I think it's now well documented on Dainty Desires that I have a love for books and I've just finished reading a modern classic: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. A dystopian novel published in 1985 featuring a totalitarian state after the United States government was overthrown by a Christian Theocracy.
The novel is narrated by Offred, a woman forced by the Republic of Gilead to become, in essence, a breeding machine for a couple deemed more acceptable in this new highly religious country. What I loved about this novel is that it truly makes you think about the state we currently live in and how quickly life has evolved for women; from birth control to working lives. Offred (who we never learn her real name before the regime begins) takes us through her new life, showing us flashbacks of an America we all know very well and the new life she is leading as the handmaid to a high commander and his wife. She faces the possibility of being taken away to a life of slave labour even if she looks or speaks to someone she shouldn't and we follow her as she begins a life that may end there. The Handmaid's Tale is a novel that is beautifully written and is a modern classic for a reason; a book that every man and woman should read.
Have you ever read The Handmaid's Tale?
I love this book so much, I had to read it for my English A-level and have read it a few times since then. You are right, it really does make you think. I've read a few of her books and enjoyed them all but this is the one that has stayed with me xx
ReplyDelete