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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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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 29, 2015 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781101924792
- File size: 351028 KB
- Duration: 12:11:18
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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The narrators' energetic performances are perfect for this outlandish tale. Cassandra Campbell and Mark Deakins portray Charmaine and Stan, a married couple who have fallen on hard times who join a social experiment called the Positron Project. They're given a home and full-time jobs, but in exchange they must spend half the year in prison. Campbell's character voices are playful, and she gives Charmaine a high-pitched coquettishness. Deakins has broad tones and a booming voice; his characters often sound buffoonish, which is fitting because they are. His Elvis imitation is spot-on, though. Listening to this audiobook is like hearing two people tell you about the terrible things they've done, and their bad choices just continue to snowball. G.D. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from June 29, 2015
In the dystopian landscape of the unflappable Atwood’s (Stone Mattress) latest novel, there are “not enough jobs, and too many people,” which drives married couple Stan and Charmaine to become interested in the Positron Project, a community that purports to have achieved
harmony. There is a catch, as Positron leader Ed explains: citizens are required to share their home with other couples, alternating each month between time in prison and time at home. It’s an odd arrangement, but one that temporarily satisfies Charmaine and Stan—until they each fall in love with the alternates they’re supposed to never see; their infatuations put the entire Positron arrangement into question. Atwood is fond of intricate plot work, and the novel takes a long time to set up the action, but once it hits the last third, it gains an unstoppable momentum. The novel is full of sly moments of peripeteia and lots of sex, which play alongside larger ideas about the hidden monsters lurking in facile totalitarianism, and, as implied by the title, the ability of the heart to keep fighting despite long odds.
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