BOOK REVIEW | The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Genre: Adult Fiction/Dystopian

Publication Date: 1985

My Rating: ★★★★.75

Goodreads Page

Goodreads Summary:

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 the 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...

**No Spoilers**

The Handmaid's Tale is a book I often heard people talking about, but had never got around to reading myself. And I'm surprised I didn't pick this up any sooner, considering how much I love darker dystopians that differ from the recent YA surge over the past ten years (which I also love, but for different reasons). I finally decided it was time for me to pick this book up and I am so, so glad I did.  In the words of a true English Literature graduate: I wish I had studied this at some point. There is so much I could talk about regarding the feminist aspect, postmodernism, and narrators; it was simply a genuinely fascinating book.

As it says in the summary above, this book revolves around a world where society has completely changed how men are supposed to view women (and also how women are supposed to view women too). Margaret Atwood is an extremely powerful writer; her descriptions are vivid, yet they paint a shadowy picture of a not-to-distant future. She has a haunting way of showing that by trying to make a Utopia, where everyone is 'equal' or 'happy', not many actually are, and no-one is able to talk about it.

I think the reason this story is so powerful is that it shows a very scary and very real-sounding future -  especially since the main characters can remember the world before it changed. What made the story particularly haunting was the way it drifted from past to present, and showed that, although the two time periods jarred, they could be considered similar. I think this also adds so much to the feminist discussion. It portrays a world which believes it's doing something right for women, when realistically none of them are happy. Atwood looks closely at the common notion of women portrayed as objects. Although the society in this book has tried to make it so women aren't viewed like this, it rather ironically shows that they make women objects more than they previously were.

I also found the unreliability of the narrator throughout to be very interesting, especially after reading the Epilogue. I wasn't sure what to make of the ending at first, but I suppose that's the point! I loved it though, and found it added something to my reading of the book. 

Overall I found this book such a fascinating and interesting read. It probably won't be for everyone, but if you're at all interested in feminism or in darker dystopian fiction then I highly recommend this to you. There is so much to discuss and look at in this book, and I think Atwood is an incredible writer.