Margaret Atwood

"Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They desperately need to turn their situation around and fast. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer to their prayers. No one is unemployed and everyone gets a comfortable, clean house to live in...for six months out of the year."--

The Heart Goes Last

Vicky (A City Girl's Thoughts)

Margate Atwood's latest novel is about sex, greed, and corruption in a financially broke world. A magazine (I forgot which one) labelled this as the next best read for fans of The Hunger Games Trilogy, which - to me - is a hoax, now that I have read it. This novel doesn't give answers to major questions, plus it's ambiguous where Atwell stands - or wants the reader to stand - on a huge moral and ethical issue touched on: sex robots.

We're in the "Rust Belt" of the U.S. during the after-effects of a financial crash that has left everyone - except the rich - jobless, homeless, and poor. Charmaine and Stan are a married couple who live in their car. They're just like everyone else, poor and homeless, but Charmaine at least has a job as a waitress. Their financial situation has their marriage teetering on the unhappy side where, in a normal world, they would be on the brink of divorcing. One day Charmaine sees an ad for new recruits to join the Positron Project, a community where people can have a home, job, and real food to eat three times a day. She persuades Stan to come with her, where they're thrust into an almost perfect world: A "house" for them, jobs for each, and enough food to eat. It sounds to good to be true, but Stan doesn't heed the warnings from his brother and stays, which means he and Charmaine must live there for life. They're assigned jobs, but once a month they have to live in prison - without each other; with "prisoners" of the same sex, while the other spouse works. When the "prisoner's" time is up, they go back to work while their spouse goes to jail. Here is where temptation comes in: When Charmaine goes to her house she meets Max (his real name is Phil, but he hides that from her) who lives in her house with his wife Jocelyn while she's (Charmaine's) in jail. He seduces her, and she succumbs, having sex with him in abandoned buildings when Stan is in jail. One day, when she's completing her month in jail and Stan is not, Jocelyn pays Stan a visit. She reveals Charmaine's affair, disclosing Max's relationship status too, and promises revenge if he helps her. He agrees, but doesn't realize she set him, Max, and Charmaine up by blackmail to work with her.  Here, Atwood turns this into a thriller where we're kept on edge - and in the dark - by alternating between Stan and Charmaine's point of view as they're trying to figure out what Jocelyn is up to while following her instructions. 

The book is engaging, has humorous moments, and - towards the end - the "can't-put-down-until-I-finish" type of writing, but the ending is ambiguous and reads as if there's a sequel to this one which, as far as I know, there's none. It comes off as incomplete, leaving several questions: 

What happened to the U.S., and the world,  since the "Financial Crash?"

How exactly did Positron get away with inspection from the government?

Why did Jocelyn blackmail & force her husband Phil (Max), Stan and Charmaine to cheat (a.k.a adulterate) so they can be a part of her plan?

Why wasn't Ed (the CEO) charged? Arrested on the spot when news broke? 

Did Jocelyn do AnYtHiNg to Charmaine's brain after she passed out? 

What exactly is this story about? The dangers of love? Dangers of sex? Desire?

Why is Stan working with Possibilibots (the sex robot factories)? Is it of free will? 

What is the point of putting people in prison at Positron?

Are Stan & Charmaine still living in Positron at the end?

Why does Atwood go from 1st to 3rd person at random? She writes a sentence in 1st & then suddenly switches to 3rd

Did the government allow Positron to go through with their plan to alter people's brains for them to become sex slaves to their masters after the news broke of them breaking human rights? Atwood discusses the debate between two parties: One who sees it as nothing if the victim agrees & another who see it as sex trafficking, but she doesn't say which side won, nor what happens, not even mentioning if the United Nations (UN) had a say, if they were still around. Forcing a person's memory to be wiped, altered, and then programmed so they can be sexually used however their master wants without their say (read: have their mental control of yes and no set to only YES) isn't right. It's one thing for Positron to make sex robots that look like actual people (which, in my opinion, is wrong) but to take a PHYSICAL person and alter their brain!?! I don't care if a person agrees to have that done to them, neither do I care if someone legally has the right to do that here in this country, it's WRONG, PERIOD. 

