Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Classic, Dystopian
Length: 324
Rating: 5 Star (4.5)
Description/Synopsis:
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…
Review – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
I love love loved this book.
I thought the plot was great. Dystopian is a genre I feel has sort of been played out a lot. While I still enjoy reading most of them I don’t find that I get anything new from them that often. I feel as of this book actually brought something new to the table.
I loved the plot. While I don’t consider myself a feminist I could nearly feel the spark in me after reading this book. The downfall of rights for women in this book just blew my mind, and we got the perspective of a woman who was considered as one of the ‘lucky’ ones. Just the thought of not being allowed to read killed me. Thats like my main joy in life, I don’t know what I would do with myself if it was illegal for me to read.
I was really absorbed in everything Offred was doing. All her memories of what things were like before really put lots of things in perspective to how she was living now. I both liked and didn’t like Offred. I admired that she could adapt, but some of her choices and thoughts drove me a little crazy. With her memories I don’t know how she doesn’t go crazy and just ruin the small bit of safety she has. I wanted her too.
The writing was beautiful. It only told you as much as you needed too know in a very subtle and very powerful way in which you cannot help but get swept up in.
I will put a warning in for the ending though. Just talking about the ending is really a spoiler so if you don’t want to know anything about it and the previous paragraphs got you interested go read the book and find out yourself. Now onto the ending. There are really two endings to this book. The second ending I don’t think should have been in there at all, it put me out of the feel of the story. The first ending was very open ended and this will annoy some. I am torn about it. I both liked it but I also really want closure.
There we have it folks. This was an amazing book but if you want closure I suggest thinking about it before you take a trip in this book. If you don’t mind pick it up right now, it was stunning.
Till Next Time…
