The Heart Goes Last

　　混亂的世界裡，依然有人試圖建立新秩序，有意願者只要簽下終身契約，就能入住安全、明亮、沒有失業問題、食物充足的新市鎮。史丹與夏萌這對新婚夫妻，已經厭倦黑夜裡不得安眠的日子，而願意放棄部分自由換取溫飽。在新世界中，他們一個月當平民，一個月入監服刑（只是另一份工作），各安其位各司其職，每到輪班日，就像慶典般歡樂。



　　這個新世界的好處，不只如此。他們還能滿足你的慾望，消除你的空虛難耐，他們更發明神奇配方，只要打一針，就可以讓對方死心踏地愛上你（永遠不用擔心背叛與冷感）。



　　一切如此美好，直到夏萌發現，自己分派到的工作任務，必須送史丹上西天……史丹企圖逃出這張天羅地網，竟是超出想像的困難。



　　平凡小人物不願成為他人的棋子，如何逃出生天，在愛特伍筆下，犀利、幽默的情節發展，大大開了現代文明的玩笑。



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媒體讚譽



　　令人著迷……使人興奮……瑪格麗特．愛特伍是活生生的傳奇！──《紐約時報書評》



　　對於當代社會中資訊、自由、防衛的匯集，有相當特殊的洞見。──《紐約客》



　　辛辣、精準……極為大膽……她在書中描述的世界，幾乎貼近真實，當你意識到這點時，會讓你笑容瞬間凝結。──《衛報》



　　讓人目不轉睛……──《奧斯丁紀事報》



　　極富創造力、精巧敏銳的觀察力、幽默的反諷，愛特伍展現瘋狂熱鬧的情節……如雷射刀般精準、滑稽的裝模作樣，這部自由流暢的諷刺文學深深劃入我們的慾望、罪刑、偏見、矛盾；在核子滅絕後的災難小說新浪潮中帶入生猛而銳利的喜劇書寫。而愛特伍早已是箇中高手。──《書單》



　　令人膽戰心驚的預言……──《書頁》

 

　　---中文簡介節取自中譯本《美麗性世界》，天培出版

From the bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments--in the gated community of Consilience, residents who sign a contract will get a job and a lovely house for six months of the year...if they serve as inmates in the Positron prison system for the alternate months.

＂Captivating...thrilling.＂ --The New York Times Book Review

Stan and Charmaine, a young urban couple, have been hit by job loss and bankruptcy in the midst of nationwide economic collapse. Forced to live in their third-hand Honda, where they are vulnerable to roving gangs, they think the gated community of Consilience may be the answer to their prayers. At first, this seems worth it: they will have a roof over their heads and food on the table. But when a series of troubling events unfolds, Positron begins to look less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled.

The Heart Goes Last is a vivid, urgent vision of development and decay, freedom and surveillance, struggle and hope--and the timeless workings of the human heart.

作者簡介

瑪格麗特‧愛特伍（Margaret Atwood）

　　一九三九年出生於渥太華，加拿大最傑出的小說家、詩人，同時也寫短篇故事、評論、劇本以及創作兒童文學。她已發表四十多部作品，翻譯超過三十五種語言，其中小說《盲眼刺客》獲頒二○○○年布克獎，《雙面葛蕾斯》獲頒加拿大季勒文學獎，並獲義大利最負盛名的蒙德羅文學獎（Premio Mondello）。二○○五年，她獲頒愛丁堡圖書節啟蒙獎（Edinburgh Book Festival Enlightenment），得獎理由是對世界文學與思想的傑出貢獻。二○○八年，瑪格麗特‧愛特伍獲頒西班牙艾斯杜里亞斯親王文學獎（Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature）。她目前住在多倫多。

　　MARGARET ATWOOD, whose work has been published in over thirty-five countries, is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. In addition to The Handmaid's Tale, her novels include Cat's Eye, shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; and her most recent, Oryx and Crake, shortlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize. She lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.