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tomstbr's review
3.0
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.
ivanssister's review
4.0
Book two in a trilogy of kindle singles. As always, Atwood's worlds seem plausible and scary.
beentsy's review
5.0
Whoa. Nice ending. I am completely left hanging and can't wait for the last installment.
iris_cadaver's review
4.0
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.
chirson's review
2.0
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.
Curious about the conclusion but so far it simply does not measure up to most of Atwood's regular short stories.
trudilibrarian's review
3.0
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.
Spoiler
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!
sortabadass's review
3.0
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.
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.
bibliobethreads's review
4.0
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
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