Daren
A well known dystopian speculative fiction novel, set in the USA, by Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood. I avoided the (fairly) recent television mini-series, knowing that I should have read this book before now - and I understand a sequel is due late 2019 now.
The things most evident from this book:
- It has aged very well - first published 1985 - it still reads as contemporary, which surprised me.
- A large part of the success of this book is how plausible the storyline is - the poisoning of our planet leading to sterility and birth defects, a plummeting birth rate, and ‘steps being taken'. The powerful 1% taking control and the remainder of people performing a service role - soldiers, police, educators, breeders, and servants.
- The story is told in an interesting manner - as often what is not told to us is as important as what is told. We are left to draw conclusions and fill in gaps (although we are often corrected or affirmed later).
- The story holds suspense in a way that makes you want to read on, or pick up the book again.
Much better places to look for plot outlines than here, so I will move on quickly.
4 stars.
A well known dystopian speculative fiction novel, set in the USA, by Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood. I avoided the (fairly) recent television mini-series, knowing that I should have read this book before now - and I understand a sequel is due late 2019 now.
The things most evident from this book:
- It has aged very well - first published 1985 - it still reads as contemporary, which surprised me.
- A large part of the success of this book is how plausible the storyline is - the poisoning of our planet leading to sterility and birth defects, a plummeting birth rate, and ‘steps being taken'. The powerful 1% taking control and the remainder of people performing a service role - soldiers, police, educators, breeders, and servants.
- The story is told in an interesting manner - as often what is not told to us is as important as what is told. We are left to draw conclusions and fill in gaps (although we are often corrected or affirmed later).
- The story holds suspense in a way that makes you want to read on, or pick up the book again.
Much better places to look for plot outlines than here, so I will move on quickly.
4 stars.