The Handmaid's Tale

Executive Summary: This is one of the books that I'm glad I read once, but never want to read again. It was a pretty depressing read and I needed a palette cleanser after I was done. It started really slow for me, but sucked me in by the end.

Audiobook: Claire Danes does a fine job with this book, but nothing that makes this a must listen. I'm not a huge fan of celebrity narrators even if they are talented actors like Ms. Danes because that doesn't necessarily make you a great narrator. I think she does a good enough job that makes the audio a decent option though.

Full Review
This book has been on my radar for years, not to mention my owned and unread shelf. I probably got it on a daily deal nearly 5 years ago but I've never been in the mood to listen to it. The truth is I wasn't in the mood to read it now either, but I probably never would. With the popularity of the show I wanted to finally check it off my list.

I definitely struggled with the first part of this book. Somewhere along the way (TV show spoilers perhaps) I knew the underlying idea of the book, but it took so long (over 25% for it to be revealed to the reader). It's possible that if I didn't know what was coming I'd have been less anxious/found it less slow at the start.

Once the truth of OfFred's situation was finally revealed things seemed to pick up a lot. I liked how she mixed in flashbacks to flush out the world building. I probably liked those parts best of all, possibly because they were less hard to read than most of the rest of the book.

It's hard to believe this book was written over 30 years ago because it seems so timely for many things right now. The reality though (which is explored in the book itself) is that Ms. Atwood didn't really create the ideas of Gilead. All that she had to do was to explore our own history and pick and choose from all the awful stuff that past societies (or current societies for that matter) have done to women throughout time.

That's probably why apart from a few mentions of technology this book feels like it could have come out now rather than 1985. In all that time we haven't made much progress (and you might argue we've actually taken steps to move closer to the world she explores in this book).

Overall this book is a depressing look at the way that humanity and governments can be really horrible to each other/its citizens. It's one of those books I think should think everyone should read once, but have something fun/happy on standby, or maybe just someone to hug afterward.