The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel

**Spoiler Alert** This book is haunting and made me nauseous. Partly because of the numerous similarities to the world we live in and recent political happenings, and partly because of the extreme treatment of women in this alternate reality that is so much like ours. In Gilead, women are objects; yes, they are prized if they can conceive, but even then they are merely seen as an item. The book follows June throughout her post at her newest commander's house. She talks about the facts, her memories, and her wishes. She often bounces between reality and her memories or dream world and shows the reader how she copes with the uncertainty of her situation. She knows nothing, not the news, not the names of the people she lives with, and not even the fate of her daughter and husband. She often spends time thinking of a life where this never happened, where her husband is happy and with her and her daughter is laughing and free. She remembers her time with her daughter, and she copes with her disappearance by keeping her at 4 years old in her mind. This is inevitably shattered when Serena shows her a picture of her now grown daughter, which leads to a bigger mental breakdown and thoughts of suicide. Her husband's fate is one she ponders often, and though it is implied that he is dead, there is never any clarification for June, and she often imagines his fate. It is interesting and dizzying to read through this book as much of it follows June's mental dialogue, which is often in a panic state. She has ideas that make no sense, extreme fixation on details, coping by dissociation, and many other signs of stress and panic. Often the plot of the story was hidden in between words, much like how news of the world and the truth was hidden between words for those in Gilead. This book touches on topics of being the other woman, which is one I personally am not a fan of. June was the other woman to her now-husband for a couple of years while he was still married, and ended up being in a strange Stockholm syndrome relationship with her commander. To be fair, she couldn’t deny her commander's advances, which makes it rape; but she also ended up forming a weird relationship with the garage man (?). I did really appreciate how the ending was open, and it meshed really well with the tone of the book. This book was not meant to be resolved but to be understood.

I picked up the kindle version of The Handmaid’s Tale due to the fact the library was out, and this book was not what I expected. I had heard of it many times before, a classic, and now it is culturally relevant more than it was a few years ago, probably explaining why the library was out. The strongest asset of this story is Margaret Atwood’s writing style. I was enthralled by her use of language and could not guess where the plot was going to go, which is almost always a good thing. In this case, however, I found the plot direction to be ultimately dissatisfying. This book reads more like a description of a very intricate and complicated society and less like a traditional story. The characters were fleshed-out and believable, yet by the end of the story I could not tell you how most of them grew or changed over the course of the book. The main character starts off by referencing aspects of the dystopian future she lives in, and slowly she reveals more details about this world as well as her past. I don’t think that the plot is supposed to be the focus of this book, but I couldn’t help being disappointed with the main character’s ending and the questions left over about her. I felt left hanging at the end of the book and especially at the end of the “Historical Notes” epilogue. It did explain some unanswered questions but for me also raised more. Typically I like open endings, because there tend to be a few likely possibilities and the reader can use their imagination or pick between what might be possible. With this book, however, I have no guess, I have no idea what might be possible endings to the main character’s story, which is only disappointing because I enjoyed the rest of the book so much. This is a minor complaint, though, considering that I imagine the book to be far more driven by description, metaphor, and social commentary than by the plot. Overall, though, I think that the descriptions and metaphors that paint her experience do a great job of building the world and tackling the important social issues that arise. This story has a lot to say about gender dynamics, relationships, procreation, and the way the government as well as society in general views and handles these issues. I think this could easily be seen as a cautionary tale, to keep empathy in mind and to try to see things from the view of “the other”. This is a story from a woman’s perspective, and the women in this story essentially function only as property of men, yet are controlled by other women. A society that has in many ways returned to the past. Atwood does a good job of also explaining the men’s dissatisfaction and unhappiness in this world, giving a sense of their perspective and how this future didn’t turn out how they’d hoped, which is a big reason I’d recommend this book to both men and women. There is a large amount of distrust observed by the main character, and I could see it applying to any person theoretically living in this dystopia, especially considering how different people have different kinds of power over each other. I think this resonates with real life, and I can identify with the main character in her seemingly constantly being aware of everyone having desires and negotiating. These are major themes I noticed in this story, which also does well to tie into the themes of relationships and friendships. These themes show us the importance of coming together, communicating, and standing up for others, especially when a government system creates enemies by generalizing large groups of people. This is an example of how this book is standing the test of time, is relevant now, and will likely continue to be relevant.

