Age range: Mature audience
Rating: ****
Will grip you? Yes, it will pray on your mind
The first thing I have to say about this book is how powerful it is. I can't stop thinking about certain things in this book (I don't want to spoil things for you) and I have been bringing it up with people whilst waiting for lectures. I just wanted to get everyone's opinion of it!
The novel is set in modern times (sort of...it was written in the 1980's) and is about America being turned upside down into a sort of madly religions cult. Women's fertility has declined, so fertile women (Handmaids) are prized. If you're an important man in the cult, and your wife is infertile you are assigned a few handmaids. The story follows Offred, a Handmaid living in The Commanders house. Desperately unhappy, and torn away from her family, she has no idea what's happened to her husband or little girl and has no choice but to go along with everything in the hopes that it will reunite her family once more.
The whole story has a tense, knife edge tension. You literally cannot put this down as you keep desperately turning the pages hoping it gets better. The melancholy atmosphere hovers over you and everything the characters feel you feel too.
The novel raises many different issues, and questions Christianity. The Handmaid's Tale also has strong feminism vibes, but don't let that put you off :) It is not at all preachy, it's just a damn good read.
I admit it made me cry. And I couldn't resist reading a paragraph or two to my boyfriend. I cannot recommend this highly enough. It will grip you right to the end. Also, someone needs to discuss the ending with me!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment