REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

Oryx and Crake
Atwood's 17th book is a wild-at-heart work of science fiction that may be her most ambitious offering yet. The novel's central character, Jimmy, moves through a bleak, post-apocalyptic landscape, remembering what life on Earth was like before disaster wiped out civilization. In the extended flashback that comprises the bulk of the book, he recounts his childhood on a bioengineering farm, where he befriends a young genius named Crake. Crake eventually attempts to create a new race of beings—humans resistant to disease and stripped of their propensity for violence and war—with the aid of his Asian girlfriend, Oryx, a former Internet kiddie porn star with whom Jimmy has long been obsessed. When Jimmy goes to work for Crake, a love triangle of sorts ensues. Finding out how this strange threesome fares when civilization comes to an end makes for wonderfully provocative reading. A reading group guide is available at www.readinggroupcenter.com.

Oryx and Crake
By Margaret Atwood
Anchor, $14.99
400 pages, ISBN 0385721676



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Dry: A Memoir
In this much-anticipated follow-up to the best-selling memoir Running with Scissors, Burroughs tells the rest of his controversial story. As a successful 20-something ad writer in New York, Burroughs flourishes financially, but there's no denying his addiction to alcohol (1,452 beer bottles fill his apartment at one point), and when his co-workers stage an intervention, he agrees to check into the Proud Institute, a gay rehab center in Minnesota. What follows is the story of Burroughs' attempt to clean up his life, and deal with his addiction, one day at a time. His romance with a crack addict, as well as the pressures of everyday life, lead him into temptation. Burroughs' narrative is full of humor, honesty and wit—qualities readers have come to expect from this sensational young author. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.picadorusa.com.

Dry: A Memoir
By Augusten Burroughs
Picador, $14
320 pages, ISBN 0312423799



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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Haddon's award-winning debut novel was chosen as a Today Show Book Club pick. The narrator is Christopher John Francis Boone, an autistic 15-year-old math whiz who interprets the world in painstakingly literal terms. When he discovers that his neighbor's poodle has been brutally killed, Christopher decides to solve the murder, to the dismay of his father, and write a book about his inquiry into the dog's death. Filled with off-beat illustrations and Christopher's one-of-a-kind observations on astronomy and mathematics, this humorous and poignant novel traces the course of his investigation—a remarkable quest that reveals some disturbing facts about Christopher's parents and his own past. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.readinggroupcenter.com.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
By Mark Haddon
Vintage, $12
240 pages, ISBN 1400032717



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The Lovely Bones
This surprise bestseller is Sebold's first work of fiction. Susie Salmon, the novel's 14-year-old narrator, is raped and killed, yet her spirit lives on to tell the story, recounting the murder and its aftermath from heaven. Her Indian boyfriend, Ray Singh, is initially accused of the killing by the police. Her grieving mother engages in an affair and runs off to California, while her father tries to find the man responsible for the crime. Susie narrates the scenes of life after her death, as well as memories of her time on earth, with detachment and humor. Watching her emotionally damaged family from on high, she has one real wish—to somehow help them heal. Sebold has written a brave narrative about the human capacity to transcend tragedy, about the ways—for better and worse—life goes on after loss. A reading group guide is available at www.twbookmark.com.

The Lovely Bones
By Alice Sebold
Back Bay, $13.95
352 pages, ISBN 0316168815



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