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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
Excellent, haunting, captivating.
I could probably have done without the epilogue, but other than that, I loved every second: the slow revelation of the world, the casual flashbacks, the stark landscape of a dark nation.
I've recently read other such works, which contemplate the lives of the oppressed, and The Handmaid's Tale shines in a way often overlooked. It presents people and society as they truely are: complicated. It does not weave some silly story where all men are sexist pigs and all women are cowed saints. It does not preach a neutered tale of good and evil and easy blame. It presents a realistic world, one of female complicity tinged with quiet rebellion, of blind male callousness mixed with secret empathy.
There are no purely evil characters, and no purely good ones. Too often do writers fall into the trap of painting in black and while, evil and good, corrupt and pure. (I'm looking at you Babel) But an evil system is not made of evil parts. It is built on the backs of a thousand small injustices. It's a picture painted in a million shades of dark grey.
In the Handmaid's Tale, there are women who weild the whip, and their are men who die to save them. We are left with hope, and we are left with despair.
This is one of the best books I have read this year, and it will stay with me for a long time. Strongly recommend.
What follows are just some quotes that stuck me while I read it.
Holy shit, that last sentence. Rarely has objectification been so well described.
One should note this this quote is about commiting suicide to escape oppression, and when she says she does have teeth, she means the guts to go through with it.
I could probably have done without the epilogue, but other than that, I loved every second: the slow revelation of the world, the casual flashbacks, the stark landscape of a dark nation.
I've recently read other such works, which contemplate the lives of the oppressed, and The Handmaid's Tale shines in a way often overlooked. It presents people and society as they truely are: complicated. It does not weave some silly story where all men are sexist pigs and all women are cowed saints. It does not preach a neutered tale of good and evil and easy blame. It presents a realistic world, one of female complicity tinged with quiet rebellion, of blind male callousness mixed with secret empathy.
There are no purely evil characters, and no purely good ones. Too often do writers fall into the trap of painting in black and while, evil and good, corrupt and pure. (I'm looking at you Babel) But an evil system is not made of evil parts. It is built on the backs of a thousand small injustices. It's a picture painted in a million shades of dark grey.
In the Handmaid's Tale, there are women who weild the whip, and their are men who die to save them. We are left with hope, and we are left with despair.
This is one of the best books I have read this year, and it will stay with me for a long time. Strongly recommend.
What follows are just some quotes that stuck me while I read it.
Their heads are uncovered and their hair too is exposed, in all its darkness and sexuality. They wear lipstick, red, outlining the damp cavities of their mouths, like scrawls on a washroom wall, of the time before.
The night mine, my own time, to do with as I will, as long as I am quiet. As long as I don’t move. As long as I lie still. The difference between lie and lay. Lay is always passive. Even men used to say, I’d like to get laid. Though sometimes they said, I’d like to lay her. All this is pure speculation. I don’t really know what men used to say. I had only their words for it.
I threw the magazine into the flames. It riffled open in the wind of its burning; big flakes of paper came loose, sailed into the air, still on fire, parts of women’s bodies, turning to black ash in the air, before my eyes.
What could be done? We thought we had such problems. How were we to know we were happy?
My nakedness is strange to me already. My body seems outdated. Did I really wear bathing suits, at the beach? I did, without thought, among men, without caring that my legs, my arms, my thighs and back were on display, could be seen. Shameful, immodest. I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it’s shameful or immodest but because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.
Holy shit, that last sentence. Rarely has objectification been so well described.
Dozens of paintings of harems, fat women lolling on divans...being fanned with peacock tails...Studies of sedentary flesh, painted by men who’d never been there. These pictures were supposed to be erotic, and I thought they were, at the time; but I see now what they were really about. They were paintings about suspended animation; about waiting, about objects not in use. They were paintings about boredom.
But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men.
Better? I say, in a small voice. How can he think this is better?
Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.
But people will do anything rather than admit that their lives have no meaning.
I sit at the little table, eating creamed corn with a fork. I have a fork and a spoon, but never a knife. When there’s meat they cut it up for me ahead of time, as if I’m lacking manual skills or teeth. I have both, however. That’s why I’m not allowed a knife.
One should note this this quote is about commiting suicide to escape oppression, and when she says she does have teeth, she means the guts to go through with it.
“Nature demands variety, for men. It stands to reason, it’s part of the pro-creational strategy. It’s Nature’s plan.” I don’t say anything, so he goes on. “Women know that instinctively. Why did they buy so many different clothes, in the old days? To trick the men into thinking they were several different women. A new one each day.”
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was kind of scared to read this book, after all I had heard about it, but at the same time was very intrigued. I finally got it, and was glad I got this particular edition because the new introduction by the author in the beginning is very enlightening (remember, this book was written in 1984!) and I would definitely recommend reading it before jumping into the novel. I don't know that I can really say much about the book itself because I couldn't do it justice. It's well written (although a little wonky with no quotation marks, but it suits the style). It's captivating. It's terrifying. It's thought provoking. It's worthwhile.
Also, as a side note, I wonder how many people have skipped reading the "Historical Notes on The Handmaid's Tale" at the end of the book, thinking that it was actual historical notes by the author and not part of the story itself? (I almost did).
Also, as a side note, I wonder how many people have skipped reading the "Historical Notes on The Handmaid's Tale" at the end of the book, thinking that it was actual historical notes by the author and not part of the story itself? (I almost did).
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So well written and intense! I had forgotten how great this book is.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
How to review a classic? Dark, harrowing, disturbing and brilliant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, Classism