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Positron #1
I'm Starved for You
In this first installment of the saucy and sinister new Byliner Serial, “Positron,” Margaret Atwood takes readers on a thrill ride to the near future, where paranoia reigns but sex has definitely not gone out of style.
“I’m Starved for You” introduces us to the world-weary inhabitants of Consilience. This gated community isn’t your average American town, but in a dystopian society imagined by the visionary, internationally bestselling Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Year of the Flood”), it may be as close as anyone can hope to get.
Husband and wife Stan and Charmaine are among thousands who have committed to a new social order because the old one is all but broken. Outside the walls of Consilience, more than half the country is out of work, gangs of the drug-addicted and disaffected menace the streets, warlords disrupt the food supply, and overcrowded correctional facilities churn out offenders to make room for more.
The Consilience prison, Positron, is something else altogether. The very heart of the community and its economic engine, it’s a bold experiment in voluntary incarceration. In exchange for a house, food, and what the online brochure hails as “A Meaningful Life,” residents agree to spend every other month as inmates.
Stan and Charmaine have no complaints—until the day Stan discovers a note under the fridge of the house he and Charmaine must share with another couple while they’re back inside Positron. It’s a missive of erotic longing, pressed with a vivid lipstick “I’m starved for you!” it breathes. If Stan rarely thought about the house’s other residents before—they’ve never met them and don’t know their names; it’s not allowed—now he can’t stop thinking about them, especially the note’s sex-addled author, so unlike his girlish wife, Charmaine. He has to meet her, but in this highly ordered and increasingly surveilled world, disorderly thoughts are a risk, and breaking the rules has dire consequences.
Equal parts “Tom Jones” and “Brave New World,” this hilarious yet harrowing story will leave you eager to return to Positron—but as a voyeur, not an inmate.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margaret Atwood is the author of the internationally bestselling novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” as well as forty other books of fiction and nonfiction, including “The Blind Assassin,” “Oryx and Crake,” and “The Year of the Flood.” Her most recent collection of stories is “Moral Disorder.” She has written about utopias and dystopias in “In Other SF and the Human Imagination.” Atwood was awarded the Booker Prize in 2000 for “The Blind Assassin.”
PRAISE FOR "I'M STARVED FOR YOU"
"What makes this story so impressive is Atwood’s management of detail. She sets up a completely plausible universe, as seamless as a stocking, and shockingly believable. In fact, she is so good at imagining such a society that it’s obvious she’d make a great Minister of Protocol.” —Aritha Van Herk, “The Globe and Mail”
“I’m Starved for You” introduces us to the world-weary inhabitants of Consilience. This gated community isn’t your average American town, but in a dystopian society imagined by the visionary, internationally bestselling Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Year of the Flood”), it may be as close as anyone can hope to get.
Husband and wife Stan and Charmaine are among thousands who have committed to a new social order because the old one is all but broken. Outside the walls of Consilience, more than half the country is out of work, gangs of the drug-addicted and disaffected menace the streets, warlords disrupt the food supply, and overcrowded correctional facilities churn out offenders to make room for more.
The Consilience prison, Positron, is something else altogether. The very heart of the community and its economic engine, it’s a bold experiment in voluntary incarceration. In exchange for a house, food, and what the online brochure hails as “A Meaningful Life,” residents agree to spend every other month as inmates.
Stan and Charmaine have no complaints—until the day Stan discovers a note under the fridge of the house he and Charmaine must share with another couple while they’re back inside Positron. It’s a missive of erotic longing, pressed with a vivid lipstick “I’m starved for you!” it breathes. If Stan rarely thought about the house’s other residents before—they’ve never met them and don’t know their names; it’s not allowed—now he can’t stop thinking about them, especially the note’s sex-addled author, so unlike his girlish wife, Charmaine. He has to meet her, but in this highly ordered and increasingly surveilled world, disorderly thoughts are a risk, and breaking the rules has dire consequences.
Equal parts “Tom Jones” and “Brave New World,” this hilarious yet harrowing story will leave you eager to return to Positron—but as a voyeur, not an inmate.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margaret Atwood is the author of the internationally bestselling novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” as well as forty other books of fiction and nonfiction, including “The Blind Assassin,” “Oryx and Crake,” and “The Year of the Flood.” Her most recent collection of stories is “Moral Disorder.” She has written about utopias and dystopias in “In Other SF and the Human Imagination.” Atwood was awarded the Booker Prize in 2000 for “The Blind Assassin.”
