Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (CBR-III #12)

Cannonball Read III: Book #12/52
Published: 2003
Pages: 374 (4,479 total so far)
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

This is the second Margaret Atwood book I've read (the first was The Handmaid's Tale) and I seem to have the same reaction to her books. The premise sounds promising, but I keep putting it off. When I finally get around to reading it, it starts off slow and throws you right in the middle of some world you know nothing about. The rest of the book slowly gives you the bigger picture until it abruptly ends with no real resolution. At the beginning, I want to give up, but by the end I am completely drawn in and end up loving it.

Oryx and Crake is oddly named because the title characters are actually secondary characters. The main character (our narrator) is a man called Snowman. He lives on a post-apocalyptic earth with a group of genetically modified people he calls "Crakers".

The entire book is mostly flashbacks of Snowman (back when he was known as Jimmy). Jimmy grew up on a Compound where his parents worked at splicing animals together and doing various other experiments for financial gain. Most of the rest of the world lives in the pleeblands, where crime runs rampants. We follow Snowman through his life and his relationships with his best friend Crake and his lover Oryx as he uncovers for us the horrifying truth as to who the Crakers are and why there are no more humans.

I don't want to give too much away, because the beauty of this book really lies on how everything is eventually brought together in the end. It's a little slow at first, but once I got into it a little further, I couldn't put it down.

The Last Victim by Jason Moss (CBR-III #11)

Cannonball Read III: Book #11/52
Published: 2001
Pages: 320 (4,105 total so far)
Genre: True Crime

The Last Victim is about an 18-year-old college freshman named Jason Moss, who decides to take up a rather unique project for his senior thesis (apparently he likes to start early). He wants to form a relationship via letters with various infamous serial killers. Of course he uses different fake personas with each killer he writes, trying to write as someone he thinks they will want to form a bond with. I don't think Jason could imagine how deep this project would go or what damage it might do to his psyche.

The first (and main) killer that Jason formed a relationship with was John Wayne Gacy. It started with frequent letters, then bloomed into weekly phone calls and eventually to an ill-fated trip to the prison to meet Gacy face to face.

The book reads like a cross between The Silence of the Lambs and a true crime novel. It's a gripping read, especially when Jason meets Gacy face to face. Jason barely escapes with his life, although most of it is because of his own stupidity. The guy was pretty arrogant about the whole thing. I think he KNEW there was something fishy about the whole thing (Gacy paid for the entire trip plus bribed the guards into giving them "privacy" with minimal security precautions), but he decided it was worth it to try and get into Gacy's mind. He even goes back for a second meeting with Gacy after the first one went so terribly wrong.

Jason also wrote and received responses from Jeffery Dahmer, Charles Manson, and Richard Ramirez. The letters he got back were chilling, filled with violent drawings and sexually explicit prose. However, he never got as close to any of them as he did with Gacy.

The book included a preface from a professor of Jason's. He said that he pushed Jason to write about his personal and family life during this time instead of just focusing on the letters. Although Jason sometimes came across as an egotistical young man (he was only eighteen), it really fleshed the story out to hear how it affected him internally and with his family. He put his family in danger by giving out his home address and phone number to killers who could easily find outside people to do their dirty work. He almost lost his relationship with his brother due to the project as well.

Perhaps the worst part is learning that Jason Moss ended up committing suicide in 2006. In the book, he speaks about the nightmares and psychological damage that had occurred since he started the project. I guess he really did end up Gacy's "last victim".

Room by Emma Donoghue (CBR-III #10)

Cannonball Read III: Book #10/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 336 (3,785 total so far)
Genre: Adult Fiction

I kept putting off reading Room because I didn't think I'd be able to stand the fact that is is written in the voice of a five-year-old. However, I figured since I made it through Precious (which is written in the voice of an illiterate teenager), then I could probably handle Room. It helped that I've read so many positive reviews as well.

