Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
★ Top 25 book of 2003 · #19 on Best Books of 2003
Snowman may be the last human after a plague, grieving his friend Crake and the elusive Oryx. With the green-eyed Children of Crake, he crosses wilderness that was once a city, ruined by corporate genetic engineering.
Best for: Fans of near-future dystopias mixing a love story with genetic engineering warnings
Oryx and Crake is #19 on BookWard's Best Books of 2003, out of 52 2003 books that cleared our data bar.
What Oryx and Crake is about
Snowman lives alone near a group of gentle, childlike people called the Crakers, in a world that has clearly ended. As he scavenges to survive, he remembers his earlier life as a boy named Jimmy, growing up in a society run by corporations, with the privileged sheltered inside walled compounds. There he befriends Glenn, a gifted science student who renames himself Crake, and the two grow up on very different paths, one writing ad copy, the other studying bioengineering.
Oryx, a woman who becomes entangled with both of them, adds to the tension between the friends. Margaret Atwood calls the book speculative fiction, and it asks what happens when science and commerce race ahead of any sense of responsibility. The tone is darkly satirical and bleak.
Oryx and Crake on the Best Books of 2003
Oryx and Crake came out in 2003. Of the 52 books first published in 2003 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #19 on our Best Books of 2003 list.
Why it made the list: 360 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (48 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2003 list
- Women Who Think Too Much Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, #17
- Quattro Topi Nella Giungla Nera Elisabetta Dami, #18
- Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code Eoin Colfer, #20
- Can You Keep a Secret? Sophie Kinsella, #21
See all Best Books of 2003 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2002 Best Books of 2004.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 275 want to read it, 10 are reading it now and 75 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.2 out of 5 from 48 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 63 | 55% |
| Reader love | 73 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 38 | 20% |
Questions about Oryx and Crake
When was Oryx and Crake published?
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood was first published in 2003.
Was Oryx and Crake one of the best books of 2003?
Oryx and Crake is #19 on BookWard's Best Books of 2003, out of 52 2003 books that cleared our data bar. 360 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (48 ratings).
Why is Oryx and Crake on the Best Books of 2003 list?
360 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (48 ratings).
More of the best books of 2003
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling, #1
- Into the Wild Erin Hunter, #2
- The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini, #3
- Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Mo Willems, #4
- A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson, #5
- The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown, #6
See the full Best Books of 2003, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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