Choke Collar: Positron, Episode 2

by Margaret Atwood

In this second, steamy episode of the new Byliner Serial “Positron,” the Booker Prize–winning Margaret Atwood picks up where she left off in her dystopian dark comedy, mining wholly deviant territory where a totalitarian state collides with the chaos of human desire.

“As seamless as a stocking, and shockingly believable” is how the “Globe and Mail” describes “I’m Starved for You,” the first installment of “Positron.” In this new episode, the stocking comes off, with husband and wife Stan and Charmaine facing more troubles in safe but carefully controlled Consilience, a social experiment in which the lawful are locked up and, beyond the gates, criminals roam the wasteland that is the America of Margaret Atwood’s creepily plausible near future.

Stan understands the Faustian deal he and his wife have made. What he doesn’t anticipate is the stupefying boredom. What wakes him? An illicit lover’s note written by a mysterious woman who also lives in Consilience. Breaking the rules, he stalks her and is delivered not into the arms of the nympho of his dreams but into a nightmare of mind games and some very kinky forced labor.

In the world of “Choke Collar,” when you surrender your civil liberties, you enter a funhouse of someone else’s making. Stay tuned as the episodes of Atwood’s futuristic thriller “Positron” are released, and discover if anyone can overcome the greatest treachery of all—human nature.

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 Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination.” Atwood was awarded the Booker Prize in 2000 for “The Blind Assassin.”

Genres: Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks, Canada

50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 28, 2012

About the author

Margaret 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.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

I enjoyed this second book more than book one, even though I rated them both the same. The story picks up a little bit and it got a whole lot more interesting because of Jocelyn. I really liked her character because she brought something really entertaining to the story. Stan was still annoying in this book but I didn't find his POV's as boring to read. The story follows a similar structure to book one as it sort of starts slow but then Atwood ends it in such an unexpected way. Atwood is really good at gradually revealing things without seeming like it's forced or dragged out. I guess my biggest problem with these books is that I want MORE.

I would recommend this series and I would read more by Atwood.

[Trudi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second installment of Atwood's great serial ebook experiment, and I'm definitely hooked. Choke Collar is an entertaining blend of dark humor mixed with delicious hints of dystopia dangers. I'm thoroughly enjoying the pacing and the when and the how Atwood is choosing to reveal things. I'm being pretty conservative with my star ratings so far, but that's only because I know the story is only barely getting warmed up. Don't let my three stars keep you from picking this up. Three stars in this case is not a reflection of "meh mediocrity" but rather "hmmmm...interesting. I want more please."

I love the nasty implications of "social experiments" gone horribly wrong, or hijacked for other nasty purposes. Humans do weird things when they are rigidly controlled. It is not in our nature it seems to respond well to being mere mice in a maze. Both Stan and Charmaine are great examples of this as they persist in their debauched extra-curricular activities.

Charmaine is fascinating to me as she continues to have her lurid affair with "Max" while she plays happy housewife with Stan yet still finds the time to take pride in her day job. Even though her day job is killing people by lethal injection, Charmaine finds the romance in it. She believes she has a "talent" -- and has even added her own personal touches -- the kiss on the forehead -- to a very ritualized procedure. It's amazing what can become "normal" under the right, twisted circumstances.

Stan is an ass, but I have to think much of his dysfunction and outright more unlikeable qualities are a result of Consilience than his natural character. He certainly paid for his pervy, lustful obsession with a woman who turned out to only exist in his imagination. Jocelyn is quite the bird too. A dominatrix flair with a Black Widow sting, and I found myself laughing helplessly at Stan's fate when he unwittingly falls into her spider trap and particular brand of torture.

The 'big reveal' offers a satisfying cliffhanger -- organ trafficking? Sweet. What will happen to Stan? Will Charmaine "kill him"? What will he do if he makes it outside the walls of Consilience? Does Stan even have it in him to be a hero? Is that even what Jocelyn and Phil really want or are they setting him up for something else?

I want more!

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm in: the doozy that Atwood drops at the end of Episode 2 blows open the story and sets a stage that is rife with possibilities. The dystopian themes remain in-line with the usual beat that such stories march to, but Atwood's language and tone lend a singular element to the setting. Though she has shown few parts of Positron and Consilience, I already have a sense of what it is like to live there.

Like I said, I'm hooked and I am here to stay for however many Episodes remain. I tip my hat to Atwood for embracing the serial format with a story that brims with gusto and drama. Until next episode...

