Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam #1)

Abstract

Moving back and forth between a post-apocalyptic present and a pre-apocalypse past, Oryx and Crake follows a man called Snowman, formerly known as Jimmy, who might be the sole survivor of a pandemic caused by a hit drug called BlyssPluss. In a world controlled by multinational corporations deliberately isolated from the outside world through walled compounds, bioengineers have become one of the most respected members of society, growing human organs in labs or genetically engineering hybrid animals. One of these bioengineers is Snowman’s late friend Crake, originally known as Glenn, the creator of the BlyssPluss wonder pill, which was designed to improved users’ libido, while also secretly making them infertile and sick with a contagious virus. Snowman, unaware of the drug’s true purposes and of Crake’s intentions when developing it, despite helping to market it, is immune to the virus, as was Crake. While most of the world’s population has been wiped out by the BlyssPluss pandemic, Snowman becomes responsible for the Children of Crake, the genetically engineered childlike people created by Crake when he was still alive, who are not affected by the contagious virus and who walk around naked.