PRAISE FOR "I'M STARVED FOR YOU"
"What makes this story so impressive is Atwood’s management of detail. She sets up a completely plausible universe, as seamless as a stocking, and shockingly believable. In fact, she is so good at imagining such a society that it’s obvious she’d make a great Minister of Protocol.” —Aritha Van Herk, “The Globe and Mail”
64 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 7, 2012
90 people are currently reading
8717 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Atwood
667 books89.8k followersMargaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.
Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.
Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 280 reviews
November 21, 2012
Ah Ms. Atwood. We meet again. You and I haven't been getting along so well of late. The Blind Assassin? Oryx and Crake? I tried to love them but it was not meant to be. But here we are. At last you've given me a tantalizing premise that I just can't walk away from. A dark future? Yes please. A sinister dystopian landscape dressed in idealistic utopian clothing? Tell me more!
To sweeten the deal a little further, this is the first installment of a bona fide serial experiment on Atwood's part. The novel is Positron and it is being released serially exclusively in ebook format. Click here for more information.
While this first installment is short and sweet and only begins to hint at sinister shenanigans, I'm hooked already and will be sticking around for the duration. What I love about any well-constructed dystopia, is its construction. The devil is in the details. I love a slow reveal. I want a bit of foreplay. But then you had better be able to deliver on what you're promising!
I figure at this point in her writing career, I'm in good hands with Atwood and this crazy vision for the future she's concocted. I'm ready to go along for the ride anyway. I respect her tremendously as an author despite some painful misses, and The Handmaid's Tale has a permanent spot on my all-star team of favorites. Dystopias are my crystal meth, and Atwood's classic tale about reproductive rights is 'the blue stuff' -- Heisenberg grade if you kennit.
So far we have a kinky story going on that seems more lustful than outright unnerving and paranoid. But already I'm getting Stepford vibes that something is rotten in the the state of Consilience. Oh my my, Ms. Atwood, what do you have up your sleeve?
April 18, 2017
3.5 Stars.
This was an interesting enough short story but it took me a bit of time to get into it. I felt like it got off to a rocky start but then it came into itself and it ended on a high. There were certainly a couple of twists and turns and that made it interesting. Reading Stan's POV was kind of boring but I did like reading Charmaine's POV. The world-building was just okay. I know it must be hard to world-build in a short story because you have to do a bunch of other stuff too but I just wasn't overly impressed with how Atwood did it. I did enjoy Atwood's writing style though and at the end of this short story, I was eager to read the next one to see what was going to happen.
I would recommend this story and I would read more by Atwood.
This was an interesting enough short story but it took me a bit of time to get into it. I felt like it got off to a rocky start but then it came into itself and it ended on a high. There were certainly a couple of twists and turns and that made it interesting. Reading Stan's POV was kind of boring but I did like reading Charmaine's POV. The world-building was just okay. I know it must be hard to world-build in a short story because you have to do a bunch of other stuff too but I just wasn't overly impressed with how Atwood did it. I did enjoy Atwood's writing style though and at the end of this short story, I was eager to read the next one to see what was going to happen.
I would recommend this story and I would read more by Atwood.
November 15, 2012
Holy shit: Margaret Atwood is writing a serialized novel for digital readers! The moment I found this story, it was mine--and the moment I realized that not one, but two installments are available, I was dancing. Fuck yeah I'm on board for an Atwood serial.
Why the cussing? I dig this serial idea. The first I learned that Dumas, Dostoyevsky, Dickens, and other authors (who may even have had last names that start with a different letter) wrote their big books in serialized format, I experienced that sense of nostalgia for an event that I haven't personally lived, but wish so much that I had--or, better yet, could live. Well, here we are in century twenty-the-first, digitized books and their readers readily available, and wouldn't you know it: savvy writers and publishers are giving this serialized thing another go. Huzzah, I say, huzzah.
How is Atwood's first installment in her "Positron" series? Well-written, quick, intriguing, racy, and fun. Throw in a smidge of a wicked streak, too. The basic premise of the story is so very Atwoodian, I just had to smile after she laid her first hand of cards down. She then poses a dilemma, plays it out a ways, and wraps on a tantalizing cliffhanger--hello serial fiction!
Where Atwood will take this from here, I do not know. I will find out, in part, tomorrow, when I fire up the ole' Kindle and digest as much of Episode 2 as I can during my commute. What a blast this is.
Why the cussing? I dig this serial idea. The first I learned that Dumas, Dostoyevsky, Dickens, and other authors (who may even have had last names that start with a different letter) wrote their big books in serialized format, I experienced that sense of nostalgia for an event that I haven't personally lived, but wish so much that I had--or, better yet, could live. Well, here we are in century twenty-the-first, digitized books and their readers readily available, and wouldn't you know it: savvy writers and publishers are giving this serialized thing another go. Huzzah, I say, huzzah.