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read and reviewed the first story in this series, I'm Starved For You , I thought it was a one-off short story. Now, with both the second, Choke Collar , and third, Erase Me , stories published, and at least one more promised for later this year, I realise that this is serial fiction rather than just a collection of short stories. Margaret Atwood is building a larger work, called Positron (it remains to be seen if this will ever be published as a single narrative). In part, I think this negates a couple of my complaints about the first story, and taken alone, I think my ratings for both stories still stand. But, certainly so far, I think the series is greater than the sum of its parts and would easily warrant an additional star.

Continuing the story makes more sense of the first story as well. This time the story focusses almost exclusively on Stan and his 'relationship' with Jocelyn, but at the same time provides us with a better understanding of the workings and politics of Consilience itself. Occasionally, we check up on Charmaine just so we can be sure she is okay, but what happened to Phil?

This is shaping up nicely as a series, with the feeling of much more world-building having gone into this story. Already, I'm looking forward to the next story in the series.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't disappointed with this, but I wasn't as fulfilled with this installment as I was with " I'm Starved for You". About one third of this episode is recap of the first episode; I'm not sure this was a good choice. Also, I found the language to break down a bit in this volume... Sometimes it was crass; a little like Fifty Shades in its approach to sexuality. But then, it did contain one of the best similes of all time: "...she holds them both in her consciousness, so carefully, like fragile meringues, or uncooked eggs, or baby birds." (Atwood, you genius!!) . I was still engrossed in this book even if it didn't live up to my expectations. In "Choke Collar" we get more of an idea of the world outside of Consilience, and we get a more clear idea of why Positron was created in the first place... Something is rotten in this prison and I was piqued to learn more. So, "Choke Collar" may simply be a bridge between two better works, I can settle for that; it plays that function well, even if the payoff wasn't quite what I had invested in it. I anticipate that the series as a whole will be remarkable. 3.5/5

[Ann Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved "I Am Starved For You." I was surprised to discover that what appeared to be a short story was actually a serial novel. I purchased this instalment ("Choke Collar") and, frankly, didn't find it nearly as enthralling as "I Am Starved For You." I will no doubt purchase the third instalment. (I'm curious to find out how the book wraps up.) I would also be fascinated to learn about the writing of this book. Was it always Atwood's plan to write multiple instalments? Or did she decide to revisit these characters after "I Am Starved For You" was released?

[Danyel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second edition of the is still very engrossing. The idea that people would surrender their freedom to live in a planned community is both intriguing and horrifying.

[Beth (bibliobeth) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Atwood is without a doubt one of my favourite living authors at the moment and I was delighted to discover her Positron series in e-book format which consists of four short stories (so far) based in a dystopian, freakishly possible future. If you haven't read the first story, I'm Starved For You, it's probably best to start with that as this second instalment, Choke Collar, picks up right where the first left off.

Our two main characters are married couple Stan and Charmaine who have volunteered for a new project in their community - known as Consilience. Every other month, they are obliged to enter Positron, a prison environment to build the future for the next generation while an alternate husband and wife team live in their house and go about their daily lives. The following month, they swap over, take over the house from the Alternates and carry on with life as normal. In return, all their debts are written off, they are guaranteed stable and well-paid jobs on the "outside," and decent treatment and "a meaningful life," whilst inside the prison. However, they are forbidden any contact at all with their Alternates, even finding out who they are and this causes problems for the couple when Charmaine does just that in the first story.

In Choke Collar, Stan and Charmaine have been split up and whilst Charmaine languishes inside Positron for months longer than the obligatory one month, Stan is living with Jocelyn, who is the Alternate wife and she is making him pay big time for Charmaine's misdemeanours and secret rendezvous with her husband, who Charmaine knows as Max. Stan is miserable with the way he is being treated and although he is desperately angry with his unfaithful wife, he even starts to worry about her slightly compared to what he has to put up with from Jocelyn. Yet things are not exactly as they seem and when Stan uncovers what Jocelyn is really up to, it could threaten the Consilience programme as a whole and be extremely dangerous for both himself and his wife Charmaine.

When I first started this series I wasn't sure what to expect and I've got to say, I was a bit surprised by the story that Margaret Atwood had to tell. It teeters right on the edge of being overly sexual but is endlessly fascinating and I adore the dystopian element that she brings to her fiction. I actually enjoyed Choke Collar a lot more than the previous story and really appreciated the cliffhanger of an ending that makes me very eager to read the next instalment - Erase Me, which I'm more than certain is going to be brilliant. The author's most recent novel, The Heart Goes Last is based on the Positron world and from what I've read so far, features the same characters. I'm not sure whether it is the same stories moulded together to make a novel but I'm definitely keen to find out and will probably explore it once I've finished these four short stories - the world that she creates here is too interesting not to!