The Handmaid's Tale is a relatively "old" book in that it was first published in 1985, but it is still popular/well-known. This is not surprising as Margaret Atwood is one of those author’s whose work will endure as "literature" and she will still be well known in 100 years. That is, unless the Handmaid's Tale is prophetic and all secular literature is burned. Don't worry, it won't be. However, it does have some elements that could be argued as being a caricature of modern day happenings. There are plenty of reviews out there that give a run down of the plot and how they feel it's all happening right now. No doubt many of these reviews are from women, and justifiably so since this book "speaks to them". So I'm going to discuss the subtext of the novel, and hopefully, I can get a few guys to read this book because there is stuff in it for them. The background story is that The United States has been taken over by religious fundamentalists. The religion is never mentioned by name, but it is clearly Christian/Jewish/Islamic. When it comes to their respective flavors of fundamentalism, they all bear a striking resemblance to one another whether they want to admit it or not. This is not surprising, since they all worship the same god and use overlapping religious texts. If you're curious about the tale of how this happened, this is not the book for you. After all, this is the Handmaid's Tale. All you get is the story of one woman starting probably about 10 years after an event called "The President's Day Massacre", i.e. the coup where the fundamentalists took over. Personally, I do not think such a regime could take over in such a simple manner, but what followed after the coup is more plausible. As I said, we don't get much of this story directly, but we hear snippets of how, slowly, over the course of weeks and months, oppressive policies are implemented and they are always implemented for the same reasons that such policies are implemented today. Namely, the safety of the public, the betterment of society, etc. At the same time, women are slowly and unequally stripped of their rights. If you think that women could never be usurped of their identities in this way, and no one would stand for it, blah, blah, blah. You are wrong. All it takes is the right social pressure. Imagine a scenario where the number of women capable of bearing children is cut to a small percentage. They then become a "national resource". (My words, not the author's.) When it comes to resources, there will always be people (usually men, and this is coming from a man) in power who will want to exploit and seize control of such resources. This is how such things can happen. And this is the scenario used by Atwood in The Handmaid's Tale. When I was younger, I probably would never have bought that line of reasoning and not terribly enjoyed this story. As I've aged to a venerable 40 years and some of my Platonic idealism has tarnished, I have learned to accept that "the masses" don't get as outraged as individuals do. Most of the time, groups of people are scared when it comes to dramatic change and accept it if fed the line that it is temporary and for the good of all. Most of the time, these changes are never about being for the good of all, they are simply about control. A past example to show even women are not above this: The Temperance movement to abolish alcohol. Propelled by religious minded women, fresh with their new ability to vote. Despite Jesus being pro-wine they felt it their duty to rid the world of drink. You can argue the details all you want, but at the end of the day, it was about asserting power and control. A modern example: For the past 12 years, the U. S. citizens have been force fed the line that we are all living under a faceless threat of "Terror" and in this time we have fought two wars, one of which we are still fighting, and most of us don't really know why, other than we are "fighting terror". These wars are not as openly covered as the Vietnam War, because our government has learned that atrocities that are not visited daily are quickly forgotten because people prefer to stick their head in the sand. And so people forget. They don't get outraged. They simply accept the situation because it is supposedly temporary, for the good of us all, for all our safety, blah, blah, blah. What are we looking to control? Some say oil, others say that the area is strategically located real estate. Regardless, it is about control. So do I think a "fast coup" could take over and make such radical changes? No. But a slow insidious change over the course of a decade or two? Well, I have seen it with my own eyes, so yes, the scenario in The Handmaid's Tale is plausible to me, but I know that such a shift would happen over years, not months. Anyone who thinks otherwise is sticking their fingers in their ears, closing their eyes, and repeating the above blah, blah, blahs. A possible future example that's been a long time in the making: During the 80's (my youth) religious fundamentalists (in this country) blew up abortion clinics because they were outraged and wanted change. Presumably, they wanted things to return to the way they were when abortions were illegal, in back allies with coat hangers. Just in my lifetime, they have since learned that getting people upset only motivates them to stand with or against you. And if you're the one blowing up teenagers, it's tough to motivate people to stand with you. They have taken their fight political, a realm where everybody's eyes glaze over and become dispassionate, and they have slowly set about making laws against birth control and abortion clinics. As someone who is pro-choice, I can't say all of these laws are bad. Many are simply requiring clinics to uphold standard medical cleanliness practices. The laws that really hurt, are the laws that reduce or eliminate funding preventing the clinics from having the money to be able to upgrade their facilities and are forced to shut down. You can tell this is about the control of others and not about any religious objection because the number one cited religious reason is the belief that life begins at conception. Rather than supporting research for birth control that simply prevents conception, they politically attack all avenues of abortion and birth control. So even if you address their concerns, it does not change the way they behave. Leaving the examples and subtext behind, back to the story at hand. The Handmaid's Tale is true literature, thus by practical definition, this makes the story a little slow and boring at points. When I was in college, I had to take plenty of slow and boring classes that I thought were of minimal value. However, I quickly learned that it is possible to garner lessons from and learn something from every class and that is what I set out to do. I took it upon myself to walk away with something for my time and money. This book requires that same model of thought. Even after 28 years, there is a wealth of intriguing thought experiments that went into the writing of this story and a similar trove for those willing to consider the next step of reasoning, but you have to be willing to dig for that gold. And there you have it. The subtext of The Handmaid's tale is a marvellously thought provoking book about the subtleties that go into how societies change, but if you're not interested in thinking, move on to something formulated for entertainment purposes this is not the novel for you.

There may be possible light spoilers ahead: Read at your own risk! As scary as the whole total subjugation of the female species would be I was honestly just as appalled by the fact that women were not allowed to read. I could think of nothing more boring than that. That out of the way my opinion of the book is mixed. It is written as though in present tense but, as you find out later, it is not. The effect of that is that the memories that she is recalling do not seem immediate or intense at all. Her missing her husband and longing for her child just do not resound with the reader because she barely sounds like she misses them. The narrative skips around a lot, back and forth through time, often from paragraph to paragraph so if that and things like dropped quotation marks bug you then this may not be the book for you. However, it does fit with the way the story is told. One thing that bothered me a lot was her dangling information just out of your reach. Purposely. And to the point it got very irritating. Want to know that happens to Offred? Too bad. How about Luke and their daughter? Nope. Nick? What the women got hung for? Anything that might have raised a spark of curiosity? Nope, nope and nope again. And what is really infuriating is that she wrote an afterword, as though scholars were studying the Gileadean society. She could have used this as an opportunity to answer some of the questions she raises but no, just takes it as an opportunity to rub our noses in the fact that yet again she decides to withhold information. Which would have felt a little cheap but would have been better than nothing. Two things I found very disturbing about the book. The first is the way the women treated each other. Even though the other women had basically been ripped from their lives as well ( The cooks and the housekeepers and so on) they seem to be pretty laid-back as to what has happened to them and to adjust pretty quickly. And everyone looks down on and seems to scorn the Handmaidens. Even though they (the Handmaidens) have been ripped from their lives and families and pretty much forced into a rape contract where if they don't reproduce they will be killed, the other women in the novel show an amazing lack of compassion. For each other, also. It is made clear that the Wives hate the Handmaidens but almost seem to act like they wanted to become breeders. I actually found that the most disturbing of all. Maybe I think to well of the human race but I would hope that in a similar situation the women would at least have an iota of compassion towards each other. The other thing is that the book pretty much sends the message that the men in your life, no matter what, will jump at the chance to disempower you and enjoy your subjection. Even the good ones secretly want it. There are also some plot holes that since she doesn't seem to want to answer questions about it remain gaping. For instance: The reasoning behind the Handmaids is that there aren't enough children and that everyone desperately wants one. Ok, fine. But then you learn about an unofficial Commander's club called Jezebel's which is basically a brothel. It is stated that all of the women that work there have had an operation to prevent getting pregnant because "think of what kind of problems that would cause" in the words of one character. Um, I don't really get that. Everyone is so desperate for children yet they are cutting off a very large avenue of reproduction. That is one of the questions but there are many more like it. It almost feels like the author couldn't think of workable solutions and so just left it vague. All of this may sound like I did not like the book but I did. It's a good book, it just has its problems.

