Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret AtwoodPublisher: Anchor
Published: 16 March, 1985
Source: Purchased
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I wasn't engrossed the moment I started reading because I didn't know what was going on, there was no background story; it's exactly like we've just happen to catch Offred in the middle of her life -which is exactly what we did - and that is something that I struggled with. I'm a quite boring person that likes to follow a certain convention and this did not conform to that mold which is a tad disappointing - I did not commission the book so I hold no grudges for Maggie not catering for my individual wants; it just would have been nice.
I've never found intrigue in rotting corpses of Doctors before so I was quite taken-a-back when I found this book so beautifully....beautifully awful. Push Atwood's prose aside and focus on the foundation of the book, it is amazing. The world in which Atwood has created does not seem that improbable which makes it all the more terrifying...I've read ghost stories and, alas, they are frightening but this is so much more because we can still see similar societies today.
I was was more interested in the society than I was in the protagonist; Atwood withheld too much at the start which, subsequently, left me feeling a little bit like I don't care when reading the most revelatory of times. I didn't really connect to the protagonist and I didn't feel, for a book written in first person, it took advantage of that - I never felt we had pure, unadulterated insight.
So much more could have been done with the premise and Atwood's writing does not justify what a potentially amazing plot this could potentially be. Who does not use quotation mark? That is absurd, my friend, absurd. I get that they were not allowed to talk and stuff of the likes, but, it does not add to the atmosphere when you cannot even interpret what the atmosphere is because you're so confused trying to work out the atmosphere because you're trying to decipher who said what; the moral of the story: use quotation marks!
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)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 fertility, 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...Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.G'Day to you, kind brethren. I've tried to write this three times already and it is really starting to grate my cheese. I bet you guys are thinking 'wow, Holly, you're so dedicated' my reply to that would be 'I know'. I apologize to anyone who is offended by the casual approach to my own tardiness - there are a few of you unloyal unsubscribers - in regards to my blog. I'm not going to make another vow, just know that I will try and keep firmly on top of my load - no pun intended. S'okay, lets get-a rolling....
I wasn't engrossed the moment I started reading because I didn't know what was going on, there was no background story; it's exactly like we've just happen to catch Offred in the middle of her life -which is exactly what we did - and that is something that I struggled with. I'm a quite boring person that likes to follow a certain convention and this did not conform to that mold which is a tad disappointing - I did not commission the book so I hold no grudges for Maggie not catering for my individual wants; it just would have been nice.
I've never found intrigue in rotting corpses of Doctors before so I was quite taken-a-back when I found this book so beautifully....beautifully awful. Push Atwood's prose aside and focus on the foundation of the book, it is amazing. The world in which Atwood has created does not seem that improbable which makes it all the more terrifying...I've read ghost stories and, alas, they are frightening but this is so much more because we can still see similar societies today.
I was was more interested in the society than I was in the protagonist; Atwood withheld too much at the start which, subsequently, left me feeling a little bit like I don't care when reading the most revelatory of times. I didn't really connect to the protagonist and I didn't feel, for a book written in first person, it took advantage of that - I never felt we had pure, unadulterated insight.
So much more could have been done with the premise and Atwood's writing does not justify what a potentially amazing plot this could potentially be. Who does not use quotation mark? That is absurd, my friend, absurd. I get that they were not allowed to talk and stuff of the likes, but, it does not add to the atmosphere when you cannot even interpret what the atmosphere is because you're so confused trying to work out the atmosphere because you're trying to decipher who said what; the moral of the story: use quotation marks!
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