Synopses & Reviews
One of the Best Books of the Year: The Boston Globe
Stan and Charmaine, a young urban couple, have been hit by job loss and bankruptcy in the midst of a nationwide economic collapse. Forced to live in their third-hand Honda, where they are vulnerable to roving gangs, they think the gated community of Consilience may be the answer to their prayers. If they sign a life contract, they’ll get a job and a lovely house...for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents must leave their homes and serve as inmates in the Positron prison system. At first, this seems worth it: they will have a roof over their heads and food on the table. But when a series of troubling events unfolds, Positron begins to look less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled. The Heart Goes Last is a vivid, urgent vision of development and decay, freedom and surveillance, struggle and hope—and the timeless workings of the human heart.
Review
"Ever-inventive, astutely observant, and drolly ironic, Atwood unfurls a riotous plot....This laser-sharp, hilariously campy, and swiftly flowing satire delves deeply into our desires, vices, biases, and contradictions, bringing fresh, incisive comedy to the rising tide of postapocalyptic fiction...in which Atwood has long been a clarion voice." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Poignant....Gloriously madcap....You only pause in your laughter when you realise that, in its constituent parts, the world she depicts here is all too horribly plausible." The Guardian (London)
Review
"Dystopia virtuoso Margaret Atwood turns her effortless world-building, deft humor and grim commentary on the depths of human hubris to the prison industrial complex, love and free " The Denver Post
Review
"An arresting perspective on the confluence of information, freedom, and security in the modern age." The New Yorker
Review
"Quintessential Atwood....The writing here is so persuasive, so crisp, that it seeps under your skin." The Boston Globe
Review
"Captivating....Thrilling....Margaret Atwood [is] a living legend." The New York Times Book Review
About the Author
Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in thirty-five countries, is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. In addition to The Handmaid’s Tale, her novels include Cat’s Eye, short-listed for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; Oryx and Crake, short-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize; The Year of the Flood; and her most recent, MaddAddam. She is the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award, and lives in Toronto with the writer Graeme Gibson.