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The Heart Goes Last
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
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The Heart Goes Last
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Publisher's Summary
Margaret Atwood puts the human heart to the ultimate test in an utterly brilliant new novel that is as visionary as The Handmaid's Tale and as richly imagined as The Blind Assassin.
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.
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What the critics say
“Thrilling, sometimes comic, often absurd and entirely engaging, spinning sins into the territory of Elvis-themed escorts, stuffed-animal carnality and customizable sexbots … What keeps The Heart Goes Last fresh, as with the rest of Atwood’s recent work, is that while it revisits earlier themes of her oeuvre, it never replicates. Rather, it reads like an exploration continued, with new surprises, both narratively and thematically, to be discovered … Margaret Atwood has become something nearly as fantastical as one of her storytelling subjects: a living legend who continues to remain fresh and innovative on the page.”—Mat Johnson, New York Times Book Review
"[The Heart Goes Last] affords an arresting perspective on the confluence of information, freedom, and security in the modern age."—The New Yorker
"This is quintessential Atwood territory, a bleak dystopian landscape littered with shady types who engage in twisted sexual manipulation and scientific engineering reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake ... The writing here is so persuasive, so crisp, that it seeps under your skin ... [This] fast-paced novel is hard to put down when it comes screaming to its clever and terrifying conclusion."—Boston Globe
What listeners say about The Heart Goes Last
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mike Reiter
- 2018-03-10
Interesting both societal take and psychological t
A couple trade freedom for safety and nice sheets and end up getting in the way of themselves
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Geri
- 2021-06-14
Disappointing
Engaging at first, becomes tediously repetitive and sinister. Not in a league with other Atwood books I’ve appreciated.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- BC
- 2023-11-21
Gripping!
More than an audiobook, this was a marvellous theatrical reading! I couldn’t put it down, one of Atwood’s finest
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Dana Bennett
- 2023-04-06
Readers were AMAZING, the book sucked
So confusing and boring. It didn’t flow, the story changed so much and was so random that it was hard to follow.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- kelly shields
- 2022-01-13
Very entertaining ... laughed out loud.
Another fantastic book by Margaret Atwood proud to be Canadian!!!
The characters are well developed, funny & realistic. If you like the handmaid's tale you'll like this novel.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- LS
- 2023-08-24
Wasn't a huge fan, great world, meh characters.
I really liked the concept of the book and the world she set up, but I didn't care about any of the characters which made it hard to be interested in where the story was going.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sandy
- 2019-08-15
Interesting
This was overall an interesting story. Well done, it was extremely easy to keep focused and I enjoyed it.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ellen
- 2020-12-18
Page turner
I finished this book within 3 days. Very interesting plot. Loved the fact that Atwood talks about how things could go terribly wrong within the "wall'.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Catherine
- 2023-07-14
Engaging and disturbing
Greed, lust, power, control. 1984 meets Stepford Wives. Human ability to justify behaviours in deplorable situations. I was both engrossed and revulsed. The readers were perfect!
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-04-29
Very disappointed
Characters were flat, unbelievable. Surprised for a Atwood book. Story line had a lot of curveballs and unexplained details to events. A strange novel over all.
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