Is it possible to read Oryx and Crake and be happy?

sorry IloveGH...I haven't read oryx and crake!

I have read all these dystopian fiction books, I think I find them ultimately uplifting, in a peverse way, because at heart I'm an optimisit and they are worse case scenarios.
I liked O&C but then, I am an Atwood fan.

I had a copy of When the Wind Blows when I was around 12. I adored raymond Briggs as an illustrator and David Bowie sanf the theme song to the film was written and performed by Bowie, who was my idol at the time.
I remember sobbing and sobbing at it, it was so moving.

At secondary school, we had an army base nearby and every now and again they had a drill with the air raid sirens going off. It was so chilling, especially as one of our teachers unfailingly used to say ''We've got four minutes, class....''

Bookswapper, do you read Chrsitopher Brookmyre? If so, and you may think this is a bit nuts, any thoughts on how Pandaemonium and Oryx & Crake and about the "same" subject and how interesting it is that they can be dealt with so very differently.

Read O&C and was obsessed with analysing it for weeks afterwards. Drove DH crazy. But I got over it! It's worth it. Also read The Road and finished it about three weeks ago. I've blocked it from my mind and will NOT be seeing the film. Too bleak. Perversely, though, I'm glad I read it because it's about the strength of the human spirit (in some). O&C about something far more sinister.

cool!

Mine was the AL Kennedy one - well I liked it at the time!

will be choosing sonething else this time but I read a lot of scottish authors so I cant help it!

Bookswapper - ooh yes please. I've loved being part of it. Which one was your book? Mine was a bit of a disaster too.

WTWB - hope in the sense of their continued love and resilience and own positive outlooks I guess. I really want to read it agian now but don't have a copy. Adds to Crimble list.

I did Cat's Eye for English A Level and found it quite disturbing. Don't think I've read any more of her work.

janeite

do you wish to continue with our book circle (Second Circle) for next year?

I promise to send a better book

I found Oryx and Crake quite bleak. It's very well done but I prefer a lot of Atwood's other books. Because the main character is on his own apart from in his memory, there's a lack of interaction which is part of the point of the book, but I miss the character interaction which is something I like to have when reading a novel.

For anyone who does like post-apocalyptic or dystopian fiction, I also recommend Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower. Though again it's not altogether happy reading, perhaps there's a glimmer of hope at the end.

Because WTWB is done in cartoon form I've always found it disturbing, as it goes against expectation, maybe even more so for a child?

Am teaching A Clockwork Orange, hence all the dystopian fiction I'm reading, with a sideways lurch into some fabulous texts, like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

See, I think by then, they have started to discuss things in history, will probably be beginning to watch the news and developing opinions and whilst it offers a horribly bleak picture, it also offers a beautifully portrayed and sympathetic picture of love and hope, without any of the cynicism of so many of the more 'modern' texts marketed to the age group. Providing they have an adult to discuss it with, I think it's fine. And much, much better than for eg: The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas.

I really enjoyed it - wasn't upset by it in a long term way, although it is gritty.

I read it about a couple of years ago, and it hasn't really stayed with me. Although there is one image that pops into my head every time I consider eating chicken that isn't free-range organic..... (hope I've got the right book now)

have ordered those others mentioned from Amazon

I hope your recommendations are good !

Am not sure about WTWB - I think for children aged 9 or 10 upwards it's fine.

Mr Loomis is in Z For Zacharia I think - not read that for years and years and can't remember it at all.

Coincidence! Am struggling through Oryx and Crake right now but, to be fair, I'm only about 20 pages in. Dystopian fiction isn't my favourite genre but am ploughing my way through 1984, Handmaid's, Brave New World, Farenheit 451.

Can remember as a teenager reading at school Brother in the Land and another similarly themed text but the name of it escapes me - have a feeling there was creepy character called Mr Loomas in it.

I read it a couple of weeks ago, and did find it disturbing - much like the Handmaids Tale, it has lurked around in my mind

Margaret Atwood is truly a great writer, I love her fiction

No, don't read it if you want to feel happy or if you want to like people. That's what I really dislike about Margaret Atwood; that 'well, is this what you want? because carry on like you are and that's what you're going to get!' air that her nasty dystopic visions of the future have, all said with a cat's bum mouth.

Did I mention that I'm not that keen on her?

Yes - sorry I misread - op was talking about On The Beach.

WTWB - When The Wind Blows - a post-nuclear picture book by Raymond Briggs of The Snowman fame - fab.