Welcome to the 21st Century.............. (Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood)

Member Name: Emmsy

Product:	Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Date:	12/09/00 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eye-opening, deep

Disadvantages: Many, many themes and issues

"The Handmaid's Tale", by Margaret Atwood, is a high-ranking cautionary tale. Although the scenario is mildly entertaining and a gripping read, we must not lose sight of its origins - Atwood is portraying a world evolved from our own...
In the late Twentieth Century, with the advent of greater and greater technological advancements, people were lazy. Discipline, morality and worth had suffered at the hands of the new generation and someone decided it was time to restore some goodness to society. Unfortunately, this someone went too far, and the new society of 'Gilead' became just as corrupt as dictatorial. In her novel, Atwood follows the fate of Offred, a woman stripped of her rights as a person, wife and mother and 'hired out' to a wealthy couple unable to bear children. Her life now consists of waiting, sleeping and performing 'the ceremony' with her 'Commander' once a month. This is the lot of a 'Handmaid', and it is the lot of those women still with functioning ovaries in the new society of 'Gilead'. The novel is told from Offred's perspective and evokes pity, anger and hope from its reader.
Atwood has admitted "I don't write pretty books...", and this is increasingly clear from her fascination with the grotesque and obsession with language, but these factors only serve to add realism to her text. Often described as a feminist novel, it is really a tale of power and survival. It is a book to make you think, and should not be taken as a light-hearted read; but as alien as Gilead's concepts may seem, Atwood is masterful in linking her dystopia to the world we know today.

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