Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Handmaid's Tale - Margret Atwood

  
I am going to start by being fair: I don't think I was in the mood for this book. I may have enjoyed it another time/place, but I just wasn't feeling it. I found it wordy, jumpy, poorly descripted (and I mean the petals on the roses were soft as a babies head after a lukewarm bath), (This is also coming from a avid Stephen King fan). Anyway, it was a good idea, it had a good plot line. It has spawned a movie, an opera and a live production. 

This is told, first person by Ofred, set in a very dystopian future where 99% of all woman have gone sterile and woman who aren't are captured and made to bear the children of wealthy men.

In this book, Ofred knows of what the world use to be, but because of her capture and the fact that they took her daughter (and she suspects killed her husband), she is broken and beaten down. (As are most of the woman). She does as she is told. Until she gets to her third family.

It reminded me a little of some other woman's fiction, Reliable Wife, Red Tent come to mind, (although I really enjoyed and recommend those). I think it was good, woman should probably read it, (or watch the movie), but you really have to been in the mood for it. Its very wordy and its a lot to take in.

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