How is Atwood's first installment in her "Positron" series? Well-written, quick, intriguing, racy, and fun. Throw in a smidge of a wicked streak, too. The basic premise of the story is so very Atwoodian, I just had to smile after she laid her first hand of cards down. She then poses a dilemma, plays it out a ways, and wraps on a tantalizing cliffhanger--hello serial fiction!
Where Atwood will take this from here, I do not know. I will find out, in part, tomorrow, when I fire up the ole' Kindle and digest as much of Episode 2 as I can during my commute. What a blast this is.
March 13, 2012
Another reason to love Kindle singles.
Atwood's stories centers around a couple in a dystopian future where prisoners and non-prisioners exchange roles at the end of every month. It's not just our house; it's a house you share with an alternate.
Atwood's short work is good read that will make you think.
Atwood's stories centers around a couple in a dystopian future where prisoners and non-prisioners exchange roles at the end of every month. It's not just our house; it's a house you share with an alternate.
Atwood's short work is good read that will make you think.
September 13, 2016
Margaret Atwood is writing a serial novel! I had no idea. I only came across this when it came across my daily e-mail of eBook deals from The Fussy Librarian (It's working, I bought something!) This first "episode" actually came out in the fall of 2012, and four episodes are available at the writing of this review. She talks about the process in this video from the Los Angeles Book Festival, where she discusses how she compares to Dickens and what can happen when you write a serial novel along the way, with feedback in between. I love that she's doing this!
The story is very near future America, pre MaddAddam times (indeed, there is a mention of a creation that could easily become chickie nobs, I felt like that was for the True Fans like me!). Unemployment is at 40%, particularly with young people, and the government is destined for collapse. Along comes a think tank with the Positron community, where people voluntarily sign up for gated living, and give up communication with their former lives. Half their time is spent imprisoned, the other half living a normalish life in suburbia. The setting is an abandoned former town, and as people move in, houses are renovated and rescued from graffiti and destruction. The community is saved, the economy is saved, and life improves.
At least, that's what the participants are told. I'm not sure we know by the end of this episode if this is indeed the truth. I'm Starved for You focuses more on a love note one man finds under his fridge, and his search for the woman with the fuchsia lipstick who wrote it.
This book was also discussed on the Reading Envy Podcast Episode 03.
The story is very near future America, pre MaddAddam times (indeed, there is a mention of a creation that could easily become chickie nobs, I felt like that was for the True Fans like me!). Unemployment is at 40%, particularly with young people, and the government is destined for collapse. Along comes a think tank with the Positron community, where people voluntarily sign up for gated living, and give up communication with their former lives. Half their time is spent imprisoned, the other half living a normalish life in suburbia. The setting is an abandoned former town, and as people move in, houses are renovated and rescued from graffiti and destruction. The community is saved, the economy is saved, and life improves.
At least, that's what the participants are told. I'm not sure we know by the end of this episode if this is indeed the truth. I'm Starved for You focuses more on a love note one man finds under his fridge, and his search for the woman with the fuchsia lipstick who wrote it.
This book was also discussed on the Reading Envy Podcast Episode 03.
March 8, 2012
Future dystopia as only Margaret Atwood can imagine it. Voluntary participation in an experimental solution to social problems (over-crowded jails and 40% unemployment) bring two couples "together" with unexpected consequences. Quite intriguing and a good read but somehow unsatisfying at the end.
October 22, 2015
Short stories are always at risk of sacrificing characterisation and actual story in order to meet the needs of the format, and to explain the idea within the word count allowed. Unfortunately, as is often the case, this seems to have happened here too.
Which is a shame, as the premise of the story is very well thought out. As populations increase and available work and housing decreases why not split the population in two and house one half of the population while employing them to guard the other half in prison. Then at the end of the month, everybody swaps. It sounds perfect, but there are always going to be flaws in such a system which Atwood explains quite well, leading up to the biggest problem when people from one half of the society start to try to interact with the other, with a twist at the end providing surprising and possibly unfortunate consequences for at least one of those concerned...
These short stories are apparently designed to be read in a single sitting, which I didn't realise until I'd finished the book on the second day. But, having started it before bed one evening, I read it as fast as I could.
