My first exposure to Margaret Atwood was book one in the MaddAddam Trilogy – Oryx and Crake. It was not a rousing success in my eyes. I didn’t quite get it. Aaaanyway, my library’s app had this in ebook form, so it was my second Margaret Atwood book. I loved it. It was my “reading before bed” book, which is hard when it’s a book that I really enjoy. I find myself dozing when I really want to keep reading.
So this is another dystopian story. If you’ve read my reviews before, you know I like my topias dys! We start out with a married couple named Stan and Charmaine. They’re living in their car after some sort of un-detailed financial collapse. Charmaine works at a bar at night, and they use that money for food. They’re scared they’ll be robbed / raped / murdered every night because of roving bands of hooligans.
All this setup makes their eventual decisions make tons of sense. So I don’t have to spell the names, I’m using the Amazon words: The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer to their prayers.
All Stan and Charmaine have to do is work and live in the Consilience prison every other month. On the off prison months, they’re part of the town of Positron, and they basically live a normal life. Another couple, their “Alternates” live in their house while Stan and Charmaine are working their prison month. It’s a super interesting concept. Everyone is employed, everyone is fed and housed, and crime is virtually non-existent.
I’m sure you can see where this all goes off the rails. It’s a story about freedom, and basic rights, and the future. I loved it, and I’m sure you Atwoodies (just made that up) will too!
Ok I almost forgot. I’m not sure how I felt about the ending. The whole surgery thing was super creepy. Anyone else wanna talk about that? It didn’t change my opinion of the book, but it did disturb me.
