Title- The Handmaid’s Tale
Rating– 3/5
Genre- Women’s Fiction
POV- First person, present tense
Similar/Comps– Gilead, The Marrow Thieves
My emotions- desperate, helpless, gut wrenching
Characters–
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She
Plot/Blurb-
Offred 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 . . .
Prose-
Felt jerky at times but I think it was because first person present point of view wasn’t typical/popular when this book was published so there weren’t many examples to compare it to.
Quote-
“Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse, for some.”
Pacing-
I preferred the second half much more than the first half.
Best part-
This novel would be great for literary class discussions, giving lots of opportunities to dive in deep about society norms, political structures, feminism, morals, etc and.
What I’d change-
I wish the beginning wasn’t as slow.
Comments-
I wouldn’t read again since it wasn’t my preferred type of book. I recommend this for book clubs/readers who like to dive in deep with controversial topics that potentially triggering to discuss.
Cassie Swindon 