Which is a shame, as the premise of the story is very well thought out. As populations increase and available work and housing decreases why not split the population in two and house one half of the population while employing them to guard the other half in prison. Then at the end of the month, everybody swaps. It sounds perfect, but there are always going to be flaws in such a system which Atwood explains quite well, leading up to the biggest problem when people from one half of the society start to try to interact with the other, with a twist at the end providing surprising and possibly unfortunate consequences for at least one of those concerned...
These short stories are apparently designed to be read in a single sitting, which I didn't realise until I'd finished the book on the second day. But, having started it before bed one evening, I read it as fast as I could.
March 21, 2012
Not having read any of Margaret Atwood's "near future" novels, I was intrigued to read this short novella on a dystopian (or maybe not?) version of our future. It is funny, tongue-in-cheek, despite its serious theme: lack of paid work for too many on the one hand, and too many criminals running lose as prisons are overflowing on the other. What is the solution? Some authority comes up with a voluntary program, called "consilience" - CON + RESILIENCE.
Not to give anything away, suffice to say that human nature being what it is, nothing turns out quite as intended by the power that be and lessons can be learned by us, whether in the alternate future, or even better, in our present reality. [
Not to give anything away, suffice to say that human nature being what it is, nothing turns out quite as intended by the power that be and lessons can be learned by us, whether in the alternate future, or even better, in our present reality. [
May 3, 2012
I have a hit or miss relationship with Atwood. This is definitely a hit. A great short story that will have you wanting more at the twist ending. This was an interesting look into two closed communities. An actual one & a marriage. It left me wondering if Consilience brought out the characteristics in the couple or if this was who they always would have been. It was chilling at times & all the while I couldn't help but think these people were playing out their lives with showtunes & Doris Day in the background. It added a macabre layer that I must admit I liked & found amusing. Definitely worth the read.
March 15, 2012
I always love some Atwood. I need to think about the ending of this book for a bit ... But I enjoyed the read!
August 21, 2012
Atwood at her best doing what she does the best, stark and slightly twisted dystopian future.
If you like this, read Oryx and Krake.
If you like this, read Oryx and Krake.
March 22, 2012
Not sure how I feel about this. Will need to marinate on it a bit.
Full review:
Having recently read The Handmaid's Tale, I was very intrigued when I saw this on the Kindle Singles list. Though I've owned a Kindle for some time, I'd yet to try a Single, so what better than one by the author of the phenomenal Handmaid's Tale? Unfortunately, this story doesn't live up to its predecessor. Spoilers to follow.
I really loved the initial concept of this book. The way Atwood frames it, it seems like the perfect dystopian setting. Take some people, deceive them into believing that a prison exchange scenario is brilliant and voila! As with The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood does a good job of taking something that seems a little far fetched but manipulating it in such a way that it eventually sounds pretty reasonable. I really bought this aspect of the work because I could imagine that, with the proper branding, people who are struggling might just buy into such a concept.
However, I think the work lost focus from here. It seems to be two things at once: a dystopian view of the solving of social inequalities that is also a work about obsession. The more Stan fixated on Jasmine, the more this work lost me. I could see where Stan's longing for Jasmine was symbolic of his longing to break out of his seemingly perfect world, his longing for a spice that was lacking from his bland existence. But the balance seemed off to me, to the extent that the work ending up feeling more like a work of sexual obsession than one making a statement about society at large.
Full review:
Having recently read The Handmaid's Tale, I was very intrigued when I saw this on the Kindle Singles list. Though I've owned a Kindle for some time, I'd yet to try a Single, so what better than one by the author of the phenomenal Handmaid's Tale? Unfortunately, this story doesn't live up to its predecessor. Spoilers to follow.
I really loved the initial concept of this book. The way Atwood frames it, it seems like the perfect dystopian setting. Take some people, deceive them into believing that a prison exchange scenario is brilliant and voila! As with The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood does a good job of taking something that seems a little far fetched but manipulating it in such a way that it eventually sounds pretty reasonable. I really bought this aspect of the work because I could imagine that, with the proper branding, people who are struggling might just buy into such a concept.
However, I think the work lost focus from here. It seems to be two things at once: a dystopian view of the solving of social inequalities that is also a work about obsession. The more Stan fixated on Jasmine, the more this work lost me. I could see where Stan's longing for Jasmine was symbolic of his longing to break out of his seemingly perfect world, his longing for a spice that was lacking from his bland existence. But the balance seemed off to me, to the extent that the work ending up feeling more like a work of sexual obsession than one making a statement about society at large.
