Although some people classify this novel as science fiction, in reality, it is speculative fiction, since there is no science involved in it but a speculative society. Then, because Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors, I read this book during the 1980s, as soon as it was in the market, and it left a strong impression on me. To this day, it still does. I didn’t watch its movie or TV version and I can’t tell if they were fair to the book, but in my opinion, any book is superior to its on-screen version.

The novel takes place in a future setting in a country where the society is arranged along social classes, in which women are forbidden to read and are used for recreation, copulation, or procreation. The protagonist and the point-of-view character is Offred, one of the kinds of women called handmaids who are assigned to produce children for the ruling class. Offred describes the structure of this new society, in which people are dressed according to their class and some words like sterile are banned.

After Offred is assigned to Commander, the commander likes her and begins an illicit affair with her against the rules. Commander lets her into his private room and watches her read his books. He also gives her contraband things like printed material from the 1970s. Offred has another handmaid companion with whom she’s paired to do shopping and who does more daring things as a resistance member. The commander has an infertile wife, who acts as a semi-antagonist against Offred due to her unhappiness and boredom. If there is a resistance to the ruling class and what the Commander and the ruling class does with Offred and other handmaids later or if she will be able to free herself or be captured and sent to her death is told in the rest of the novel.

The characters are very well portrayed and their actions and events in the novel are shown with clarity. The society shown is totalitarian, zealot-ruled, and anti-women. This novel was published before all the following dystopian novels had become the rage, and possibly for that reason, I recall it making me feel terrified. If this reaction was the author’s goal, she succeeded greatly. She also succeeded greatly in writing a complex story that was told clearly, yet to leave a deeply moving effect, but then, this is her usual mode of creating.

Ofglen, the friend, neighbor, and shopping companion of Offred because she is daring and isn't afraid of what may happen to her even though her ending is tragic.

is Margaret Atwood, the Canadian poet, novelist, teacher and environmental activist. The Circle Game, Cat's Eye, The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace, and Oryx and Crake are among her other books.

it shows the effects of indoctrination and what may happen if we are not careful.

Faith is a force for good and it is especially handy for giving hope to the masses, but when it indoctrinates nations, it turns into a plague, as this novel shows. Yet, it isn't the faith but how people abuse the power of it, and once they obtain that power, how they desire more and more of it. It is very easy for the powerful to suppress and enslave others so cruelly, under the guise of the law.

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Created May 20, 2018 at 2:01pm • Submit your own review...