The Handmaid's Tale
- Crius Paulus
- Aug 11
- 3 min read
The Basics
Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Year Published: 1985
# Pages: 311
ISBN: 0-7710-0813-9
*I listened to the audiobook.
Summary
The United States Government has fallen, and—in its place—the Republic of Gilead has risen. Offred, born before the collapse of the United States, struggles to accept her new reality and place in society. A patriarchal, totalitarian, theonomic government has toppled the life she knew. Now, a strict religious state has created a society in which men are fully in charge and women are subjugated, objects to be owned. Offred must navigate her place in this new hierarchy where her bodily autonomy is compromised and her ability to control her life is removed as a Handmaid—a woman chosen for the sole purpose of incubating/birthing the children of the upper echelon of society.
The Review
The Handmaid’s Tale is a book that has been on my TBR for years now. Especially with more recent references to the book, I felt an even greater need to read it. It did not fail me. This book drew me in and held me fast. The worldbuilding of the book was clear, the main character held my attention, and the plot was captivating. While the end did catch me by surprise, it didn’t feel so out of place that it changed how I felt about the book. Overall, I give this book a solid 5/5 stars.
It is hard to know where to start. Atwood did such a fantastic job here. I think a huge player in the success of this book is Atwood’s worldbuilding. She always maintained my suspension of belief, which meant that the story always felt plausible. I think what really helped is that Atwood made a rule for herself when writing this book. She said that she “would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist. [She] did not wish to be accused of dark, twisted inventions, or of misrepresenting the human potential for deplorable behavior.” Thus, everything that occurs in The Handmaid’s Tale is something that people, specifically “Western society, and [those] within the ‘Christian’ tradition itself,” have done (historically). Additionally, this rule also meant that the setting of the story was believable, because it is set in a modern society with technology that the average person either has or has heard of.
Another successful aspect of The Handmaid’s Tale is its main character (MC) Offred. Offred’s story is compelling because she provides a perspective of before and after the rise of the Republic of Gilead. We learn of the life, love, and people she lost and that is compared to her current life as an untouchable whose sole purpose is to provide a child to the commander she is assigned to. She understands the autonomy she has lost and readers are positioned to empathize with her. The way Offred is characterized goes hand-in-hand with the plotting of the book.
More of a journalistic day-in-the-life writing structure, Offred’s story is broken up to resemble journal entries. This supports the plot structure, which mainly follows her through her life and what it looks like now compared to the past. It allows the reader to follow Offred’s story up to the point she is now at and understand the processes that occurred for the United States to fall. My only criticism of the book lies in the last chapter. Structurally, it came off as abrupt and somewhat random to me. It seemed akin to the cliche of “and they woke up and it was all a dream.” That said, the way it reframed the story was interesting to consider and think about. I don’t know that I would have included it—if I were the author—but it by no means destroyed my experience of The Handmaid’s Tale.
Overall, I believe Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a valuable work of fiction. It truly lives up to the attention it has received. The book is well-written, believable, and explores ideas and themes that are incredibly important (and very applicable to today’s society and political turmoil).
If you would like to read more about Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, or Atwood’s process writing the book, feel free to visit these resources:
As always, thank you for reading!
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