For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second episode of Margaret Atwood's serial novel (help me I'm going to zoom through them and there won't be any left), this deals with the aftermath of the marriage in the first episode and portrays the beginnings of what could turn into a war with the world outside Positron, or perhaps the resistance inside it.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmm.

Like some of my other favorite authors, I think I grade my girl Margaret on a curve. This was probably not my favorite thing she's ever written. It's still a great story, and I think once the final chapter of the trilogy is complete, it might hang together better as a whole. But as a follow-up to I'm Starved for You, it was kind of a disappointment.

I loved I'm Starved for You as a one-off, which I think is what it was intended to be. Atwood has a true gift for world-building; she can do in a few pages what other authors are incapable of doing in an entire series. I'm Starved for You introduced as to the world of Consilience (cons + resilience) and the prison Positron. Atwood skillfully weaves a full backstory for the experiment's creation in just a few paragraphs (we see a flashback to protagonist Stan joining the experiment). Stan spends the entirety of the story obsessing about a note he found on the floor, imagining the beautiful "Jasmine" who sent it. In the final paragraphs, he learns that Jasmine is his own wife, Charmaine, carrying on an affair with "Max," the alternate who lives in their house while he and Charmaine serve their month inside Positron. At the end of the story, Max's wife Jocelyn, intercepts Stan before he can leave for Positron and breaks the news that there is no Jasmine, that Max is actually Phil, her husband, and that she has access to the computer codes to switch his identity with Phil's. As far as Consilience is concerned, Stan is Phil and Phil is Stan.

That's where we leave off, on a perfect Atwoodian clincher, "I switched the lockers too, yours is the red one now." (Stan has been obsessed with "alpha male" Max's red locker and what it symbolizes to him). Although I loved the story, I didn't necessarily think it needed a follow-up. Apparently someone did -- there's talk of turning Positron into a TV series, but whoever Atwood is in talks with wanted more story. Thus, Choke Collar. I think it's an interesting experiment, and I loved Atwood's comparison to 19th century writers publishing serialized novels in the newspaper -- this is the 21st century version. I also like that she's not just chopping up a pre-existing novel into three parts. She wrote Choke Collar after I'm Starved for You had been both published and reviewed, and it still working on the finale, Moppet Shop.

In some ways, this feels like a placeholder between parts one and three. Stan spends the entirety of the novel out of the prison, living with Jocelyn and reenacting Charmaine and Phil's various sexcapades. His resentment grows, but knowing that Jocelyn is in Surveillance and could literally make him disappear keeps Stan from acting too rashly. Charmaine, on the other hand, is still in prison -- a glitch in the system is saying that she's not who she claims to be, and Charmaine is briefly stripped of her position as Medical Supervisor. Her primary job had been to administer lethal injections, but she's demoted to laundry folding. I've always loved Atwood's cautionary tales about reliance on technology. We absolutely live in an age where a few clicks of the mouse can make it appear that you are not, in fact, who you claim to be. And in Consilience, they have to trust the computers, not the humans. So Charmaine stays in prison, fearing that her affair has been found out.

Most of the story felt like a holding pattern -- I sincerely hope Atwood herself is not responsible for marketing this story as "steamy." I'm not reading Margaret Atwood for the sex, and it felt like that was supposed to be the major draw of this installment. It isn't until the final pages (percent? I read this on my Kindle) that the intrigue finally kicks in -- all of this has been a set-up by Jocelyn and Phil to get someone outside of Consilience. Phil deliberately began his affair with Charmaine, knowing Stan would find out, and Jocelyn subjected him to her sexcapades knowing it would breed resentment and make him want to lash out against her. At the end of the story, Charmaine has been restored to her medical position, and her next injection candidate is none other than Stan. Except he won't really be dead -- this is an excuse to get him on the outside. Like all utopias, Consilience isn't working, and Jocelyn and co. want someone on the outside to show the cracks in the system. There are hints that the darker side of Consilience has something to do with organ harvesting, and I'm guessing that's what can be found in the Moppet Shop.

Again, I think once all three parts are written, this middle chapter will hang together better as part of the whole story. I'm interested in the world and invested in the characters, so I'm anxious to see where the final chapter takes them.

However, I really wish she would hurry up and write the final sequel to Oryx and Crake already. I swear that series is supposed to be a trilogy and I have been waiting patiently for the final volume for too long!