I will admit - Over the years, 'Handmaid' was one of those books everyone had told me just HAD to be read - but with the clear discomfort they'd show in saying that, I always thought - Nope; not for me. I'm just not one for the whole dystopian thing; I need to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Fast forward to last week - this book being required for my daughter's Eng Lit class, and sitting available while I was at loose ends in a Starbucks for several hours - I thought, Why not?... and how glad I am, that I had those few hours. Wow. I was gone, hook line and sinker, from the first page on. Handmaid is set in, yes, a dystopian future in which women's place in the world has been subverted, through various events which resonate awfully closely with current times. The story picks up at the moment when Offred (a concatenation of her "owner's" name and her position in this society) is assigned to a new home in a city in America, for reasons that become all too clear within a few short pages. Her experiences within this new environment, interwoven with her recollection of her past before this societal apocalypse, unveil themselves like the layers of an onion - a never-ending interweaving of recollections and current experiences which, in their close parallels with so much that seems to be happening in our current world, make it not just an uncomfortable read, as so many other reviewers have said; but an eerily prescient one for these times. I could go on about that aspect of what makes this such a valuable read for any person over the age of 10 years old, but I'm quite sure many of the 1,000 + prior reviewers will have spoken to that far more effectively than I ever could. But for me, what makes this book so great is the Voice that the protagonist gains as she struggles in such a harsh, unforgiving, and shockingly cruel environment - the brutal honesty with which that voice speaks to the horrors and impossible personal choices that any of us would have to make, faced with such a savagely misogynistic society. There is no turning away from those realities in this book; Offred is, clearly, no better than any of us; but, she is, perhaps, more honest about her choices than any of us would ever manage to be. She has no roads but dead ends; no feelings but pain, isolation, and tragic loss; in a society which both reviles her and yet absolutely, completely, stunningly, needs her. And yet. There is compassion - much compassion - in this book not just for Offred but for each of her persecutors; and a perfectly clear view, of each person in Offred's life, from the patriarchy which dictates every aspect of the lives of the Americans; to the women with whom she is forced to share the household; to the man who runs their lives - and in theory owns Offred, body and soul. Margaret Atwood has managed to capture the complete horror of this situation and yet the complete spectrum of needs and innate humanness - warts and all - of each of the players in this world, speaking with true sight not only about what they each do, but the real WHY of it, like a series of ornate but utterly constrained chess pieces moved about in a deadly game by unseen hands. Atwood's brilliance with the written word, the layers of meaning she assigns to so many individual words, is a both a challenge and a complete delight, no matter how difficult the topics she makes us consider. Each page is like unwrapping a gift of many layers of brightly colored paper, never knowing what you will ultimately find inside: something to treasure, or something to fear. Offred's voice and her observations of self, other, and society are so clear and beautiful, so bleak, sad and yet hopeful - so compelling - in making us see these people. There are many phrases and visions Atwood has generated that will stay with me, now, for life. I cannot say I am in all cases glad of that - but I know i am richer for it. And in reading many of the current, more negative responses of the Amazon reading community, I cannot help but wonder if their dislike of the book is in many cases driven precisely from Atwood's artistry with words. She holds up not a picture for us to view, but a mirror to reflect realities that in many cases no one in their right mind would want to see - they are far too close, too personal, too true. And yet - we MUST look. I do not see, as some others do, a depressing endgame in this book; quite the opposite. Offred's determination to survive no matter what the cost and her slow but relentless growth to her own form of power and eventual rebellion, is not so much a story as a roadmap. We could all do well by, like Offred, looking with clear eyes at this dystopian imagining. If, at the end of the day, this book leaves you uncomfortable or depressed or angry - good, if at the same time it also manages to leave you unsettled. Atwood's intent was never to entertain you but to inform you - and that, she does with a master's deft hand. Three days and counting. What will we learn in Atwood's new book? I look forward, with a perfectly uncomfortable blend of anticipation and anxiety, dread and hope, to the answer to that question.

