The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian novel about a harrowing near future. In this world, pollution and contamination have caused birth rates to plummet which prompted the rise of Gilead, a totalitarian regime. In Gilead, fertile women who haven’t conformed to the strict biblical rules of the society have their children taken away from them and are forced to become child-bearers for infertile high-class couples. This story follows a handmaid who has been renamed Offred, a name noting the Commander who she’s in service to, Fred. Over the course of the book, Offred examines the society of Gilead while looking back on her life before. In a society where not even high-class women have any rights and experience brutality such as daily occurring hangings and stonings, Offred must persevere and try to stay alive without losing herself.
This book was both frightening and thought-provoking as it highlighted things that seem insane in a way that’s eerily close to reality. For example, the way of life in Gilead is extremely misogynistic with women being denied the right to read, have a job, or speak freely, which seems very alienated from us today. But when the novel revealed how Gilead came to be, you realize that the society isn’t as unrealistic as it first seemed. In The Handmaid’s Tale, I really liked how the complex character relationships were written in a very genuine way, especially between people like Offred and the Commander because Atwood explored so far past the surface. Additionally, Offred’s emotions and her slightly unstable mental state are written so immersively that you feel them yourself as you follow her story. If you are a mature reader who has enjoyed books like Fahrenheit 451 and Hunger Games or you’re looking to explore a new carefully crafted fictional universe, I highly recommend that you read The Handmaid’s Tale.
Review Written by Ada, 9th Grade