March 15, 2015
Fascinating stuff. I downloaded this back before I knew it was the first in a series (and back before I stopped buying from Amazon) and just decided to read it now that the full book version has been announced. This was, of course, very expository, but it had that blend of large, important themes, intriguing interpersonal relationships, and humor that Margaret Atwood does so well. I'm anxious to read more installments, but not anxious enough to read them on the dreaded Kindle, so I'm going to let the anticipation build until the book comes out. In the meantime, I have a couple other Atwoods around this place I can get to.
March 18, 2012
I've never read a pulp romance, but I imagine Atwood was going for that style in a few passages of this short story. I quite liked it, to be honest. Otherwise, another solid distopian world, described so well in so few words.
I was disappointed with the end at first, but then I reread the last few pages a couple of times and actually appreciated the way she decided to close things. Most authors would be tempted to drag out the concept to the point boredom. This story kept me interested throughout.
I was disappointed with the end at first, but then I reread the last few pages a couple of times and actually appreciated the way she decided to close things. Most authors would be tempted to drag out the concept to the point boredom. This story kept me interested throughout.
March 18, 2012
And in 79 pages, Atwood did for me what 1Q84 didn't in 1000. Atwood created a compelling view of a world with characters that were solid and real. It's a 20 minute read. Do it. You won't regret it.
February 10, 2017
this is for the entire series...
Good.. Different.... laughed alot! I would love to see a movie of it :)
Good.. Different.... laughed alot! I would love to see a movie of it :)
November 6, 2017
Very interesting
December 6, 2014
When Nobel nomination season hits, I always raise Atwood's name; to me, she is one of the most talented female writers working today. With that said, I think that most of her more poetic, political, and engaging novels are rooted firmly in the past: her recent work is a smorgasbord with some hits—like the wonderfully unique The Penelopiad which still showcased her trademark humor and incisive wit—and some misses like the dystopian Oryx and Crake and its each-weaker-than-the-previous successors in the Maddadam trilogy.
I would hate to divide Atwood's output into "literary fiction" and "speculative fiction," and more than that, I would hate to pit these genres against one another. Atwood can do dystopian fiction very well as The Handmaid's Tale demonstrates rather profoundly even to this day. But her recent turn toward dystopian fiction loses the gallows humor, the engagement with issues of gender and sexuality, and the poetic inventiveness of her other work. Instead of using poetry to convey loss and grief as in Surfacing, Atwood's linguistic turn in the newer dystopian fiction tends to be more toward inventing catchy phrases for consumer goods, characters, or grids on a map than the brutally powerful knack she had for mixing poetic and fictional prose in other work, such as Cat's Eye, a perfect book.
I'm Starved for You berates the community of Consilience/Positron for being gimmicky and playing into anxieties and paranoias, but this entire book—in all its short 60 pages—feels like a part of that gimmick. The text is fractured and verbose more on the underlying social chaos that caused Consilience to become a marketable community for the future than on the psychological states of the characters themselves. In other work, Atwood uses her characters fragmented and chaotic states of mind to critique society; here, when this would serve her well, her focus is instead on the machinations of daily life in Consilience and/or Positron, making this novella very superficial and hardly worth the read.
I will continue to read Atwood's books as she publishes them; having long been a fan of her work, I still cling to the hope that she will produce another gem like The Blind Assassin. While all of her work undoubtedly maintains a dialogue with current social, cultural, and political issues with which we are all dealing in today's world, it does so lately only with a very clinical eye, forgetting the depths she explored so realistically and horrifyingly in the past.
I would hate to divide Atwood's output into "literary fiction" and "speculative fiction," and more than that, I would hate to pit these genres against one another. Atwood can do dystopian fiction very well as The Handmaid's Tale demonstrates rather profoundly even to this day. But her recent turn toward dystopian fiction loses the gallows humor, the engagement with issues of gender and sexuality, and the poetic inventiveness of her other work. Instead of using poetry to convey loss and grief as in Surfacing, Atwood's linguistic turn in the newer dystopian fiction tends to be more toward inventing catchy phrases for consumer goods, characters, or grids on a map than the brutally powerful knack she had for mixing poetic and fictional prose in other work, such as Cat's Eye, a perfect book.
I'm Starved for You berates the community of Consilience/Positron for being gimmicky and playing into anxieties and paranoias, but this entire book—in all its short 60 pages—feels like a part of that gimmick. The text is fractured and verbose more on the underlying social chaos that caused Consilience to become a marketable community for the future than on the psychological states of the characters themselves. In other work, Atwood uses her characters fragmented and chaotic states of mind to critique society; here, when this would serve her well, her focus is instead on the machinations of daily life in Consilience and/or Positron, making this novella very superficial and hardly worth the read.
