"The Handmaid's Tale"
Author: Margaret Atwood
Language Read: English
Published: 1985
Genre: Novel, Speculative fiction, Science Fiction, Tragedy, Dystopian Fiction, Feminist science fiction
Procreation has fallen across the United States. Very few women are able to bear and give birth to children that can survive. The government has been overthrown by terrorism (or a smart coupe by a smaller group). Women can no longer work and cannot own property (not even money). The world changes more and soon certain marriages (gay, second marriages, etc) are forbidden. As a new power takes over and changes the country, the women that can give birth to viable children become the "hope of the future". A religious take on the whole situation brings the new Gilead (USA) to the belief that the handmaids can bring forth children to keep the country alive [Genesis 30]. But what is it like to be a handmaid forced to be a baby-carrier, stripped of all dignity and power except for the fact that you have viable ovaries?
Review
Plot
Procreation has fallen across the United States. Very few women are able to bear and give birth to children that can survive. The government has been overthrown by terrorism (or a smart coupe by a smaller group). Women can no longer work and cannot own property (not even money). The world changes more and soon certain marriages (gay, second marriages, etc) are forbidden. As a new power takes over and changes the country, the women that can give birth to viable children become the "hope of the future". A religious take on the whole situation brings the new Gilead (USA) to the belief that the handmaids can bring forth children to keep the country alive [Genesis 30]. But what is it like to be a handmaid forced to be a baby-carrier, stripped of all dignity and power except for the fact that you have viable ovaries?
Review
3.5/5 - Very good book. Hard to read but a very good read. To hear of a woman being forced into baby-making slavery (raped monthly to see if she could bear a child for the Commander of the house) is completely despicable. The world that Atwood wrote is wonderful, though very dark and depressing.
The first season of the Hulu show "The Handmaid's Tale" was mostly true to the book, though the stuff about Luke and Moira and Emily and Janine (out of Offred's view) definitely did not happen in the book. And Janine's child "Angela"/Charlotte was not viable, opposite of the show saying that she threatened the child. Of course, the show is more graphic and violent but what isn't when shown versus read?
Technical difficulty of this book was not very high but there were a few words that I was unfamiliar with (like "maudlin").
Not a book for everyone but I recommend it. It is hard to morally read, especially with the blatant misuse of Christian beliefs to justify what the Sons of Jacob were doing in Gilead, but still something for thought.
The first season of the Hulu show "The Handmaid's Tale" was mostly true to the book, though the stuff about Luke and Moira and Emily and Janine (out of Offred's view) definitely did not happen in the book. And Janine's child "Angela"/Charlotte was not viable, opposite of the show saying that she threatened the child. Of course, the show is more graphic and violent but what isn't when shown versus read?
Technical difficulty of this book was not very high but there were a few words that I was unfamiliar with (like "maudlin").
Not a book for everyone but I recommend it. It is hard to morally read, especially with the blatant misuse of Christian beliefs to justify what the Sons of Jacob were doing in Gilead, but still something for thought.