Room is told through the eyes of Jack, a five-year-old boy who has lived his entire life inside Room (he refers to everything as Room, Rug, Bed, since he has no sense of anything beyond the one room). His mother, known only as "Ma", has done her best to shield him from the situation they are in. Ma was kidnapped by a man Jack calls "Old Nick" when she was only nineteen. For the past seven years, she has been held captive in a backyard shed-turned-prison. The room has all the basic necessities such as a bathtub, toilet, bed, and a small kitchen, as well as a small TV, which is all Jack knows about "Outside".

When Jack turns five, Ma decides that he's old enough (and asking too many questions she can't answer) to know the truth. Prior, she had told him that everything on TV was fantasy and their room was the only reality. Jack has a hard time grasping the reality of "Outside", but eventually he agrees to help Ma start planning their escape.

(possible spoilers ahead)

However, only half the book takes place in the room. The rest takes place after their escape/rescue and how Jack adjusts to a world he's never seen. It's hard to imagine what it would be like to have never seen grass or trees anywhere other than on TV, but you really felt Jack's sense of wonder (and fear) about everything he encountered. Jack has to adjust to everything from the sunlight to grandparents that didn't even know he existed. Ma has quite a bit of adjusting to do as well, but it's mostly focused on Jack.

(end spoilers)

Based loosely on the Josef Fritzl case, I thought this book was very thorough and well done. The characters were sympathetic and well-rounded. Ma tries to be strong for Jack, but in reality she was just a kid herself when she was taken by Old Nick. Some days she can't even get out of bed and Jack has to fend for himself. I was also impressed that Emma Donoghue somehow managed to make Jack sound like a child without the dialogue turning TOO simple to where it turns off adult readers.

I'd rate Room as 4/5 stars. Definitely worth reading.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Cannonball Read III: Book #9/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 448 (3,449 total so far)
Genre: Young Adult

I picked up this book after seeing the trailer for the upcoming movie. I love sci-fi movies and I always feel the need to read the book before I see the movie. I Am Number Four is about a fifteen-year-old boy, John, who came from the dying planet, Lorien when he was a toddler. His cepan (kind of like a guide/guardian), Henri, came with him and is his pretend father on Earth. Mogadorians from their rival planet are hunting down the nine Lorien teens and killing them. Oh, and they have a spell put on them so they can only be killed in order. John is Number Four (in case you weren't aware from the title).

This was kind of a throwaway book for me. I just found out that "Pitticus Lore" is actually James Frey of the Million Little Pieces scandal. I read that book years ago, and this book is a TOTALLY different direction that one. However, this book fell a little flat. The characters weren't BAD, but they weren't exactly that memorable or interesting either. The story was interesting, but I kept finding myself wanting to skim through pages just to get to the end. I was very disappointed that they kind of left the end hanging for the second book to pick up with. I don't really want to read a whole other book, but I kind of do want to know what Henri's letter said.

Also, he's fifteen freaking years old. They should have either made him a little older (17 or 18 maybe) or just killed the whole romance subplot. It's hardly believable (and actually laughable unless you actually are fifteen) to have two fifteen year old totally in love from the second they meet at school, one of whom just got out of a serious, long-term relationship with the school jock. What, did they date all through Jr. High?? And the way she and his friend Sam took the news that he was alien; like he was telling them he was actually from Russia or something completely normal.

There were other things I found completely implausible. First of all, there was a huge final battle at the high school with the Mogadorians and a bunch of giant "beasts". Did no one in this entire town notice any of this? There were no law enforcement, no ambulance, no news helicopters or reporters, no spectators, nothing. And don't get me started on the whole WTF moment of Mark (the jerk ex-boyfriend) becoming an ally with no reason behind it whatsoever.

All in all, it wasn't the best book ever, and wasn't the worst either. I doubt I'll pick up the second in the series unless my curiosity as to what Henri said in his letter gets the best of me. Which is entirely possible.