I will continue to read Atwood's books as she publishes them; having long been a fan of her work, I still cling to the hope that she will produce another gem like The Blind Assassin. While all of her work undoubtedly maintains a dialogue with current social, cultural, and political issues with which we are all dealing in today's world, it does so lately only with a very clinical eye, forgetting the depths she explored so realistically and horrifyingly in the past.
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July 25, 2015I'm a fan of Margaret Atwood's writing. Particularly her dystopias. ORYX & CRAKE and the rest of the MaddAddam series got high praise from me. And I really liked THE PENELOPIAD as well.
I did not however like Positron #1 - I'M STARVED FOR YOU.
The book would make a great 'discussion' centerpiece if you happen to have a book club where they don't mind the frequent use of the F-word and the constant banter about sex. There are some twists at the end that could get people talking.
Personally I found the book boring. It was much better in the second half, but it took me weeks to finish. It was such a slog and I kept finding other things to do rather than pick up my Kindle.
One problem was the main characters. I'm not really a fan of people who are more stupid than I am. I'm also not a person who enjoys other people's marital problems when they stem from their being shallow puddles. So you can see that a book that was entirely about stupid people and their inability to make their marriage work, wouldn't be for me.
Some how sex was boring. There was a lot of plotting involving sex and it felt like filler. I kept skimming and skimming and thinking and thinking why on earth is this material here. It isn't moving the story along so what is the point. It just didn't seem like Ms. Atwood's usual impeccably tight plotting.
My final problem with the book is that when I got to the end I thought that this would have been a great book for a high school English class, if there hadn't been all the language and sex that they aren't going to allow in school.
Soooo, if this review makes you feel like you can identify with where I am as a reader at this moment, then avoid it. Wait and see if you wouldn't like it better in a few months. There are things of merit herein.
If you don't like MaddAddam and the Penelopiad leaves you cold, then give the Positron series a try. It seems very different from Ms. Atwood's other works.
~review copy
I did not however like Positron #1 - I'M STARVED FOR YOU.
The book would make a great 'discussion' centerpiece if you happen to have a book club where they don't mind the frequent use of the F-word and the constant banter about sex. There are some twists at the end that could get people talking.
Personally I found the book boring. It was much better in the second half, but it took me weeks to finish. It was such a slog and I kept finding other things to do rather than pick up my Kindle.
One problem was the main characters. I'm not really a fan of people who are more stupid than I am. I'm also not a person who enjoys other people's marital problems when they stem from their being shallow puddles. So you can see that a book that was entirely about stupid people and their inability to make their marriage work, wouldn't be for me.
Some how sex was boring. There was a lot of plotting involving sex and it felt like filler. I kept skimming and skimming and thinking and thinking why on earth is this material here. It isn't moving the story along so what is the point. It just didn't seem like Ms. Atwood's usual impeccably tight plotting.
My final problem with the book is that when I got to the end I thought that this would have been a great book for a high school English class, if there hadn't been all the language and sex that they aren't going to allow in school.
Soooo, if this review makes you feel like you can identify with where I am as a reader at this moment, then avoid it. Wait and see if you wouldn't like it better in a few months. There are things of merit herein.
If you don't like MaddAddam and the Penelopiad leaves you cold, then give the Positron series a try. It seems very different from Ms. Atwood's other works.
~review copy
October 2, 2013
I’m addicted! I love Margaret Atwood!! This is the first of her Positron series which is written in episode form; she publishes one chunk of the story and then you have to wait to get more. So far, four episodes are out. I heard an interview with her where she described that she waits to get the reaction from readers before continuing writing, so that she can emphasize certain characters and decide where she wants to take the plot based on reader response.
I think they are meant to be read in one sitting; and it’s hard to not read this all at once. I believe it’s about 60 pages. (I read on my kindle, so I’m not sure.)
Read this book. It’s so short that if you read my explanation below, you’ll know a big chunk of it, and reading it in the book is half of the fun. But just in case you need to know more…
It’s set in the near future, and society is having a terrible time; there is mass unemployment and crime and starvation are on the rise. In order to create a solution to this problem, the government is testing out a voluntary experimental program where we meet our characters. In this program, unemployment is solved. Every other month, members of the community are either imprisoned at Positron; on the off months, they are working to support the prison. This means ½ the housing is needed, ½ the jobs are needed, and everyone is contributing to society. Interesting concept, no?! Okay, read it now to find out what happens…
I think they are meant to be read in one sitting; and it’s hard to not read this all at once. I believe it’s about 60 pages. (I read on my kindle, so I’m not sure.)