If you don't already know, this is a dystopian novel (a la Hunger Games ) set somewhere in the near future after there's been a government coup and the new leaders have stripped the rights of women (and any other "minorities"). The handmaids are women who are still able to reproduce after unspecified causes, and their job is to give wealthy husbands and wives children. Offenders to the new government, including gay men and women (just because), are just killed and literally hung out to dry. This tale follows the life of one particular handmaid, Offred. In flashbacks, we are given bits and pieces of her former life before she was a handmaid and before the government coup. Mostly, though, we listen in on her thoughts and watch her interact with people in her daily life. After watching the excellent Hulu series based on Margaret Atwood's book, I had to read the original source material. The series (and concept) is so fascinating (and scary) that I wanted (needed) to see how it compared. Most of all, in the era of "President" Trump, it's a bit too realistic of an idea that's not too hard to imagine actually happening under his Republican regime. This is one case where I thought the movie/show was better than the book. The TV series follows the original book very closely, but goes into so much greater detail, giving us more insight into the characters and society. Of course, Atwood had just 300 pages to fill, whereas the TV series had 10 hour-long episodes. I won't spoil anything, but I will note that the book does end similarly to the season finale of the first season of the TV series. This is my first book of Atwood's, and I can already tell that I want to read more of her many, many novels in the future. She's got some pretty interesting and frightening ideas about alternate futures and realities. Her writing itself is very easy to read, even though there were times in this particular novel where I felt she was rambling and could have given us more information and insight into Offred or society rather than rambling about things we already read before. She also goes back and forth between using quotation marks around spoken words, which is distracting. In some cases, she used them and in others, she didn't. This is a pet peeve of mine; I prefer (and learned in my creative writing and English classes) that all spoken words should be in quotation marks, not just for proper grammar, but because it makes for an easier read, defining exactly what is dialogue and what is descriptive text. "The Handmaid's Tale" is definitely worth a read, but I also highly recommend watching the TV series as well.

You need not fear this amazing novel. Let me just say that this is a heavy read--emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and yes, physically! First, this book never truly lets you set it down because of how harrowing the content within is. The main character is Offred, and she is so multifaceted and deeply human. I love how this book incorporates themes of love, sacrifice, fear, triumph, and unscrupulous denigration to make a blend that truly highlights the horrors of misogynistic, theocratic societies that hinder women's abilities to free movement, property ownership, and bodily autonomy. For anyone who's ever pondered why Christian Nationalism is such an ominous threat to American society, look no further. This book has gotten a lot of flak for downtrodding on men, but it is justified because there are many men who do genuinely think that the society of Gilead is somehow noble and empowers women when it instead subjugates them against their will to men who don't understand consensual relationships. I am also elated by the fact that this book draws upon real historical regimes that have put restrictions on their female-half of the population via the clever use of a small cohort of women who serve the purpose of the state to save their own skin while oppressing other women; in the story this is represented by the Aunts. So please, please, please, read this book and you shall be eternally enlightened and left much more cognizant of why we can never allow a place like Gilead to come to fruition and foment staunch advocates.

