By: Margaret Atwood
Synopsis
From the book dust jacket:
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.
My Thoughts
First off, I really like Margaret Atwood. I have enjoyed the other books by her that I’ve read, but this one was just ok. I have several problems with it. I thought Charmaine fell for Max more quickly than was believable. There was nothing introduced in her character up to that point to make that fast of a fall believable. I had a hard time getting invested in Stan and Charmaine. I got tired of them both constantly fantasizing about sex with other people. Maybe this was supposed to show the effect of their confinement and lack of creative mental stimulation (everything they watch or listen to is tightly controlled and straight out of the 1950’s with no outside information or entertainment allowed), but it got annoying. Also, I kept waiting for an explanation as to what bad things had happened to Charmaine in her childhood, but it never came. I can imagine, of course, but I would have liked a little confirmation that what I was imagining was correct. My final issue was that there was no explanation given for Ed’s interest in Charmaine. Was he her high school stalker? Even with these issues it was interesting enough to finish, but I didn’t love it and wouldn’t read it again.