Oryx and Crake is the second novel I have read by Atwood, with the first being when I read The Handmaid's Tale five summers ago, and in all honesty it is difficult not to compare the two, despite their vast differences. Both books could be considered dystopian, with Gilead in Handmade's and the corporations in Crake, and each are rather cynical and nihilistic about human nature and society, taking one aspect to their extreme. Both also have two timelines followed, switching between the past and the present, though Handmaid's is much more focused on the present for Offred while Crake is more focused on Jimmy's past. I don't really have any point to make with these comparisons, it's just interesting to look at how an author can write novels about such vastly different issues and still have common traits between them.
Which does beg the question: what is the issue that Oryx and Crake is about? Whereas The Handmaid's Tale can very simply be summarized as being about women's rights, Crake is not so simple. There are environmental issues, with even Jimmy's past clearly taking place in a world past the point of no return for global warming, though this is more world building than a focus.
Capitalism taken to it's furthest extremes is a big one, with mention of monopolies formed through genetically engineered coffee beans, the employees of various big corporations living their living, working, and learning in compounds for said corporation, the loss of value placed on the arts outside of being used to sold products as seen in Jimmy's job, and the secrecy and competitiveness of corporations to be the first and only to have a breakthrough, as well as lying about said breakthroughs and making promises about products which can't be kept just for the sake of selling. Not to mention the commercialization of everything imaginable on the web, from suicides and executions to seemingly easily accessible porn of every taboo imaginable, including pedophilia and bestiality with seemingly little to no consequences, and all of those mentioned above being easily accessible by minors. Not to say that these things aren't out there now, accessible to minors, but they are much more difficult to access and mostly on the dark web, as well as fairly taboo in general while in Crake they seem to just be accepted.
The biggest issue that Atwood tackles in the novel is that of genetic engineering taken way too far. Pigoons, engineered to grow multiple human organs for the purposes of those who need one, are the first example of such that the reader sees. And, in all honesty, this doesn't seem too far out there. In fact, there are scientists attempting to do just that, as well as grow human organs in a lab from stem cells. But then it goes further, to chicken breasts grown like fruit from a bush, something that just screams wrong, all the way to the engineered humans (though with so many differences, can they even be called humans or are they a new species? Would they be able to have offspring with a nonengineered human, like Snowman?) known as the Children of Crake, which takes gene manipulation far out of the bounds of anything we would consider remotely ethical. Not to mention, you know, Crake attempting to wipe out the human species with a bioengineered plague. But genetically manipulating human also isn't that far from reality, if not to this extent, with CRISPR and the prospect of being able to remove inheritable defections from the DNA of human embryos, but even this comparably much lesser genetic modification of humans is a contentious ethical and moral topic. Not to say I wouldn't want to just naturally repel insects, but experiencing "heat" like other mammals as someone that's asexual... that would be a no from me. Also, again, the whole "wiping out the rest of the human race because they're so screwed up so this new variation can inherit the earth" thing is the definition of an evil action. Like Crake is basically a super villain.
But anyway, I suppose if you made me choose one, the major societal issue of Oryx and Crake is definitely genetic engineering, as it is tied to the other two with how it impacts them, but it's definitely not as cut and dry there as The Handmaid's Tale. However, whereas Handmaid's at time can feel, ahem, a bit too relevant to the current political climate, Crake doesn't carry that same weight. Yeah, the issues within it are just as important to where society and science are going, but for the vast majority of people, they aren't daily issues whereas women's rights being taken away and increasing sexism from the government down is something basically half of the US population faces regularly. If anything, the part of Crake that felt "too close to home" was when Crake's bioweapon began spreading, and the description of new places around the globe being infected and marked on the map, which felt very reminiscent of when Coronavirus first started spreading around the globe. Thankfully the real life virus is neither a bioengineered bioweapon or nearly as deadly as Crake's virus was.
Certainly an interesting book, if depressing and not really too fun to read. Atwood's world building is always extremely fascinating to me, and it's interesting to learn more about it including the most seemingly innocuous things, such as the games played by children. She has a very creative mind, and with how the novel ends on an ambiguous note regarding the fate of Snowman, I am tempted to pick up the sequel.
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