A review by peeled_grape
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

3.0

For a book where there is no prominent plot and mostly consists of world-building, I found this surprisingly easy to get through. It reads a little like an inside joke that’s not a joke at all—I keep thinking about how, if you do not have a uterus, there is a good chance you are missing or not understanding something. (Though maybe I’m just thinking about certain people I know.) It’s well-written and surprisingly thorough. I’m going to have to look at the ending again—there is definitely something more to it than what I got on first read—but the book constantly fluctuates between two extremes, and this reminds me of Schrodinger’s most famous study, where the only answer we can really get from the van is neither and both.

Also, the names should not have taken me that long to get. I did not understand why all their names were like that until “Ofcharles.”