Book Review: The Heart Goes Last

From Goodreads: Living in their car, surviving on tips, Charmaine and Stan are in a desperate state. So, when they see an advertisement for Consilience, a ‘social experiment’ offering stable jobs and a home of their own, they sign up immediately. All they have to do in return for suburban paradise is give up their freedom every second month – swapping their home for a prison cell. At first, all is well. But then, unknown to each other, Stan and Charmaine develop passionate obsessions with their ‘Alternates,’ the couple that occupy their house when they are in prison. Soon the pressures of conformity, mistrust, guilt and sexual desire begin to take over. 

Thoughts: This should have been good, it should have been brilliant, especially in the hands of Margaret Atwood. The idea was solid, a world in economic ruin and people desperate enough to do whatever they needed to feel safe and secure. But it wasn't good, it fell short, very short. 
I loved The Handmaid's Tale and The Year of the Flood and Atwood has long been on my list of authors to read everything of so I am really disappointed in this.
Charmaine and Stan annoyed the hell out of me. They were both so stupid! There were situations, especially with Charmaine where her inability to see where certain events were leading was astounding. Her tendency to take everything literally and in isolation without taking in what was happening around her made her character hard to believe. 
The story was originally written as a serial story, chapters released bit by bit for readers to pick up on. I didn't read it in that form and maybe it worked better as a serial, but as a whole novel it's flawed.
The problem is you're not sure if this is meant to be a black comedy or a serious commentary of the direction of our society and where we are heading. It's almost like it's trying to be both and falling seriously short. There are parts that are farcical (possibilibots and an over abundance of Elvis and Marilyn impersonators to name just two), but they seem to be there as plot devices and nothing more. The story line lurches from the strange to the absurd leaving you feeling confused and let down. However it does hold enough potential to keep you going, I kept holding one waiting for that one moment when it all came together and I got to share in Atwood's grand design. Unfortunately I think the design should never have made it off the drawing board.

The Heart Goes Last gets 2 stars.

*        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

The Year of the Flood

Title: The Year of the Flood
Author: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Fiction - Dystopian
Audience: Adult
Format: Own

From Goodreads: The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners—a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life—has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, a God's Gardener barricaded inside a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible.
Have others survived? Ren's bioartist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers, survivors of the mutual-elimination Painball prison? Not to mention the shadowy, corrupt policing force of the ruling powers . . .
Meanwhile, gene-spliced life forms are proliferating: the lion/lamb blends, the Mo'hair sheep with human hair, the pigs with human brain tissue. As Adam One and his intrepid hemp-clad band make their way through this strange new world, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move. They can't stay locked away . . .
By turns dark, tender, violent, thoughtful, and uneasily hilarious, The Year of the Flood is Atwood at her most brilliant and inventive.  

What I thought: Margaret Atwood is a dystopian dream! Her imaginings of the future world is scary and imaginable. In a world where many seem to care less and less about the environment around them, what they put into their bodies or the welfare of others, Atwood's Year of the Flood seems to be a possibility. I love Atwood's characters. Even her good guys are flawed, no one is perfect and all have their little imperfections. I always find it hard to swallow perfect characters.
I think one of the reasons Atwood manages dystopian so well is her ability to draw the here and now into her future world. Things are identifiable to reader. In this, many of the saints honoured by God's Gardeners are present in our world today or close past as ecological and environmental crusaders. People such as Dian Fossey (American zoologist), Euell Gibbons (American proponent of natural diets, Anil Agarwal(Indian journalist and environmentalist, Nganeko Minhinnick (New Zealand Maori rights activist),  Wen Bo (Chinese environmental activist) and Tim Flannery (Australian environmentalist and global warming activitst) are all given Sainthood status. (You can find a full list of The Year of the Flood saints here)
If I had one criticism of the book, it would be the ending. It just stopped. I don't expect all the ends to be tied up, but I did find the ending a bit abrupt and sudden.

Recommended for: those who like dystopian fiction - especially if they enjoyed Atwood's The Handmaids Tale.

Challenges:  100+ Challenge,  A-Z Challenge

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Very early on in the year, when I first started this blog, I started listing books from other blogs that were interesting to me. This was an early discovery from Abrosia Salad Book Reviews. You can read her review here.

I know that I have tried to read a Margaret Atwood before and struggled - maybe Alias Grace?? I also think I may have read this before, but a long, long time ago, before I was able to really appreciate the story.

The Handmaid's Tale is the story of Offred. A woman whose sole purpose is to provide the Commander she is assigned to and his wife with a baby. The consequences for not doing so are to be declared an unwoman and shipped off to the Colonies. In this rather terrifying future, woman are strictly controlled - all for their own good, really.

For me, one of the scariest things about Hanmaid's Tale is the apparent ease with which the world changed. Offred is still able to remember the time before - living with a room mate, make up, parties, being able to do what she wanted. She also remembers her husband and child - she has no idea where they are now.  The changes she describes seemed to happen over time and on the surface, seemed quite good. The outlawing of porn, not being able to touch a woman until a certain age, harsh punishment for rape. However, a declining birth rate drove the militaristic-religious government to take more and more control over women and their bodies until you are left with a society where woman are divided into groups and are defined and controlled by their purpose. Not only are we back in the dark ages, we are beyond it.

Trish over at Hey Lady, Whatcha Readin' is hosting a read along of The Handmaid's Tale in August/ September. I'm looking forward to taking part in the discussion.