Book Review

[kenjari]

The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood

The dystopian novel is set in a near future where misogynistic fundamentalists have taken over America and transformed it into the totalitarian Republic of Gilead. Here, women are forced into rigid roles based on their fertility and status; they are also completely subjugated: unable to own property, travel freely, or have any significant presence or activity outside the home. The regime also does not allow them to read or pursue any kind of education.
The books tells the tale of Offred, a Handmaid in the household of one of the regime's highest officials. Since the story take place in the earlier days of Gilead, Offred is educated and clearly remembers the time before the coup that formed Gilead, when she had a job, money of her own, a husband, and a young daughter. Her memories reveal a time that very much resembles the present day.
I loved this novel, even if it was among the most frightening books I've ever read[1]. Atwood's writing is evocative and often beautiful - her descriptions of flowers are some of the most sensual and subtle metaphorical writing I've ever read. Both the story and the prose make The Handmaid's Tale extremely compelling. I could barely put it down and missed my bus stop once because I was so engrossed.
It is frightening though. The oppression of women in Gilead is very much a chilling projection of what could happen if certain misogynistic trends in American society were carried out to their ends. Atwood has said that all the oppressions of women depicted in the book are things that have happened or are happening somewhere in the real world - she did not have to make any of them up. And you can absolutely see that, as well as how current things fit in. It turns out that my joking that I should read this book while it's still fiction is not as much of a joke as I would like.
I will be thinking about this book for a long time.



[1] There has been disagreement about the genre of The Handmaid's Tale - is it science fiction, speculative fiction, dystopian fiction? I think another genre should be added to the list of possibilities: horror. Gilead is a terrifying place.

Comments

[wildpaletz.livejournal.com]

It's one of my favorite books. It's so good. And yes, so scary.

I like that even though it's very woman-centered, it's pretty clear that Gilead is not a great place for most men, either. I like that men fight alongside women in the resistance. So often in feminist works (or especially in someone's poor remembering/representation of a feminist work) they neglect important positive roles of men.

I believe I read somewhere that she wrote this after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. The epilogue chapter is in part her anger against Western academics who were all like "well, they oppress women over there, it's their culture, whatever."

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I never got the idea that the men were terribly fulfilled by life in Gilead, despite their intensely privileged status. I found it pretty ironic that while both the Commander and Serena Joy seemed to have had key roles in the formation of Gilead, neither of them were happy with the lives it gave them. The Commander clearly feels the need to push the boundaries he presumably had a hand in creating.

That's a good point about the epilogue - there was a particularly infuriating quote in there from the narrating academic about how they were not there to judge or evaluate Gilead but to understand it. It all makes a lot of sense in that context.

[wildpaletz.livejournal.com]

There's a certain brand of anthropological relativism that goes a little too far, yeah. As a philosophy professor of mine at Wes put it, "Burning Jews is NOT just a quaint Nazi custom."