I first read The Handmaid's Tale around the time it was published in 1986. I was just 22, a sheltered young thing. I recall wondering what everyone was raving about, since only the top story layer of the book connected for me. Now, with decades of life experience behind me, I see that this is a deeply moving, complex book. I'm so glad I decide to read again just at this moment in time. You would think that something written thirty years ago would seem dated. But that wasn't the case for me. If anything, I think there are so many things imagined in the book which have become more possible today instead of less. In a sense, this is a cautionary tale that a large art of the population ignored or misunderstood. More than ever, we should be reading this and sharing it with the young women in our lives. And discussing it with them, so they see more of the depth than my 22-year-old self did. Margaret Atwood imagined a world where a totalitarian power went into action against foreign zealots and their own people's "wanton" behavior. This power was meant to make the world better, but it also created a world of highly distinct "haves" and "have nots." She says, “Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some.” It might be just me (although I suspect not) but this sure sounds like what we often hear today on the news and in conversations. Reading this at the end of 2016 after a brutal election cycle, the following quote from Atwood seems both wise and horrible. Have we not been hearing about people who feel invisible? “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories" Atwood's Republic of Gilead gives people one-dimensional functions. Correction - she gives women one-dimensional functions. They are Wives, Marthas, Handmaids, Aunts, or Unwomen (and a few more which would be spoilers). Unwomen are rebels, likely to be banished to the toxic waste dumps of the colonies. Everyone else plays a part in the singular female focus - procreation. As I read, I wondered what category I'd fall into should I have the bad luck to land in Gilead. The women there have no layers of life or experience. They are expected only to fulfill their narrow role. Why is procreation such a focus? Because of falling birth rates among white people. This book doesn't discuss race except one small spot near the end. It's as if there is only one race in Gilead. And the only people in that race with any power are men. The main character, Offred (literally of Fred named after the Commander she serves) is the perfect blend of weak and strong. She tells us of her past and says, “When we think of the past it's the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.” But her life is not beautiful. And Atwood straddles the line of past and present, sending back and forth in a way that keeps you wanting more. Just as Offred wants more. Just as we all want more for ourselves and the generations of women coming after us. If you read this book long ago, pick it up again. If you haven't yet read it, move it up to the top of your TBR. Buy it for friends. Buy for your sons and daughters. Use it to teach and to learn what kind of world we could be if we stop valuing the diversity of all people.

