Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of economic an socail collapse. Living in their car, surviving on tips from Charmaine's job at a dive bar, they're increasingly vulnerable to roving gangs, and in a desperate state. So when they see an advertisement for the Positron Project in the town of Conslience - a 'socail experiment ' offering stable jobs and a home of their own- they sign up immediately. All they have to do in return for this suburban paradise is give up their freedom every second month, swapping their home for a prison cell.
At first, all is well. But slowly, unknown to each other, Stan and Charmaine develope a passionate obsession with their counterparts, the couple that occupy their home when they are in prison. Soon the pressure of conformity, mistrust guilt and sexual desire take over, and Positron looks less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled.
Forty odd pages into this I was wondering where this story could go and was getting a bit disheartened, then 'boom' the genius known as Margaret Atwood kicked in and I was enthralled.
This is seriously funny, the imagination that has come with his story and put it down on paper is a one off.
A excellent read.
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