Oryx and CrakeOryx and Crake

As the story opens, Snowman is sleeping in a tree, wearing a dirty bedsheet, mourning the loss of his beautiful and beloved Oryx and his best friend Crake, and slowly starving to death. In a world in which science-based corporations have recently taken mankind on an uncontrolled genetic-engineering ride, he now searches for supplies in a wasteland. As he tries to piece together what has taken place, the narrative shifts to decades earlier. How did everything fall apart so quickly?