6.8 /10 1 Votes
Originally published 24 September 2015 Genre Dystopia | 3.4/5 Goodreads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nominations Goodreads Choice Awards Best Science Fiction Similar Margaret Atwood books, Dystopian books, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Margaret atwood on her latest dystopian novel the heart goes last
The Heart Goes Last is a novel by Margaret Atwood, published by Penguin Random House September 2015. The novel is described as a "wickedly funny and deeply disturbing novel about a near future in which the lawful are locked up and the lawless roam free."
Contents
The novel is set in the same near-future dystopia as the darkly comic Byliner serial Positron which was released online.
Plot
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 occupies their house when they are in prison. Soon the pressures of conformity, mistrust, guilt and sexual desire begin to take over.
Reception
The novel won Red Tentacle award.