Margaret Atwood - The Heart Goes Last

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.

Comment: I bought this book last year at a book fair I always attend in the country’s capital (it should have happened already this year but covid-19 has postponed the date) because the blurb and the cover caught my attention. I had read things by the author already so I also had an idea of the type of writing I’d find and I was very curious about how the author would portray this new dystopian reality.

In this book, what was the North America has changed quite a lot in a future where recessions and the drop of currency made redundant many things and many jobs. Those who could afford it, moved into better places but the poor or the ones who lost everything were forced to survive anyway they could.

Charmaine and Stan are a couple and they live in their car after they lost their jobs and the ability to pay the mortgage of their house. They live from quick work here and there but always keeping one of them in the car, which they can’t let be taken from them.

One day, they learn of a company that is staying a great project asking people to register in an experience where they can have jobs and a house and peace as long as they sign a contract. It seems very promising and the answer to their problems and at first it really is. But as time goes by, some cracks start to show and Stan and Charmaine aren’t always aware of what is real or what could be just manipulation…

The idea of this book was very intriguing. I was quite curious to see what rules would be used, what key society norms would be changed to make this a special world to contemplate. I thought about other dystopian and other alternate reality books I had read and I was eager to see where the author would lead us with this so-called “experience” the participants would embark on, since it was clear that would be the main issue to think of here.

The story begins with the main couple in a car, living off what they could, with despair right on their heels. Their “voices” and personalities seemed likable enough at first and I imagined rooting for them until the end, hoping they would be able to fight and win against whatever enemy they had to. I think this simple start was very…deceiving, because if there was one thing I kept after finishing this novel was that no character was truly likable nor a “good person”.  In fact, I suppose this is the goal: no one is really just bad or good in life, we all have layers, limits, boundaries we might cross or not, depending on the right stimuli or the specific situation that would feel like we didn’t have a choice. Is there always a choice after all?

As the plot advances, Stan and Charmaine are placed in situations they must deal with but always with a sense of doubt on their part. I thought, had these two been what we call “good people” or “hero material” their behavior would have certainly been another. I started to dislike them, Charmaine in particular, from very early on after they join the experience. The way their personalities develop isn’t what’s new, they are human and they let themselves be driven into certain behavior because of the exposure to manipulation. However, they are the main couple and I imagined I’d feel a little more connection to them or to how they might respond to what was happening to them.

At first, I thought the whole experience they join, the whole thing about providing people with jobs, with a new sort of social life, security, occupation, learning, I imagined all these thing were to create a sort of Stepford Wives style of life, where everyone has to follow a protocol. Then I also thought of that movie with Jim Carrey, “The Truman Show” and I thought the experience was something along those lines and the people were guinea pigs in an unknown recording for the outside world. Then, another thing I compared what was going on with was the book Brain by Robin Cook where the interest of making people do certain things was more sinister and related to sex and personalities, especially  when the story went a certain direction.

In fact, all these things were wrong, the reason behind the experience Charmaine and Stan are in is actually less complex than what I anticipated. I suppose I wanted to be dazzled, impressed and a little morbidly fascinated by another weird big plan the villains would have decided on to exploit people and this they do but why is really a lot less impressive than what I expected. There are some interesting and innovative details but the whole thing sort of fizzled out for me.

Along the fact the plot wasn’t as out of this world as I imagined and the lack of empathy towards any character really turned this book into something that wasn’t as special as that and was, instead, a little ridiculous and lacking strength.

The Portuguese cover

I mean, the whole idea and execution of the idea by the villains was brilliant and it could be easily seen in real life in some (probably nor distant) future, the vices and negativity explored in the book are as realistic as we could expect. However, the path the author chose to take this novel on - even contemplating the imagination and the actual possibility of many of those things, as well as the complexity of free will and power of indecision by humans – was simply too average to really make me want to devour what would happen next. It’s as if the characters’ choices weren’t properly placed, as if they didn’t showcase the realistic angst of the whole thing.

