The Handmaid's Tale

Today I finished reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and I was really happy with it. I love the dystopian genre and how you can do just about anything with it these days, and this book is deffinately up in my top five or so. Before I offer my own personal thoughts, I'd like to thank some certain individuals for bringing my attention to this work of speculative fiction.

My good brother Babette who gave me my copy for Christmas, I pestured you sufficietly and it paid off. To my old literature teacher whom I've been calling Grace, thanks for bringing it up in class. Sadly I didn't read it at the time (all the books were optional) but if I had I would've brought so much to the class discussion. And finally to my good friend Yushka whom is a huge Atwood fan, thanks for making me aware of this genius of a woman! You've all been great.

Now, what I enjoyed most about this book was how it displayed the perspective of a female narrator and how women percieved the dystopic environment. Offred (whom is also June and Kate in the film) was just honest, fierce and tough through-out the whole 300 odd pages. I really felt her feelings when the Aunts (crusty old bitches who should die) were "reprograming" her and how she reacted to losing her husband Luke and her daughter. So much honesty, but I wanted to see more in her relationship to Nick, the underground man who saved her.

Other parts I enjoyed, but the one I loved the most was when Offred's friend Moira escaped the cruelty of the Aunts. I thought it was one of the strongest elements of the story, how she escaped and stuck it to oppression. I was a little bummed when she wound up in the brothel Jezebel's, but she seemed happy so I'm happy. The book was brilliant and I liked the final chapter where future academics are studying The Handmaid's Tale in the year 2195.

As much as it was nice learning that the oppression of the Republic of Gilead (the world America became in the book) came to an end and Offred finally got out to England, I just enjoyed the names of the professors. Atwood has a nack for creating interesting and likeable names from the smallest words in the English language, so I loved hearing about Maryanna Crescent Moon and James Darcy Pieixoto. It added a great touch to the ending.

I'm deffinately an Atwood nut, much like my good Yushka. She's got some other dystopian books out, including Oryx and Crake, and I'm gonna get a copy as soon as I can. I think I displays the male view of the future mixed with genetic engineering with animal and human DNA.

Looking forward to it!