The Handmaid's Tale

A spectacular piece of fiction that has my entire mind, body, and soul. Margaret Atwood's novel is a testament to the struggles of conformity, identity, while simultaneously addressing core issues of society such as the patriarchy, climate change, radical feminism, and extreme polarization.

The story is quite simple - a woman named Offred is a sex slave to her Commander (essentially an owner) in a world of declining birth rates. Throughout the novel, the speaker leads the audience through her journey as a Handmaid and revealing bits of her inner psyche.

Often, Offred doesn't seem to be a reliable author and the surrealism of the setting really makes you question your political stances/safety. There are a lot of pop culture references (early 80s to late 90s, I'd say) so keep an eye out for those because they really deepen the meaning and provide complexity to your analysis.

Atwood's incredibly stylistic writing paired with the real issues the book addresses is what really makes it such a wonderful novel. And when I say stylistic, I really mean it. Keep an eye out for odd phrases/metaphors because they are worth analyzing!

If you are reading this for school:

Keep an open mind - this isn't as bad as the usual books students are forced to read.
Annotate as you read - it will really help you in the long run, especially when you're writing essays and papers and require evidence.
Keep an eye out for figurative language! This book is teeming with it - puns, metaphors, symbolism, allusions, alliteration, EVERYTHING! It's what makes it such a great novel!!!
Read with a particular lens in the back burner of your mind: gender, psychological, political, etc because they will ALL work. It's important that you understand how everything connects, though.

If you need any notes or anything, dm me! I'll be glad to share any material I have :)

But if you are someone that enjoys: dystopian fiction, feminist novel, politically motivated novels, or classic literary fiction, this is this book for you. Some novels similar to this include (IMO): Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, 1984, and Animal Farm.