Perhaps this was due to the writing style, perhaps the plot was based on too many vague and coincidental elements, but the truth is that this wasn’t as powerful as I hoped it would be.  Yes, there are some key scenes that do make you think but overall, there’s a subtlety that isn’t always well used to advance the plot on and, again, no real empathy with the characters. Some situations/passages feel rather like a caricature or like a comedy relief instead of the serious debate between what is good, what is bad, or what is there to make you think. I keep thinking it was a pity the plot didn’t follow the idea suggested in the blurb, which I think could have been a lot more interesting (namely the prison/freedom dichotomy and how the characters could react in one and in another as time went by).

All in all, there are interesting elements here, some scary previsions of what could happen if people lose the social and personal boundaries of their own self but as a whole, this story didn’t have the impact I felt would have in the beginning.

Grade: 6/10

Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one option: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like all dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred’s nor that of the two men on whom her future hangs.
Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit and astute perception. 

Comment: This is an already considered classic book I had in sights for a long time. I put of reading it because I always feared it would be too shocking, not as much in its content but in how it would make me feel, in how it would irritate my contemporary sensibilities especially because it was a finished work. 

Some books are like this, they just make you want to go there and tell those characters what they are doing is wrong and they are not being fair. Recently, I got a cheaper edition and decided to just get it out of my anticipation list.

The action takes place in Gilead, a new sort of country/Republic that was created after the assassination of the president of the US and the Congress and where a group of people decided to return to a type of life according to some of the laws in the Ancient Testament, namely when it comes to women and their roles in society.

This new "world" is terribly unfair and punishing but it was approved and does happen because of the infertility issues in the population, due to the several biologic, chemical and environmental issues that affected the health of everyone. Thus, the women who can still have children are now used by a small group of men, in order to keep the population going, but only for a few selected. This is what Offred, the narrator of this story, shares with the reader...

This is a quite famous story by author Margaret Atwood because of its horrifying content when it comes to how women are treated in an hypothetically dystopian reality. In the recent times it got to be even more popular because of several feminist movements among celebrities and also the TV series with the same title.

I have not seen the series yet but I think it will be interesting to do that now that I've read the book.

I don't think I need to write much about this book and its content and supposed messages because many have done it already and there are many places one can access to have more (and better) information and reviews on it. I had also read another book by the author, so the writing style didn't bother me either. 

Some people have commented the first person narrator with so many flashbacks to Offred's life before she became a handmaid made the story too vague. I agree with this and I assume the purpose was not only to create a comparison situation but also to let the readers make their own minds about what was going on. For this, I must say I really liked the last chapter of the book, apparently an historical recollection many years after the happenings in Offred's tale, where we got to have some answers but they were still not enough, in my perspective.

Of course, one must think the possibilities and the details missing is what makes this passionate. The unknown, the need to have more on certain questions drives the person to an addictive need to keep reading. Each new thing Offeed would say only made things seem more dire and inexplicable, it does seem so difficult to imagine someone would actually let something like that happen.

This is fiction but then again, I allow myself to think of several countries where, like in this book, women have no rights, they must let men control their steps, who they marry, who they see, where they go, how long can they go... It's truly frightening to think there are places where Offred's reality already happens, even if with different rules and reasons.

This is the true beauty of this story: it is a fictional situation that can so easily become reality under a different name/so called-tradition or cultural base.

Since the story is told by Offred, it through her we get to know many things. I did like the fact she would insert new information if she had to, namely because she was dealing with something that had to be explained, but at the same time that let too many things in the air as she was not aware of every detail. There's a lot of inner thinking and considerations which are there to let us wonder about the ethics and the morality of many issues. I suppose the questions I'd have liked to know more about were why did those people so successful? Why didn't other countries/communities allow it to happen?

Another little detail I found intriguing, right at the beginning, Offred and another woman are seen by a group of Japanese tourists and we get to know their reality was alike reality today. I kept thinking, why are these people allowed to come and visit and gawk at people? If Gilead was such a bad place how could people see and do nothing?