Read this book. It’s so short that if you read my explanation below, you’ll know a big chunk of it, and reading it in the book is half of the fun. But just in case you need to know more…
It’s set in the near future, and society is having a terrible time; there is mass unemployment and crime and starvation are on the rise. In order to create a solution to this problem, the government is testing out a voluntary experimental program where we meet our characters. In this program, unemployment is solved. Every other month, members of the community are either imprisoned at Positron; on the off months, they are working to support the prison. This means ½ the housing is needed, ½ the jobs are needed, and everyone is contributing to society. Interesting concept, no?! Okay, read it now to find out what happens…
June 12, 2013
Stan is an interesting character, a product of the system: jobless rates soaring, desirous of things outside of what he has, desperate enough for more. In fact, he is just as "retro" as he imagines his wife, Charmaine, to be. Oh, Stan, quintessential man with his 1950s sensibilities: too emotionally (physically?) needy to be with "the sluts," so to avoid the shame of rejection/ dissatisfaction, he marries the "cookie-ad thing" aka Charmaine. Will she give him children? Will she normalize him? Will she save him? Stan hopes not, for he is simultaneously terrified of norming and transfixed by fantasizing: "I'm missing out on someone else, on a tigress in the sack, ready to scratch my back to bloody ribbons. And Charmaine is so cold...." This is where reality and fantasy become ironic, for Charmaine is more fiery, more passionate than Stan gives her credit for. And Charmaine embarks on "An Affair to Remember." This cannot go well.
Atwood reminds us that prisons are built in many forms, and sometimes the nostalgic desire for a more innocent time aka the suburbs can be the worst prison of all. Positron can be internal/ intangible, or it can be external/ tangible. The trick is: How do you escape? Or rather, can you escape?
Atwood reminds us that prisons are built in many forms, and sometimes the nostalgic desire for a more innocent time aka the suburbs can be the worst prison of all. Positron can be internal/ intangible, or it can be external/ tangible. The trick is: How do you escape? Or rather, can you escape?
November 3, 2012
I think the story was an interesting conceit: Atwood's greatest talent is extrapolating chilling yet plausible futures from the threads of the present...but I don't think it fully came through for me in the execution. The Handmaid's Tale was the first Atwood book I ever read and one that affected me profoundly . The power of it was two-fold; that ability to create these realistic dystopic realities AND the equally realistic everywoman humanity of Offred/June. Without so sympathetic a protagonist, the dazzling intellectualism of the world Atwood created wouldn't be nearly so affecting, I think. And that feels like the downfall of this story: I found all of the characters are unlikeable, unsympathetic and without any contextualizing depth. Atwood gives us a look of a frightening and eerily realistic future, but one I couldn't picture myself or any real person. And it resonates less for the lack. So while it's an interesting enough story, it lacks the power that I normally expect from Atwood and is, in that respect, a disappointment.
Read
July 9, 2012loved it loved it loved it. Did I mention I loved this book? Novella? I chose it because it was a bargain on Kindle and I had never read anything by Margaret Atwood , despite her numerous accolades so I wanted to sample her writing before I delve into any of her longner ouevres.
The book is about a gated community that is built in response to mass violence and joblessness, a fsetting that is eerily similar to one I've often imagined given the current state of affairs in America and abroad. I don't want to give away much of the plot ( because it's so juicy) but I will say that it has to do with the untamable desire that humans have to be human. That is , the yearning for something extroidinary like passion, like unexpected bliss like ...I don't know, read and find out what exactly they were looking for.
I liked how the idea of Jasmine was unsed as a metaphor for this ineffable human desire for savagery and it's inevitable presence and untamability of thsi part of ourselves despite the overall desire , nay societal need to keep this quality hidden and controlled.
The book is about a gated community that is built in response to mass violence and joblessness, a fsetting that is eerily similar to one I've often imagined given the current state of affairs in America and abroad. I don't want to give away much of the plot ( because it's so juicy) but I will say that it has to do with the untamable desire that humans have to be human. That is , the yearning for something extroidinary like passion, like unexpected bliss like ...I don't know, read and find out what exactly they were looking for.
I liked how the idea of Jasmine was unsed as a metaphor for this ineffable human desire for savagery and it's inevitable presence and untamability of thsi part of ourselves despite the overall desire , nay societal need to keep this quality hidden and controlled.
lost-interest
May 5, 2021| Reader Fox Blog |
Ahk, okay...so, I literally added this book to my TBR because it's written by Margaret Atwood. I love her as an author, but after finally reading the synopsis for this book I have to admit that I'm a little unnerved. It just sounds...awful. So, I'm reshelving it now as having lost interest. There's just something about the whole odd society and the cheating thing that really turns me off wanting to read this novel.
