The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale Cover

The Handmaid's Tale

LuxusMonk
8/31/2017
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I've know of the Handmaid's tale as a sci-fi fan for a long time but didn't consider reading it until recently. The combination of the current political and climate and the recent Hulu adaptation of the book perked my interest enough to start reading it.

It is beautifully written, and the contrast between the elegance of the prose and the experience of Offred is startling. It is also spine-chilling to see how a dictatorship and religious oppression can be so easily justified and accepted, and become the 'new normal' within a generation or two. The abrupt ending of the journal/diary was interesting and bleak, in tune with the rest of the book. I would have preferred the book to end like that.... I didn't really like the academic explanation/rear view mirror on the dystopian society, but overall the Handmaid's tale is a fantastic dystopian novel.