damitajo 's review for:

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

2.5

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Once you accept that this book is just bad, it becomes a little more enjoyable. I mean the story takes so many absurd turns, you might as well hold on for the ride. 

Stan and Charmaine are a couple living in their car after an economic crisis plunges their city into near apocalypse. Constantly having to watch their backs, sleep in shifts and living off the tips Charmaine makes at her bar job. Until they hear of a new experiment - consilience. A town where its residence live in near utopia. The only catch is that they have to spend every other month in a prison to earn their keep. While they’re in the prison, another couple (the “alternates”) take their place in their home. Things change when Stan finds a note from one of their alternates and becomes determined to find out who they are. 

Sounds like an intriguing premise, right? I thought so too but this book never lives up to its potential. I honestly wonder WHAT was going on in Atwood’s mind while reading this story. Did she run out of time? Out of ideas? Did she feel in over her head? 

Charmaine and Stan are both stupid and horny. But like horny in a caricature way. Not in a way that feels real. In fact, everyone in this town seems unreasonably horny and their motivations seem to stem from that alone. 

One of the worst parts of this book is that it just starts to feel like Atwood began writing a different story and forgot about the first one. It reads like something I would write if someone gave me a book deal  (yes, I just dissed myself).