[Miguel Lauresta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leave it to the great Ms. Atwood to introduce a near-future brimming with tenuous safety only to stab you with the truth and twist it as your eyes widen with the shock of learning about it.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dystopian Positron serial by Margaret Atwood is just so unsettling and creepy. The premise of the serial is that in a future world, in an effort to improve the economic crisis, lawful people have signed on to spend half their time in jail and half their time in a prescribed job, living in a prescribed apartment setting, which is all dictated by a malicious and evil government. Meanwhile, the criminals roam the wasteland outside “Consilience,” which is the name of the social experiment described above. It follows a couple named Stan and Charmaine who are two of the victims in this terrible social experiment. At the end of the last installment, Stan was fantasizing about a steamy note under his fridge, which he assumed was left for the husband-part of the other couple who share their apartment while he and Charmaine are doing their time in jail. He starts thinking about how the other man’s wife is pretty a pretty hot and passionate sex vixen, quite different from his own sterile and unemotional wife, and he becomes fixated. He is wrong, however, and is forced to watch the recorded trysts between his wife and another man and re-enact them with the scary crazy lady who is an officer in the Consilience program. It is easy to see shades of such dystopian worlds as those of anything George Orwell wrote in this book and the reader is left with a foul taste in her mouth, a sick feeling in the stomach, and the idea that this story is creepily plausible. If you surrender your civil liberties, you are not in control of the horror show that becomes your life. Not for the faint of heart.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second episode in Margaret Atwood's serialized Positron story, about a near-future society where people willingly go to prison to get out of their crippling debt.

Where we last left off, Stan was fantasizing about the sexy note he found under his fridge. He assumes it's written by the woman who lives in the house he shares six months of the year, alternating, with another married couple who have also signed up for the Positron program. He was wrong, and he now finds himself forced to reenact the recorded encounters between his wife and her husband. His cheating wife, meanwhile, is stuck in the prison for an awfully long time, and demoted to laundry folding, to boot.

All is not as it seems, neither in the prison nor Stan's house. He gets a glimpse at a little more of the picture. Any reader, meanwhile, might see shades of 1984 in the world Atwood is positing.

Having read In Other Worlds has enhanced my appreciation of this serial novel, but it's not necessary. It clarifies some of the concepts and gets into Atwood's head a bit.

I was glad I picked up the third episode for my Kindle before I started reading this, because the cliffhanger was almost more than I could take.

[Brandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

While "I'm Starved for You" was a decent stand alone as a short story, and I suspected at the time it was a testing ground for the theme of a future novel, this second episode is both less complete and less satisfying now that I know it is part of a serial. It didn't add much to the world she created; it didn't really advance the characters; if anything it was a like a cliff-hanger episode of a soap opera, where you get just enough info to know worse things are coming but not to know how things will turn out. Actually, it read like a chapter, which ultimately it is, but excerpted from the rest of the book.

I expect, when Positron is finished, this will fit it and the whole thing will work like Oryx or Year of the Flood. But while I like the idea of bringing back penny papers, Dickensien payment per installment style, I don't think this instalment made it as a short story and so it didn't really deserve to be a "book" unto itself.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reduced to data, the lives of the citizens of Positron are so tightly controlled that escape seems impossible. Data codes rewritten, rerouted and redacted show how easily the mecca can be demystified. But even more easy is the masochistic control that Jocelyn, the spurned wife, exhibits in her torturous manipulations.

In a twist on HANDMAID, Jocelyn enters the scene in total control. Stereotypically butch, she is the metaphoric choke collar, strangling Stan and, in turn, Positron. Jocelyn will destroy Stan's constructed masculinity, forcing him to reenact his wife's dalliances with her husband. She will remake Stan in the image of her own husband, remixing him with Stan's datastream.

And Stan's data is about to result in full-on revolution. Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" comes to mind: open up and say "aaaaaa." It's time to take your medicine & shuffle off this mortal coil -- IF Charmaine can stomach the thought of following through on mixing business with pleasure.

[Jakeisthecoolest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros - quick and fun to read, both dark and funny.

Cons - can meander at times.

This second episode of Atwood's singles series is every bit as engrossing as the first as she continues to torment poor Stan in a scarily believable dystopian future. We rejoin him as his dreams of rampant sex with the tantalising Jasmine have just ben crushed and he is now shacked up with a crazy power-mad Jocelyn while his wife gets down and dirty with the weaselly Max/Phil. Whilst the plot thickens Atwood begins to make the characters a little more sympathetic, or not I guess depending on your own moral compass, she also starts to show us that maybe all is not as it seems and Consilience is far murkier than it first appears. One of my favourite things about Atwood's writing is her ability to make her stories dark and yet still retain a wicked sense of humour.
I'm not sure how long this series is going to last, but for the moment I'm hooked.

