Darswords

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As much as I hated people assigning books for me to read as a teen, I think this should be one for everyone. It was eerily too close to much that is happening today. Men/young boys need to learn what women think of them. Women need to get stronger and make sure they are holding up half the sky. There is no sense of majority men in politics leaving the other half no representation.

I was fortunate to have a free credit on Audible so I picked up the Special Edition with Claire Danes as narrator and a host of other voices. It certainly made the reading experience come to life, as regrettable a life it was to read about. I did read along on the Kindle version that my husband shared with me. I knew I had to read it before watching the Hulu version.

Many have told me to read this book in the past. I wish I would have gotten around to it before now so that this would be a second reading. It is too heavy, scary to read again so soon. Yet I may have to again before the year is over. I want to make it a part of my being, pull the wisdom down to the cellular level.

After the book, there is another section with a man covering the tapes found by our main character. It is set in the far future and after much study, they are analyzing the tapes and what kind of world the producer of the tapes lived in. I found that part of the writing so different and amazing. The vocabulary so different than the rest of the book. I have read poetry by Margaret Atwood and then this book. So I find it fascinating from a writer’s viewpoint that a person could have such a range in their writing skills.

After that (epilogue?) Ms. Atwood talks about writing the book and how her experiences played a big part in how the story became so real. Again, I was entranced!

Please don’t watch the series before reading this. Though they are doing a nice job, they still aren’t getting the depth of feelings that you get from the book. In fact, the first scene is actually from the end of the book. I found that just wrong. But maybe as time goes on it will make sense why they did that. It certainly is the cautionary tale for all of us who have taken our freedoms (even the ones we haven’t attained yet) for granted.

Please read this book, with the Special Edition Audible if you can.

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