Then reality, once again, fell down on me: we, world, at this moment I write this, let so many people die and be punished in their countries for situations often unfair, unproved, unethical. Margaret Atwood just disguised reality with a new name and silly details like clothes' colors and raping rituals.

As a whole, this is quite a provoking book as it was certainly intended. I liked reading this for that.

However, the specific details of Gilead, its inhabitants and the system in practice weren't as explained and addictive as I expected and the constant mentions of before, despite necessary in some parts and whimsical in others, just lacked objectivity for me to appreciate them.

It does sound contradictory but what makes this novel special and unique is, at the same time, what makes it frustrating to read at times. Too vague in some aspects.

Grade: 6/10

Margaret Atwood - Hag-Seed

William Shakespeare's The Tempest retold as Hag-Seed
Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he's staging a Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds.
Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge.
After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It's magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall?
Margaret Atwood's novel take on Shakespeare's play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own. 

Comment: I had my eye on Margaret Atwood's work for a while, especially her best known book, which has been adapted to a successful TV series too. I want to read that book but I'm waiting to see if a specific's edition price drops. I saw this book, one of her most recent, at my local library and I thought it would be a good way to see if I liked her writing in general and I'm happy to say it was as engaging as I hoped it would.

 In this book we have a recreation of Shakespeare's play The Tempest set in contemporary times and in a very particular setting which is a prison and the main players are the prisoners who perform a videotaped play to others, as part of a program to encourage participation and improvement so they can have better chances of proving they want to repent. The director of the play is Felix, an older man who was dismissed from his lifelong job due to politics and betrayal. He had dedicated all his life to theater, he was bold and innovative in how he adapted traditional plays but all was put aside in the blink of an eye. On the way to this situation he also lost his wife and his small daughter which left him with an even stronger need for revenge against those who did him harm. 

Working in the prison was at first just one step but all his desires finally seem likely to come to life one day, if only he doesn't get distracted...

I must confess I thought this book to be very easy to read. I expected the writing to be more lyrical, a

little more polished and considering the inspiration was Shakespeare, a little bit more complicated. I must say it was very interesting to see if I could follow the original play's main themes or if the adaptation was too far off.

Perhaps it's something to do with the series demands, but I thought all main steps were very easy to grasp and the fictional aspects not that weird.

Apparently, the original series is called Hogarth Shakespeare and is based on the premise of adapting the plays to contemporary settings, each play by a different author. Since the authors come from all genres, the fun part seems to be how each author decides to adapt it and how similar or not it can be to the original one.

Back to Atwood's work, she picked the main theme of the original play, which can be revenge, and used it to put Felix in charge of doing it in a very public and interesting way. I liked the prison approach and I liked even more the fact the writing was easy and solid even with details like Felix's feelings of loss and the setting in which everyone was at. I specifically liked how the emphasis wasn't much on the prisoners or how bad/good they were. They were playing a part and it was a constant joy for me to keep switching from the original play notions and the expectations the contemporary actors had to deal with. I really liked how the author planned this story.

Personally, an interesting detail was how we are supposed to see the parallel between the original play and what is happening with Felix and the other characters in their "real lives". There are some ideas we are just supposed to accept, some stops that happen way too easily for them to be credible but I still think it's a very good exercise in thinking because there are several concepts (one could say the usual grief, despair, sadness, need to accomplish something, etc.)the author explores through Felix's experiences. Felix isn't always an easy person to like but I focused a lot on his own need to do something right, even if only in his head. It was both good and bitter he never got to overcome his feelings of unfairness and guilt over the death of daughter Miranda. But, well I guess that's the realistic part of all this.

All in all, this was a fascinating book, I had a great time reading bout these characters, I liked how easy it was to follow the story and make the connection to the original. I know there would be a lot of more philosophical and hidden meanings to decipher but from the perspective of a reader who isn't fixated on Shakespeare, this worked out very well for me. In both counts: enjoying the adaptation and understanding the original anyway.

Grade: 8/10