And sure, maybe one day I will change my mind on this one and decide that I'm at a point where I should read it. That's primarily the reason I'm adding it to a separate shelf so that if I do change my mind the book is readily there as a reminder. For now, though, I think I've got better things to read.
| Reader Fox Links |
Ahk, okay...so, I literally added this book to my TBR because it's written by Margaret Atwood. I love her as an author, but after finally reading the synopsis for this book I have to admit that I'm a little unnerved. It just sounds...awful. So, I'm reshelving it now as having lost interest. There's just something about the whole odd society and the cheating thing that really turns me off wanting to read this novel.
And sure, maybe one day I will change my mind on this one and decide that I'm at a point where I should read it. That's primarily the reason I'm adding it to a separate shelf so that if I do change my mind the book is readily there as a reminder. For now, though, I think I've got better things to read.
| Reader Fox Links |
February 10, 2016
I’m Starved for You is a novella designed to be read in one sitting. My day doesn’t usually allow for large chunks of reading time but I found myself carving out spare minutes so that I could keep reading this book. I don’t read a lot of speculative fiction so perhaps I’m not the best judge of the genre but I know a good story – this is a ripper. And of course, Margaret is a master.
I’m Starved for You is the first in the four-part Positron series. I almost cried when I finished because 1) cliffhanger and 2) book-buying-ban. And then, after scouting around miserably on Goodreads for hints about what happens next, I realised that Margaret had rewritten the four parts into her 2015 release, The Heart Goes Last. HOORAY! And I have it in my TBR stack. HOORAY!
4/5
I’m Starved for You is the first in the four-part Positron series. I almost cried when I finished because 1) cliffhanger and 2) book-buying-ban. And then, after scouting around miserably on Goodreads for hints about what happens next, I realised that Margaret had rewritten the four parts into her 2015 release, The Heart Goes Last. HOORAY! And I have it in my TBR stack. HOORAY!
4/5
March 21, 2012
Atwood has this innate ability to conjure up worlds startlingly like our own brought to highly disconcerting extremes. This is exactly what she accomplishes in "I'm Starved for You." She thrusts her characters into a dystopic world of double lives, brought forth by a socio-economic collapse that seems eerily plausible given our current debt-laden society's position. This novella manages to drive the reader to the point where they are as obsessed & obsessive as its protagonist by the end. I flew through pages wholly enraptured. A brief but timely and astute novella, all said and done.
August 14, 2012
I'm not quite sure whether to call this a novella or a short story. Whatever it is, it is incredible. The story is set in a dystopian future that doesn't seem all that far removed from our rather messed up present. And yet things -- including relationships -- are very, very messed up. That's what makes the piece such a compelling read -- imagining how few steps away we are from this kind of Brave New Romance. A must-read for political junkies, even if they've never read a word of Margaret Atwood.
October 21, 2013
I'm reading a lot of non-fiction at the moment, researching about some health issues I have, so I didn't feel like committing to a big novel. Enter, 'I'm Starved For You', Margaret Atwood's latest dystopian vision, this time about a privatised, modernised part time prison system for non-criminals. For me, it wasn't Atwood at her best, however it was a nice easy read, so I will definitely keep reading the other books in her positron series. Nice to have a short, slightly trashy book to have a brief fling with between novels. If you like sci fi, you will enjoy this.
March 14, 2016
I knew I was starved for this the instant I read the blurb. Now that I've read this, I knew I was right. I love Atwood, no doubt about that. But I've only read Oryx and Crake, and The Blind Assassin by her. They were good, super good, but slow and easy to not read for months. This, however, is perfect. This has the perfect pace. The story is interesting, intriguing, and dark. But it's a novella and that doesn't leave me with much to say, except that I'm glad I read it when I did, because The Heart Goes Last is out--I know where the title comes from--and I can read it right away if I want.
April 7, 2013
It's been ages since I've had the time to read for fun, so at work when I had a Friday with only an hour and a half of classes and nothing really to prep, I started this.
It was great. I loved the way she dropped me into the story and slowly let the world unfold, but I think I also just loved reading again. I'm glad it was short - one afternoon at work and the bus home and maybe another 15 minutes as I ate dinner and it was done.
Looking forward to the rest of the Positron series.
It was great. I loved the way she dropped me into the story and slowly let the world unfold, but I think I also just loved reading again. I'm glad it was short - one afternoon at work and the bus home and maybe another 15 minutes as I ate dinner and it was done.
Looking forward to the rest of the Positron series.
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