The Handmaid’s Tale has been on my reading bucket list forever and with the upcoming Hulu series soon to be released (watch the trailer here!), I knew I wanted to get this one under my belt before I watched it. Since the election season,  this book has seen resurgence in popularity and Atwood even shared about what her book means during the Trump era with the New York Times,  as it rocks the bestseller list once again.

This timeless dystopian novel, written all the way back in 1984, explores what the world looks like when women lose power over their own bodies and a religious totalitarian government dictates how and when they can reproduce. Women are given roles and seen as objects limiting them to roles like wives, Marthas, Handmaids, Aunts and Unwomen and everyone’s main focus is on procreation.

This book is disturbing in many ways, but I couldn’t put it down. I’m glad I waited to read this because it hit me at just the right time and gave me a lot to chew on, even if I found the ending to be an unsatisfying one.

I highlighted almost the entire book because there are so many beautifully written passages. Atwood certainly has a way with words! One line in particular has stuck with me…“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”

I couldn't put this one down- be sure to add it to your stack in preparation for a Hulu-binge session!

Reading Challenge Category Completed- A Dystopian novel

i see now why this book got a sequel. i feel cheated somehow, with all that buildup and foreshadowing only to stop there.

this book made me angry. i’m not mad about the writing (exquisite!), the characters (somewhat meh but still bearable) or the story (could have done without the bits where offred imagines stuff since it confused me but pretty good, overall).

what i’m mad about is the world depicted here. it sucks because i can see how the world we live in right now, could possibly evolve to that world with just a few wrong steps. it’s supremely fucked up that of all the lovely, kind fictional worlds out there, this is the one that our world today is closest to emulating.