By Margaret Atwood
From Goodreads:
In this multi-award-winning, bestselling novel, Margaret Atwood has created a stunning Orwellian vision of the near future. This is the story of Offred, one of the unfortunate “Handmaids” under the new social order who have only one purpose: to breed. In Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships, Offred’s persistent memories of life in the “time before” and her will to survive are acts of rebellion. Provocative, startling, prophetic, and with Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit, and acute perceptive powers in full force, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once a mordant satire and a dire warning
My Thoughts: This is a powerful book. It is not a happy book, there are no fuzzy bunnies here. I think it's an important book for women to read. Women have made huge strides towards equality here in America and in Europe the last century or so, but how far have we really come? Would it take much to push us back and label us as property once more? I'd like to think that sort of thing couldn't happen here, but like all dystopian books it makes you wonder, and it definitely makes you think.
Mostly this book made me think about women, and how we treat each other. Despite the fact that men are in power and control the new world, it is the women who make it work. The ease with which they fall into their places, and the distrust and dislike for any woman not on the same level, is as disturbing as it is realistic. I have always found that we as women are harder on each other than any man could be on us.
But one thing I know from my own life, is that my female friends can also support me and raise my spirits, turn a bad day into a funny one, or a bad week into a life experience. At least this book can give you a new appreciation of good friends.
Not to say that if you're male you won't get anything out of this book, you will. It just goes to show that you can plan and plot, and end up with everything you ever worked for and still be miserable. And that you're better off letting us women do our own thinking!
The Handmaid's Tale gets a Midnight Book Rating of 11:00pm, while I enjoyed it I don't think it'll be making it's way to my re-read pile anytime soon. I'll have to read a lot of fluffy YA romance books from the 80's to get the kittens and rainbows back in my life after this read!
I read this book years ago and I still remember it. Very nice points you make.
ReplyDeleteI've had this on my list for a long time... I need to read it! Great review =)
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful review of a wonderful book. While I agree that there's a lot in this book that will resonate more with women, there's quite a lot that the male reader can derive from it. Personally, it made me think about my female friends and how I would feel if this was the world they lived in.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've read this. I may put it on the bottom of the reread pile.
If you're interested, some other good books by Atwood are Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. They're the first two in a trilogy about a catastrophe that destroys humanity.
(I'd suggest keeping some 80s YA on hand for when you finish them, though.)
This is a great review, but you know how I feel about books lacking in fluffy bunnies!
ReplyDeleteI've recently put this one on my list because I've heard it referenced in a few dystopian novel reviews. Thanks for the information, I'm going to have to read this.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!!!--I was just reading Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and it made me think of The Handmaid's Tale--The Handmaid's Tale still creeps me out and gives me the shivers whenever I think of it--especially the part about how easy it was for women to lose any power they had, just freeze our bank accounts--I mean, how many people still carry cash these days?
ReplyDeleteA very creepy book!
This is one of the most powerful books I have read in recent memory. Loved it!
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