Journal 3

"Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood, pp. 1-300

I'm impressed by Atwood's ability to create so many different specific and evocative emotional impressions. It's almost as though she's part of a bunch of different high-school cliques and she knows the connotations and language of each; she talks about drugs, sex, computers, government, religion... Using the romantic, idealistic, “immature” Jimmy as a narrator is perfect for this. Snowman's reflections are like listening to a friend at a party: he's so earnest about what he wants, what actually happened, what his standing is, and what it all means (generally speaking, he doesn't read much beyond what actually happened into his experiences; he considers nothing “intellectually profound” and it's wonderful since it avoids academic nonsense).
Interestingly enough, after the halfway-point of the book, the two storylines (Jimmy's and Snowman's) change roles; discussion of Jimmy's life has become stagnant for the most part as Jimmy becomes more disillusioned with life and less invested in outcomes, while Snowman has left the beach and is risking his life to make progress in surviving by finding Crake's bubble-dome.

I'm confused about what happened to Jimmy's mother; it seems she could have become a meaningful part of the plot, but instead she just turned out to be dead. Perhaps the events surrounding her were only intended as "red herrings". Overall, her part in the story has been dissatisfying.

Another part of the story I don't fully understand is the italicized parts of Snowman's thoughts that refer to himself as "honey". I now realize that they are related to his dreams about the procession of "young slender girls" (p 261)...