The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Handmaid's Tale
Book Review: "When will it end...when will it end?" - Ian Curtis, sage.
Summary: 1 Stars
In this novel Atwood seems to want to tell us lots of earth-shattering things about gender, repression and the social climate of 1980s America. She may well have succeeded - but for me any such message was occluded by her embarassing, cringeworthy prose. She suffers from the same malady that riddles DeLillo's prose: one very long sentence, lots of clauses, usually lacking conjunctives, unusual punctuation; then the surprising fragmentary sentence which really makes everyone think.Thus.
(Both writers seem to have a proclivity for indenting these little asides.)
So we get such bellyflops as:
How I wasted them, those rooms, that freedom from being seen.
Rented licence.
and
What I feel towards them is blankess. What I feel is that I must not feel. What I feel is partly relief, because none of these men is Luke. Luke wasn't a doctor. Isn't.
To me this lacks elegance; and the harder she pushes the poetry, the pithier it appears: viz.:
Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucence.
or -
You've killed her, I said. She looked like an angel, solemn, compact, made of air.
or -
Still, it must be hell, to be a man, like that.
It must be just fine.
It must be hell.
It must be very silent.
or even -
The sitting room is subdued, symmetrical; it's one of the shapes money takes when it freezes.
If that kind of prose is your bag, I hope you enjoy it; personally I found it unbearable. I have heard Atwood speak on the radio and she was very eloquent...maybe I should try another of her novels.
Book Review: 1984 for a new generation.
Summary: 4 Stars
In this fascinating novel, Margaret Atwood paints a grim picture of a future ruled by a strict religious regime. In The Republic of Gilead, formerly part of the United States, women have no control over their lives. They are not permitted to own property, their marriages are arranged, they must cover themselves head to toe in public. They are little more than housemaids and breeding stock for the male-dominated society.Our guide through this strange new world is Offred, a former career woman who is now a "handmaiden," an involuntary surrogate mother. Offred's character is smart and ruefully funny; her sharp observations and turns of phrase carry the novel through some feminist and environmentalist preaching. Offred's narration makes this tale of oppression and hopelessness a surprisingly light read. She is a real, believable character, and her story is complex and rewarding.
Just as George Orwell wrote 1984 as a commentary on society in 1948, Atwood's Gilead is already in place. Substitute the Christian coalition in the novel for Islam, and Gilead is in Iraq and Iran. More chilling than the idea that a misogynistic, totalitarian society *could* exist in the U.S. is that it already exists elsewhere.
Book Review: 1984 for the feminist set
Summary: 5 Stars
First, let's get one thing straight: Margaret Atwood can write. And I mean weave a story that you just CAN'T put down. I couldn't. Futuristic tales of this sort (1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451) are so compelling when they have roots in current events. Atwood takes today's subtle misogyny (or sometimes not too subtle at all) and brings it to a natural end. What if men and the state had complete control over a woman's fertility? What if women returned to the property-status we once held? How powerful is religion on people's conception of gender roles or sexual norms? (Note: Atwood points her finger at no particular religion. So Christians, she isn't neccessarily talking about you or anyone). But she also shows the strength of women. Women who will go underground to help others, women who will die before they submit or women who will lie in wait, slowly plotting a revolution.Book Review: 4.5/5 stars - chilling!
Summary: 4 Stars
Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel set in the futuristic Republic of Gilead, formerly the US, a place now run by a conservative Christian dictatorship. It is here where the men are in charge, everyone is being watched over, and all offenders of ANY laws are prosecuted.
The narrator, thirty-three year old Offred, is a "handmaid". (a handmaid is a fertile woman whose life is one of isolation. She is forbidden associations with other men or friendships with other women). Previously, Offred enjoyed life with her husband and child. She use to have her own job, own money, and own interests. Since she is presumed fertile, the new leadership has taken away her child, her money and she is being offered to the Commander of the government as a "handmaid" for the purpose of being him a child. With birthrates declining dramatically, women are prized only for their fertility and their ability to reproduce. They are forbidden to work, own property or even to (GASP) read. If no baby is produced within two years these "handmaids" are sent to colonies for "unwomen".
MY THOUGHTS - Can you imagine such a scary thought -- women being stripped of their identity and having their existence justified by their ability to breed? Without giving away too much of the plot, I'll just say that there is even a monthly "ceremony" ritual that made me scratch my head in disbelief. How about a repressive society where order is maintained by terrorizing its people? A chilling, but thought provoking read that drew me in from the very first page. I did not expect to enjoy this book, however by the end I was amazed at what an effect this book had on me...Recommended - 4.5/5 stars
Book Review: A "1984" for America in the new millenium
Summary: 5 Stars
I wish this book could be dropped, like leaflets during wartime, on all of the 'red' states. I watched the excellent movie adaptation of this book a few years ago and finished reading the book for the first time this morning.
All I can say is WOW! What's more amazing, and scary, is that this book was published 20 years ago! When Offred relates in a passage of how the President and half of Congress were killed and it was blamed on Islamic terrorists, my blood literally ran ice-cold.
Many reviewers have cited similarities to the actions of the current Bush administration. My bigger fear is what will come next? With most of the media acting like lapdogs of the multi-national corporations that sign their paychecks, while they perform any trick that Karl Rove and company orders, the citizenry is being lulled into an increasingly deep complacency.