Dystopian! (Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood)

Member Name: Daniel_Nash

Product:	Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Date:	24/05/01 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well written, Complex

Disadvantages: No ending!!!

I too have read this as part of my AS Level English course and found it very comparible to my History course. This may sound slightly weird but in my opinion "The Handmaid's Tale" takes much of its ideas from the 'great' dictatorships of the 20th Century.

Atwood follows the life of Offred, formally Kate, who is assigned to a commander for breeding purposes after a spate of infertility takes over after a chemical war. She is literally taken from her "liberal" lifestyle to live in this totalitarian, theocratical regime that reminds me a lot of Nazi Germany. The story follows her resistance and describes her thoughts, feelings and experiences (sometimes in graphical detail) as she strives for individuality.

The structure of this novel is slightly weird, as mentioned in another opinion, but when reading the "Historical Notes" at the end of the novel it becomes slightly clearer as to why. The novel is basically a reconstruction of tape recordings found after the regime collapsed, hence the stop-start methods used. But it does not explain everything and a few things, such as the fate of Offred and why Gilead collapsed are left open ended. Which is actually quite irritating.

I actually found this book quite amusing in parts as certain factors are used in different ways, such as the manipulated biblical references and words like "slut" and "Loose women".

Still it is a good novel with deep meanings embedded within, however it does contain "adult" language and situations.

Summary: