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...
So this is one of those reviews where I have no idea what to write but still feel like I need to write something.
I was advised to read this book by my English teacher last year, but because I didn't like here nor her classes, I didn't trust her opinions. God was I wrong !
The Handmaid's Tale is a book that became a classic very quickly, and now that I've read it, I can understand why. It is a futuristic novel, a dystopia, a fictional religious dictatorship, a "work of speculative fiction" as it is often described. The plot is not easy to sum up, and even if I could, I wouldn't do it.
It is a first-person narrative, and the whole story is told through Offred's point of view. She is a handmaid, therefore she has very little freedom and everything that she does, she does it according to a bigger plan, something that was decided by authorities.
The narrative offers 3 or 4 different periods, and Offred's past and present lives intertwine, so that the reader can get an insight of what changed in the society.
The major point of this novel is that the most important rules and points of the society are told; yet, everything is not clearly given an explanation for, so that it may be a bit confusing at first, but still very interesting. The reader has to infer from what s/he is reading in order to embrace as much of the world as possible. It may not be everybody's cup of tea, I understand, but I liked the fact that I had to be active while reading it.
This novel has often been criticized because of the image of women that it provides. I won't talk too much about this matter, first because I'm no expert at all, so my opinion would not be very grounded, and then because I think that you can still enjoy the book without liking what is shown of women - I even think that this may be the point.
When it comes to the character development, it is different from what I'm used to. Offred is a very interesting character, precisely because she remains a character: at no point I considered her as a real woman. She makes sense in this context, because of the situation she is in. You can understand her, feel empathy, yet remain distant enough to be critical and think about what you are reading.
I LIKED
- The constant absence of quotation marks, which is confusing at first but then becomes usual and really part of the writing style
- The insight into the past
- The character psyche
I DID NOT LIKE
- The insufficient amount of explanations regarding the hierarchy
- The fact that the plot was sometimes a bit rushed - I would have liked, at some moments, more elements about specific events
All in all, I was really amazed by this novel, that I was surprised to like - which may explain why I rated it so high.
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