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Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake begins with the narrator, who calls himself Snowman, marooned on a beach and believing himself to be the sole survivor of a tragedy that has destroyed the human race. He is joined by genetically-engineered and cloned human-like creatures who worship their creator, Snowman's friend Crake. Snowman grew up in the late 21st century in a world where global warming has risen sea levels and destroyed cities, the majority of the people live in squalor in vast pleeblands, and the privileged live in secure communities run by biotech companies. Man has learned to genetically engineer his world and can create any animal imagined and the internet delivers constant pornography and violence. This is a short synopsis of a novel about the world gone awry by one of the master writers of our generation. The Independent says, "Oryx and Crake is Atwood at her best - dark, dry, scabrously witty, yet moving and studded with flashes of pure poetry." Oryx and Crake was on the short list of nominees for the 2003 Man Booker Prize.