[Erin (PT) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I'm more interested in what Atwood isn't giving us in these stories than what she is. I find Stan and Charmaine tedious and, worse, boring, while still feeling some sense of fascination with the world they live in. As with the previous episode, I miss the human element that made (makes?) Atwood's work so powerful.

Or maybe the fault lies with me, because Stan & Charmaine do feel human and real, but it's the banal and aggravating humanity of the people you have to put up with at work and in line at the grocery and can't wait to escape, posthaste. In any case, the Positron episodes feel cynical and jaded in a way previous Atwood works did not, a prophet wreaked by seeing her every prediction come horrifyingly true to a point where hope for change is gone.

[Kasey Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second installment in Atwood's Positron Kindle Singles series. Where I'm Starved For You was a depiction of the prison of a stagnant marriage, this is a perverted reflection of that.

It picks up where we left our protagonist Stan, world shaken after he's discovered that the woman of his dreams is just that... And his wife's lover's wife is a high-ranking official within Consilience who is not pleased to discover the affair. She and Stan will be spending a lot more time together...

There are a couple twists in this single that I genuinely did not see coming. Now that we know a little more about the plan for Consilience, I look forward to reading the third installment when it is released.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit more twisted than the first, this installment in Atwood's Positron series picks up more or less where the first left off. You already know how the world works, so this installment is focused on moving the plot forward. Some unexpected twists occur, but they do push the bounds of what might be reasonable for me. It could just be the Kindle Singles format, where there isn't enough space to flesh out the twists. I'm still interested enough to continue to the next.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of Stan and Charmaine continues, this installment was definitely a lot more exciting than the first. While the first half of the novel had me wondering in what direction the series was going, boy did it pick up and take an unexpected turn. I was left in shock and I couldn't put it down and finished it in one sitting. By the time I got to the last page I was screaming internally. I instantly jumped into the next installment and can't wait to find out what happens next!

[Julie Bye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, there's part 2 complete. The weird metaphors continue and what can you think about a world where people listen to Doris Day for entertainment because rock music might excite them .No wonder this is sexually violent! Doris Day will do that to you. The twist at the end was totally unexpected. This series is disturbing and downright weird. Margaret Atwood definitely has a twisted sense of humour.

[Melissa Rochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atwood is amazing. I love her speculative fiction! First, if you haven't read "I'm Starved for You", go read it. Then come back to "Choke Collar".

This picks up right where we left Stan. He's still at home, but not with his wife. And the alternate certainly has some quirky (kinky) charms.

Can't wait to read EP 3 to see what happens to Stan and Charmaine next.

[Duncan Swann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kept up the intrigue, but I was not sold on the style of writing. Atwood is, of course, a great writer, but the characterisation didn't sit so well with me, and there was a fair bit of exposition. That said it was still riveting and the twists and turns keep you going, especially within context of the serialisation of the story.

[Chinook · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting to get to review a story in parts like this because while the first installment was a 5* read for me, this one was only 3. It's not bad, at all, but it focuses more on building up to an interesting thing than being about interesting things. It left off on an interesting note, though, so I look forward to the next.

[HillbillyMystic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm all in now. As if I wasn't in too deep already. I'm a sucker for Margaret Atwood. What can I say? She dropped such a bombshell at the end of this installment that I have to keep reading. I'm not sure anymore I can tell the good guys from the bad or to even who to trust. I could rant on but I'm in too big of a hurry to get to number three!

[Lesley Nachum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typically Atwood; clever, sensitive...she makes you feel as though you have known the characters all their lives. My only complaint is that this series of stories, written for a special collection of one-sitting-reads, is finished too soon. I felt left in the lurch. What happened next?! Maybe there will be more, I hope.

[Teleseparatist · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the ending, but the recap was somewhat tedious, and I wasn't keen on the sex scenes. The unlikable protagonist ended up even less likable as a result.

Curious about the conclusion but so far it simply does not measure up to most of Atwood's regular short stories.

[Dacia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way too short, especially considering part of it was a refresher on what happened in the first story, but still great, of course. I guess it's better to be left wanted more than to get bored halfway in.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second instalment in Atwood's Positron trilogy? Who knows how many episodes. Definitely a dystopian page-turner. I agree that this one wasn't as rich and satisfying as the first episode. I'll read the next instalment though, of course.

[Tom Marcinko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atwood is really outdoing herself with this wickedly funny work of ... is it OK to say speculative fiction, at least?

This can NOT be the reason Goodreads is recommending "Chick Lit" to me, can it? Or is it because of Jane Austen, or Ann Patchett, or ... Just because the author is a woman?