Reality... or is it?

I really like strange fiction. I like fiction that makes me sit back and wonder what exactly the story was about... and even if there was no point, it was still very good.

Oryx and Crake is a superb example of that. I still wonder what exactly the story was about and what the point of the controversy put in it has. The main character, whom is called Snowman and I will refer to him as such, goes through his story as to how he came to be- one of the only humans left in a world of genetically altered ones called Crakers. They are called that because Crake, an old friend of Snowman's, created them. He goes through the odd and yet normal story of how two boys are good friends and yet their lives begin to part. Crake is the genius who enjoys the tinkering of life and Snowman seems always disappointed in his life.

The most disturbing aspect of it was Oryx. There comes a point where Crake and Snowman are on the computer looking at pornography (I think they were fourteen at the time) and they see Oryx who was just a child at the time. Now, even though I am not disturbed by many things (I found the whole story of Bloodchild fascinating and not repulsive), the idea of two fourteen year olds looking at child pornography and saving it because they enjoyed it bothered me. It didn't bias me against the characters but it did make me always see them in this horrified light. No matter what they did after that point, I was off put by them.

It was like that in Existenz too... being disturbed regularly and yet continuing to read or watch even though you knew it was only going to get worse. Existenz got me when he was eating the weird reptile thing and it made me want to vomit (that was The Special- I bought the movie so I could see The Special). Of course it was how to plug yourself in the game and using the strange controller that unnerved me the most. I am a gamer; I like MMOs, but sticking it straight into my spine is a little intense. I don't know if I would be able to stomach that. I wonder how far into reality the actual game got. Just the set storyline? Or did the horrors of the real world actually come into play?

I think that is the greatest literary achievement of all. Writing a novel or perhaps making a game that involves a world that we actually live in even if it isn't the same type of realm. Sticking the most disruptive and off setting events in a work effect us on a level that it wouldn't if it didn't happen.