"Keeping It Classy" features reviews I write based solely on classic books. Included in this section are some of my all-time favorite novels, including
To Kill A Mocking Bird, The Outsiders and
1984. Read these and more
here.
has all the makings for a perfect book- dystopian society, underground resistance, sex, lies and a female protagonist. In between work and caring for my bunnies, I managed to read this book in just over two days. I will admit though, initially, it took me a bit to get into the story. It wasn't until about page 40 or so that I was able to really get into the book.
Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Publisher: McClelland and Stewart
Publication Date: 1985
Pages: 324
Genre: Classic, Dystopian, Sci-Fiction
Source: Library
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository | Author's Website
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 live and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played and potected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...
Set in a futuristic dystopian society,
The Handmaid's Tale follows the life of Offred, a handmaid within the Republic of Gilead. Under the rule of a theocratic military dictatorship, Offred and other fertile females, serve as baby makers, reproducing with the country's commanders and officers. Within this new society, men and women are treated differently, creating a hierarchy of the sexes, with the males of top. All women, with the exception of "The Aunts" (who serve as educators of a sort), are prohibited from reading and writing, and all forms of the written word has been replaced with drawings and images. Women such as Offred must also cover themselves by wearing modest clothing: too long and loose-fitting dresses that reach their ankles, gloves to cover their hands and head wings to prevent other from fully seeing their faces. Males and females are also prohibited from talking to one another, and handmaids are only allowed out in pairs. Offred doesn't care for the rules, and constantly dreams of the time from before, back when she was happily married and still had a daughter.
MY THOUGHTS:
The Handmaid's Tale is a perfect dystopian novel. I loved how the whole idea of declining birth rates leading to a Christian-based dictatorship is actually a plausible event. What made the book so good (and scary!) was the fact that something like this is totally capable of happening (more or less). Of course, I don't think the US would ban reading and writing, we are much too proud of a country to appear uneducated or unintelligent.
Margaret (the author) switches back and forth between Offred in the present-day, and Offred's memories of the past, which help offer readers an insight into the events that lead to Gilead's new society. I loved the parts where Margaret mentioned the past, and thought that the way she presented information (in bits and pieces) is what makes the book so hard to put down once you're in totally into it.
The book is interesting in the fact that Margaret doesn't seem to care much for parenthesis and the proper dialogue format. Instead, Margaret sneaks conversations into paragraphs, only sometimes including a "he said," "she said" to help distinguish between the speakers. While overall, I really enjoyed this book, the whole lack of parenthesis was confusing at first, and took me a bit to adjust to (to be fair, there are a few instances in which Margaret included parenthesis for dialogue).
Another issue I found with the writing was the overly use of elaborate and run on sentences. I kid you not, there were more than a handful of sentences that could have easily been broken up into two or three separate sentences. I guess Margaret wasn't much of a fan of pauses and breaks.
*SPOILER:*
I liked how Margaret fast forwarded to a time after Gilead had collapsed, and had educators and scientist commenting on the Gilead-period.
I'm also not a huge fan of ambiguous and open-ended endings, in fact, I detest them. I become so emotionally invested in characters that I want an ending that is satisfying. I hated not knowing what happened to Offred or Luke, or knowing what happened to her husband and daughter.
*END SPOILER*
Despite these few issues, I really enjoyed the book and loved Offred's "I don't give a damn, I'm getting me some lotion and sex" attitude.
"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."
"You'll have to forgive me. I'm a refugee from the past."
