The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve got a long history with Margaret (or Peg as her friends call her). I think I even wrote a university essay on her first book, ‘Surfacing’, and I’ve read her books over the last almost-three decades at various important times in my life. So, I think I’m objective when I say that I didn’t much like this latest novel.
Yes, I think the theme is interesting: prisons, imprisonment, the rampant greed that controls our society (and covers up crime and tragedy). Another main theme of jealousy and betrayal I feel she’s treated in a much more interesting way in her books about friendship, say ‘The Robber’s Bride’. And I admit that part of the problem may have been that I read the short excerpts of this book a year or two when they were first published, so neither the theme nor story felt new, because I’d been introduced to them already.
The main problem for me lies in the protagonists. Atwood has created many amazing heroes in her books. They are often subversive and witty, sarcastic but humane. There often is a real heroes’ journey as well: to uncover a mystery, to understand the past or why a friendship or relationship has been lost, to find freedom, to survive. I was blown away by both the narrators and the stories in her last two novels, ‘Oryx and Crake’ and ‘Maddadam’.
But in this book, Atwood’s created (purposely, obviously) a somewhat dimwitted couple. She allows Charmaine to think in metaphors like ‘she would have melted like a microwaved Popsicle at his smallest touch’. Charmaine constantly remembers advice from her cheery grandparents, though says ‘Sometimes she wishes Grandma Win would bug off out of her head.’ Mostly though, she’s a Pollyanna, a foil to the more cynical Stan who is maybe ‘ungrateful by nature’ and has some insight that his desires are ‘plain bone-ass dumb’ but still, whose compulsion is for Charmaine to be dirtier and more enthusiastic in sex, or to find a woman who is dirtier and more enthusiastic than Charmaine is. Some heroes’ journey. He also has a tendency in his head to wish violence upon women (possibly men too), which I found distasteful. Jian Ghomeshi anyone?
The other drive of the story – a controlled environment or society, a resistance movement, people who can help free trapped people – well, that just seemed a lesser version of Atwood’s classic The Handmaid’s Tale’.
Still, what I’ve always loved about Atwood is her readability and though this was a miss for me, I’m not sorry to have read it, partly because so many of my friends are fans of hers and we’ll be able to share with each other what we thought of it.
I wasn’t expecting this Sunday morning to be able to get a table here, as I remember another time I went it was packed out. I’m surprised I didn’t review it at the time!
We’ve been cutting down on high-end meals lately… I think if you have too many of them, it not only knocks down the bank account, but you lose a bit of what makes each one special. But an Entertainment Book special meal for Est. was rather too hard to resist, and I’ve wanted to try it for ages. Three courses, matched with delicious Evans & tate wine (and some Taittinger champagne to start). Oh, and dessert.
I think the quail breast might have been my favourite, super rich and flavourful.
A few months ago, I stopped by for coffee at this social enterprise cafe. How interesting, I thought. Profits to charity? I couldn’t help but applaud, but I was drawn to have coffee because it looked like a nice, modern, cool place to hang out. The coffee was superb. Tips go to charity! I vowed to come back to try the food.
My potato cakes were superb: light, tasty and savoury. A perfect balanced dish. My pal had grilled haloumi on a salad. Service was great, vibes were great, profits to charity, still great. Photos of food didn’t turn out though. I’ll add some the next time I go.
So, around Eveleigh Markets is kind of confusing. Cornerstone Bar seems like it should be a great idea, but we’ve been turned away because of a VIP function, and then, with an absolutely packed theatre event finishing (and patrons wanting to grab a bite to seat), no, the kitchen had closed.
most amazing morsel of risotto ball which we though was possibly the best thing of the evening.
It’s a bit of an interesting timeline to learn that since we travelled to Sweden, Finland and Denmark in Oct 2013 that it’s taken us basically two years and four months to finish up two different bottles of Swedish liqueur. I mean, it’s true. We weren’t quaffing them, so it 
seems like we were measured and perhaps respectful.
Andrew, who I went to dinner with, pointed out it’s a far cry from Lentil as Anything, the non-profit pay-as-you-want vegan cafe from Melbourne (but lately of Sydney as well). He said the food is awful there…
And really, though I knew that I’d feel good eating there, I still couldn’t quite match up the concept of a charity restaurant with the fact that the FOOD IS SO GOOD. The spanner crab rolls in zucchini. Delicious. Like an interpretation of a sushi roll.
Very nice harissa chicken dish, also a lamb dish, and cauliflower rice. All designed for sharing. The food was both hearty and elegant, very Modern Sydney.
Ah, and finally, a vegan ordered dessert, without finding out before that the dessert was not vegan. And they gave it to us! A nice treat, adding to the crazy feel of a Rugby Sevens night where the streets were filled with pirates, flamenco dancers, cat people, and more.
I don’t know what exactly will happen to these sushi restaurants with Tsukiji soon due to move to a new location. So, it was a MUST to take my better half (and myself) to morning sushi at the fish market, in the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, 2015.
So, I hopped in the line next door, thinking I’d take my chances. It was a much shorter half an hour wait, and we were in the door to Ichiba Sushi, the last sushi restaurant on the left when you are facing the busy row, and next to Sushibun).
Choosing Menu B at 3000 yen (Menu A looked like it had Uni, sea urchin roe, not my favourite, and a few other more possibly challenging dishes), we had a beautiful selection of sushi with perfectly soft rice, amazing pickled ginger, and as expected, seafood so fresh that it really does taste different than anywhere else (except the other two times I’ve eaten at Tsukiji!). Also, a beautiful miso soup.
At my other times at Tsukiji, the sushi were served one at a time, so I think there was something a little less rushed and special about that. And if someone had offered me a 
place at one of the other super-busy restaurants without such a wait, I would have been curious to try them…
warehouse cool, a big open space in the middle of a warehouse, brightly lit, with strong graphics.
My pal had the very pretty dish below. 