I'm wondering if this novel was Atwood's way of delving into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and starting a debate? I don't know, but the amount of questions left unanswered leave this story underdeveloped. The "hero" Jocelyn is too sketchy; she almost sounds as if she wants to be the next CEO so she leaks Ed's plans so he can be removed in order for her to do what SHE wants, which might be worse than what Ed did. The sex isn't explicit, but what is Jocelyn's dominatrix act even for? Like I said, too many questions left unanswered.

Beatriz Pereira

I think I wasn't in the right mindset to enjoy all the messages that this book has to offer.

Sofia de Anda

** spoiler alert **
           This novel started out great. At the beginning this story seemed very promising, I loved the whole idea of the main characters living in their car. Then, the little dystopian element that got introduced, amazing. Throughout the middle though, Atwood really lost me. I see what she intended to do, but overall it was a bit too much for my taste. At the end though, I did enjoy the plot and how the main characters ended up, it is just the little parts of their journey that I kind of hated. Like Elvis and Marilyn and then the sex robots and brain surgeries? And then all of the unnecessary sex. Like why did Jocelyn even need to have sex with Stan? Also the robots intending to recreate real, existing people. Like please, just stop. It was really when Veronica was sort of attached to the little knitted bear that did it for me. Anyway, I don't feel like this was a waste of my time but I do think that it could have been better, the whole idea was amazing but I did not love the execution.

Dani

Plushophilia, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe sexbots and impersonators, a shattered economy...honestly it was bizarre and utterly unpredictable. I liked it.

Amy Grieve

I have really mixed opinions about this book. On one hand I can see what it was going for, but in some places it kind of just...meh. The world was slightly flat and undeveloped and with some of the characters it felt like Atwood was trying a little too hard to be gritty. Honestly to me it felt like a poor imitation of The Handmaid's Tale.

Lea de Sousa

This book was pretty weird in a good way up until about half way into the book. It became a bit unrealistic (even for Sci Fi), stale and dragged on. I can't believe this is written by the creator of Oryx and Crake which is one of my favourite books. I think this book let a lot of people down. 

I was also quite surprised to find out just before finishing the book that Atwood had written the story in chapters previously already. 

A 2.5 star book.

Karleigh McCarville

I'm so disappointed by how absolutely terrible this book was. The description was nothing like the book. Yes they switch between a jail and a house but it's messed up. Twisted, gross sex over and over. I don't recommend this book and I'm kind of worried at picking up anything else by her. I wanted to read handmaidens tale but I think I'll pass now. If this book says anything about her other work it's not worth my time.

Daryl Houston

I liked the opening and indeed probably most of the first half or so of the book. Dystopian near future in which people exchange some measure of freedom for some measure of stability? Pretty compelling stuff. But as the book wore on, it lost focus and veered into not merely the absurd but almost the parodically absurd. It read more and more like a bad NaNoWriMo novel parroting (in long form) the work of somebody like George Saunders, who in short form mostly pulls it off. This turned out to be a really disappointing, if at least mercifully quick, read.

Mahasin S Ameen

Probably the best book I've read this year.

Jessica 

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  As a note, a printed galley of this novel was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way. 


If there’s one thing that can be said about Margaret Atwood’s writing, it’s that it’s poetic and dreamy and is just a gorgeous spot in literature. I’ve always particularly enjoyed the feminist themes to her work and admire the voice that comes with it. The Heart Goes Last promises to be exactly what you’d expect for a look into dystopian by Atwood, except maybe a little weirder than usual and rough around the edges.

As for Atwood, she’s one of the best authors out there and I’ve always believed I could probably read a variation of the phone book by her and still enjoy it. But now I can’t help but think that maybe I’m wrong.

It’s just that while I love her mind, I love her words and I love what she creates when combining the two, she is bound to not hit the target from time to time. I mustn’t put that sort of pressure on an author.

Although The Heart Goes Last isn’t her greatest work to date, it’s not a total lost cause and I think it will reach a pretty large audience and satisfy their needs. There’s plenty that happens in it and its dark tone; while it wasn’t always my cup of tea, longtime fans will enjoy it regardless. 

Continued @ BOOKEDJ.

Brook

Wonderfully fucked-up dystopia. Near-future stuff like this always reads way too real to me, but I love all the strange details Atwood put into this. Some strange characters, and a fun, evolving plot. Good read.

The Heart Goes Last

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