ORYX AND CRAKE by Margaret Atwood
As far as Snowman knows, he is the last human left on Earth. The blazing sun—hotter now that the atmosphere has thinned—burns his skin, even in the shade of the tree that is his home. His only companions are the human-like Children of Crake, a tribe of genetic experiments of whom Snowman was made guardian, before the known world came to an end.
Food is scarce, and Snowman must brave a dangerous trail, crawling with genetically-modified predators, to find supplies in the ruins of a nearby city. Haunted on his journey by the memories of Crake, the cunning super-genius, Oryx, his enigmatic lover, and Jimmy, the unremarkable boy that Snowman used to be, he relives the series of seemingly inconsequential events that led to the destruction of his world.
Oryx and Crake is both exciting and thought-provoking–taking readers on a journey through the monster-infested ruins of American civilization and forcing them to consider the potential dangers of genetic engineering, cyber-stalking, global warming, and biochemical warfare. As in most post-apocalyptic tales, Snowman’s story is intense and tragic. It isn’t a light read, but this book is hard to put down!
If you liked Oryx and Crake, you might like The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.
Susan the Librarian 