Review: The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

Published: March 16, 1998

Format: via audiobook

Rating: 5 /5

Synopsis

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 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.

My Thoughts

I found The Handmaids Tale quite scary. Why? Because everything that happens in this book could very likely happen. The reality of the U.S. becoming like Gilead isn't such a far fetched idea. The idea that women could be treated like this and made to do such things is frightening and unbelievable.

In Gilead, women are merely there to serve men and to solely reproduce. They are the property of higher-ups in the government and expected to bare their children and they have no voice in what happens to them. They were taken away from their families and especially their children if they had any. We get the story of Gilead by one of the handmaids, she tells us about this new world and the experiences she has gone through. We learn about her story and her life as Offred. We also get the story of her life before everything changed. We see how she had a life with a husband and daughter and how one day everything she knew crashed all around her.

This is a masterpiece without a doubt. Its written in a way that breaks by heart but also scares me like nothing else. The fact that it relates so much with this day and age definitely makes you think that this could happen. The way the government wants to decides what happens to a woman's reproductive system is something that only women should have a say in. This story is as important now more than ever and one that I think everyone needs to read.