity and its present.
As shown in Orwell, Huxley is, Vonnegut, and the self-Atwood of the
" Tale of a servant ", the literary story of a failed utopia we may
hatch eyes on countless truth about the state of the planet. Our world could be that of Oryx and Craig after a few years, after the crazy decisions of those who move its threads.

Critics

The Atwood scenario is gaining importance due to our current concern regarding
bioengineering, cloning, tissue regeneration and agricultural hybrids,
thus issuing us a warning call [...]

The New York Times

This extremely fascinating book with a high fantasy joins
"The Maid's Tale" in the company of other outstanding books such as "The
Best of the Worlds" and "1984", which look to the future to warn us
of the result of human myopia.

The Times

Captivating and thrilling ... Margaret Atwood's talent surpasses that of
Orwell.

The New Yorker

"Sharpness, black humor and a captivating story ... Margaret Atwood has the
ability to seduce the reader.

Usa Today

Margaret Atwood has long been one of the best
English writers today, but "Orix and Craig" may be her best
work to date ... Brilliant, provocative, wonderful and
extremely creepy.

The Baltimore Sun.

Great, you can't miss it ... Atwood is both
magical and powerful. Extremely intelligent and scorching, with
great fantasy and compassion that she never lacks, she is a sweet-spoken narrator,
who hides the strong and necessary drugs of her biting comment to
society under the balm of extremely tangled and abducting characters
, as well as intriguing and inclusive situations.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

author

Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in over forty-five countries,
is the author of more than fifty books in prose, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. In addition to "The Maid's Tale", already a
television series that has won several awards, among her novels are Cat's Eye,
nominated for the Booker Prize; Alias ??Grace, who has won the Giller Prize in
Canada and the Mondello Prize in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the Booker Prize in 2000, published by Botime Pegi in 2017; as well as the MaddAdam trilogy, the first part of which is exactly "Orix and Craig".
In addition to the Booker Prize, she has won other prizes, such as: the Arthur C. Clarke Prize, the German Book Industry Peace Prize, the Literary Prize
Franz Kafka International Award for Achievement in Life, by PEN Center
USA, and Innovator Award by Los Angeles Times. In 2019, she became a
member of the Order of Honorary Companions for her contribution to literature. Lives in
Toronto.

Excerpts from the book

1) - It is enough, - continued Craig, - to eliminate a generation. A generation of
any kind. A generation of beetles, trees, germs, scientists,
French speakers or where I know what. Just wipe out one
generation and the game is over.


2) People have the ability to imagine death and see it as it
approaches. But this to him serves as an aphrodisiac. A dog or a rabbit
does not behave like that. We take birds, for example. During periods when
food is in short supply, females produce fewer eggs or do not
mate. All the energy, the birds spend for survival,
waiting for better days to come, while people hope
to put their soul inside another person, a new version of themselves and
live forever.


3) Jim, look at things more realistically. It is impossible for
food resources to be in direct proportion to population growth.
Homo sapiens has the ability to curb hunger. It is one of those
rare species that does not stop reproducing even when resources are depleted. In
other words - and this certainly has a limit - the less we eat, the
more we pee.

4) - Are you saying that as a species, we are doomed by hope?
- You can call it hope, but you can also call it despair.
"Hopefully, without hope, we are doomed," Jim said.
"Only as individuals," Craig returned in a cheerful tone.

5) Of course (said Oriks), monetary value could not replace
love. All children had to be forgiven for love, everyone
needed love. She too needed her mother's
love , the love she still believed in, the love she had followed in the
form of a bird, through the jungle, so that she would not be afraid and
feel lonely. But lo and behold he could not hold out his hopes in love.
Love came and went, at least you had a monetary value ...
6) When a civilization turns to dust and ashes, - he said - only art remains.
Images, words, music. Imaginary structure. It is these that give
meaning to human life.