The Heart Goes Last

by Margaret Atwood

Hardcover, 308 pages

English language

Published Jan. 4, 2015 by Random House.

ISBN:: 978-1-101-91236-2

(39 reviews)

"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."--

13 editions

Molly Foust reviewed The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The heart goes last' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

This is no Oryx and Crake or Alias Grace or Blind Assassin or any of the other heavy hitters from my probably favorite writer in the world but it might be the funniest Margaret Atwood book I have ever read. It is not as detailed as it might have been and sometimes I wanted some more fleshing out. However it was uproariously hilarious. The world needs more fabulous satire of the prison industrial complex. Some of the delights include a twisted take on revenge porn, sex dolls- why and how we love them, some musings on sex with chickens, Elvis, harvesting organs, prisoners and citizens and prisoner citizens and a prostitute and her teddy bear paramour. It is hard to make it in this dystopia.
Despite it being a minor work, like a bagatelle or minuet rather than her full on symphonies, I feel like The Heart Goes Last could …

anaulin reviewed The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The heart goes last' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

My notes: anaulin.org/blog/book-the-heart-goes-last/

kim karma reviewed The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The heart goes last' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I read a lot of bad reviews of this but I quite liked it and found it funny.

kim karma reviewed The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The Heart Goes Last' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I read a lot of bad reviews of this but I quite liked it and found it funny.

Enno reviewed The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The Heart Goes Last' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I didn't love this book the way I loved some of Atwood's other works. There are some interesting ideas here, but the characters aren't sympathetic.

outofrange reviewed The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The heart goes last' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This read like a puppet show for me. A good, relevant, funny puppet show that balances some disdain for the puppets with incisive social commentary.

Oreo Teeth reviewed The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The heart goes last' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A delightfully twisted dystopian tale, a little bit Stepford and a little bit Soylent.

jellybeyreads reviewed The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The Heart Goes Last' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I love Margaret Atwood; this is not my favorite Margaret Atwood novel. Still compelling and finished in 24 hours. Rather jarring ending. Weak transitions between what were, I have since learned, were the serialized portions of this novel. Central characters not particularly likable--Stan is an Angry Man and rather misogynistic, and Charmaine is absurdly childlike as a weird consequence of ptsd. I was never really convinced by the Positron Project itself--why is the prison component necessary for this planned society? There's no reason everyone couldn't live in their little non-prison houses all the time--other than the darker motives that come to light later in the book. But how would the salesmen ever be able to sell this to potential residents? Because, on the surface at least, the prison isn't necessary.