am still struggling to put my thoughts into words and sentences that make sense, and thousands of reviewers have done a better job than me, but I had to try. I can’t believe this was written 40 years ago. It feels as much a dystopian tale as a warning about what could happen if things continue on their current course. This book is scary because it is believable, even though it is meant to be a dystopian fiction. The United States is no more; it has become Gilead—a misogynistic nation led by religious beliefs. In a world where the birth rate is at an all-time low, the solution they propose is to force all women who can conceive to become a Handmaid. The Handmaid’s role is to be a physical vessel for a baby. She is to be given to a rich family if the wife is barren. The Handmaid’s only purpose is to become pregnant with the man’s baby and birth a healthy child so it can be given away to the barren wife and her husband, and the Handmaid is sent to another household. If a Handmaid fails to become pregnant after a while, or if she tries to form connections with anyone, she is sent to the colonies. If a Handmaid tries to escape, voice an opinion, or become anything more than an object in the house (for it is what she truly is), she can be sentenced to death. I’ve been wanting to read this book for years, but I never took the time to do it. Honestly, it was hard to read it now that I have kids, especially with a baby at home. It did make the story even more impactful, though, so I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not that I read it while having young kids. Every time Offred mentioned her daughter, who was taken from her, or when we were reminded of the fact that Handmaids had to give away their babies, I had to take a little break. I can only imagine the utter despair they must have been feeling, and it made me upset just to think about it. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. Margaret Atwood's style is unique. It took me a little while to get used to the quick changes from present to past, on the same page sometimes, and the vivid and sometimes poetic way things and feelings were described, but felt a little exhausting to read at the same time. Margaret Atwood’s prose is beautiful, and she conveys the main character’s emotions so well. I can’t really describe how special and beautiful it is. It’s something you need to read for yourself to fully understand how everything has meaning, and how she gives life to details in a way that creates a dark book with poetic writing. The writing is effective and brutal even at times. Margaret Atwood drives the point home and makes sure we realize how desperate, lonely, and full of grief and anger Offred is. What I liked the most is how it’s all showing and no telling. We discover what happened through short flashbacks and have to use contextual clues and hints dropped in conversations to understand the situation Offred is now in, what her life before was, and what exactly happened in between. There are no info-dumps; it all comes in time through the storytelling. Offred’s flashbacks show us how insidious and clever the higher-ups of Gilead were. It all began with propaganda and speeches, until it became so much worse. Until women suddenly had no access to their money anymore, nor had the right to work, meaning they were totally dependent on men. After that came the arrests and separation of families, the coercion, the xenophobia, segregation, and every other horrible thing that was done in the name of building a better society. Gilead’s people truly believed they had the moral high ground and that it gave them the right, the mission even, to enact all of those horrible changes. In Gilead, women’s only value resides in their bodies’ ability to procreate. Wives are allowed more rights and live a life more similar to what they were used to before. But Handmaids lost everything. They have no name, no rights, no identity anymore. They belong to the government, to be passed around as they see fit, in the hopes that they will be able to bear a healthy child, only for this child to be given to a rich family “more apt” to care for them. I can’t imagine how it must feel to have nothing to hold onto. Handmaids are not allowed to read or socialize; they are no one, known only by their owner’s name (Offred, Ofglen, Ofwarren), as if they were merely a temporary possession. Submission and acceptance of the unacceptable was the only way for Offred to survive. It was heartbreaking and scary to see how the characters tried their best to survive, to the point where this new reality became almost normal for them. Many times, Offred said how she was shocked by a show of skin or a colorful piece of clothing, only to then stop and remember that she used to dress this way, too. She would remember little details of her previous life, things that seemed so unimportant at the time, that she took for granted, but that she now misses, such as hand cream or the right to wear colors or look around her when she is outside. One part that struck me was how she said that she wished Luke were there so she could pick a fight with him. She is so desperate for her old life that she even misses the fights with Luke, because if they fought, it meant that at least they were together, equals, allowed to pick who they spend time with, and allowed to voice their opinion. All things that Offred doesn’t have anymore. It was also jarring to hear Offred say that what was happening to her was not rape, because she decided to be there. But the choice she had was to either become a Handmaid or be sent to the colonies, where her life would have been even worse. She did what she had to do to survive, but they presented the situation in a way that made the Handmaids believe that, in the end, it was their choice, so it was not truly sexual assault. Even though they had no say in who they were sent to or when they were to have sex with them. The government managed to rationalize the fact that the Handmaids were being raped, selling the idea that it was their purpose as women who were able to procreate, and the poor Handmaids were so scared and with no power left, they ended up half believing those lies, and half accepting that it was the better option for them to comply and remain silent. The rest of the society also took it in stride and accepted this new reality without much opposition, it seems. I don’t know how I feel about the ending. On one hand, I like how it keeps us guessing at what happened, and how it makes it impossible to stop thinking about it. On the other hand, I needed more information on Offred and what happened to her. I feel that the story ended just as the plot was picking up. Not that the plot was bad before, butit was mostly centered on Offred, her new reality, her past, and how she ended up in The Commander’s house. I love how it showed us Offred’s depth and layers, and how the author imbued her book with the hopelessness of Offred, but I was also eager for more action and more of an underground network/rebellion vibe. Thankfully, The Testaments seems to give us some answers about what happened to Offred, so I will be picking this one next. This is an experience. A unique book. The plot is not the most elaborate, but the world-building is so intense and frightful because it is not so far-fetched with the way things are going in the States, and Offred feels so real, it is impossible not to finish this book and think about it for a while. It is thought-provoking for sure, and while it made me angry, sad, and it also freaked me out a little at times, I am glad I finally took the time to read it.

Çok ilgili ve kibar bir satıcı :) Hediye kitap için çok teşekkür ederim :))

It came impeccable.

One of the best books ever written imo

Achei que era maior kkk de resto tudo certo