The Heart Goes Last

A Novel

By: Margaret Atwood

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins

Margaret Atwood puts the human heart to the ultimate test in an utterly brilliant new novel that is as visionary as The Handmaid's Tale and as richly imagined as The Blind Assassin.

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. On alternating months, residents of Consilience must leave their homes and function as inmates in the Positron prison system. Once their month of service in the prison is completed, they can return to their "civilian" homes.
At first, this doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice to make in order to have a roof over one's head and food to eat. But when Charmaine becomes romantically involved with the man who lives in their house during the months when she and Stan are in the prison, a series of troubling events unfolds, putting Stan's life in danger. With each passing day, Positron looks less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled.

Fun & thought provoking !

I have read the Oryx & Crake trilogy, The Handmaid's Tale, and more, but this is the first by Atwood that had me laughing. At first I thought the story was superficial, but that was deceptive. It was a deep tale about freedom versus security, in both the physical/economic and spiritual/ psychological/emotional domains. The audio voice actors were superb, the female actor was exceptionally adept at delivering comic lines in an earnest deadpan way. I highly recommend this book, and ALL Atwood's work!

Good story, awful characters

The story is interesting and compelling, and the voice actors were good. The characters, however, were terrible. Stan is a jerk, and Charmaine is a stupid child. I hated the main characters so much that I had a hard time caring about what happened to them.

Much too bleak for me.

I started and stopped this book a few times. it just did not hold my attention as do all of the other Atwood books that I have loved.

I am usually mesmerized by her clever use of words and foreshadowing. the book gives great detail into each of the characters, but i dont like any of them.

I have just finished this book and maybe I need more time to think about it, but it just isn't up to the very high standards that is present in all of her other books that I have read.

a good audio book

Narrator was good, story was good, it was easy to visualize the story in my mind as it was being read. cool concepts, too.

Interesting read

Really interesting story. Seemed to lag at times but hung in. Great ending! A