Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid’s Tale

review by Ro Bennett on show 7th April 2011
This book was one of those chosen on My Life in Books by Hardeep Singh Kohli who is a comedian, writer and broadcaster as well as being a judge of the Booker Prize.

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed . If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs. . .

This book is set in the near future where the Gilead, a religious sect has taken over America and installed an oppressive regime, banning books, hanging dissenters and controlling every aspect of life. The world is described through the eyes of Offred, a young woman who has been assigned as a Handmaid to one of the ruling elite. Her sole function is to provide children in a world where fertility levels are low due to pollution and disease.

The story is told as if the person is there experiencing it. This cuts off the information and background available to the reader so we know exactly what the protagonist knows about the events and no more. The only glimpse into the full picture is provided by the history lesson in the epilogue of the book.

I found it to be an unremittingly depressing book. I don’t know why I continued reading it. I think it was because I hoped for some sort of happy outcome, but the whole thing was absolutely dire.

It does make you appreciate and be grateful for the freedom to read, chose partners etc that we have in a democratic society. There are parallels with totalitarian societies where people don’t have freedom of choice - the women in Saudi Arabia, those living under the control of the Taliban for instance - but the book was infused with so much despair - there was no glimmer of hope to cling on to, such hopelessness that it left me feeling heavy and miserable. At my age I need that like a hole in the head.
Some reviewers made me chuckle though:
'I can now see why this is an A-Level book; it's a form of literary snobbery, to see who can "appreciate" (or get through) this tedious barrage of verbosity'.

Another wrote:
'Avoid at all costs! If you have to study it - you have my deepest sympathies'.

And finally:
A number of (female?) reviewers claim this is a feminist piece of writing. I think they have missed the point, because men are treated just as badly as women; in fact everyone has a hard time of it in this book, especially the reader.
Having said that there were 89 reviewers who gave it 5 star rating...

Ro Bennett