A review by stories_of_the_soul27
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I had tried to read this book 6-7 years ago and could only go halfway. I remember not being horrified by the narrative. I don’t remember this book moving me, eating me up, burning me with indignation. And I feel ashamed by it. Was I so sheltered and unaware of the happenings in the world that my brain couldn’t comprehend the distorted reality presented in the book? Was I so immature? Why didn’t I read enough on my own to broaden my mind? I don’t remember how I got introduced to feminism or what made me consume books about women written for and by women. I cannot pinpoint a singular moment but I can say with clarity that it is the violence against women which I have seen getting reported in newspapers that made me change my views and thinkings. 

Which is why I will say that this book needs to be taught in schools to girls and boys alike. This book needs to be thrusted into the faces of everyone. In the present day, when Taliban ruled Afghanistan has passed laws banning women from talking, singing and reciting in public and forbidden them from attending schools beyong grade 6, with rest of the world watching, this book presents not a dystopian version, rather a horrific truth that if men are given too much power then they will snatch everything from women in the name of God, nature and men! In recent years violence against women has increased so much and people still have the galls to defend movies that perpetuate harmful masculinity and degrade women to the position of lower, inferior sex. 

It is very hard to keep the rage alive. ‘But who can remember pain, once it’s over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.’

The indignation and the injustice of it all wears us down and simultaneously balancing life where on a daily basis you have to face misogyny and sexism and trying to stay alive, somewhere you let go of the rage and just try to survive. We need to remember. ‘We lived as usual by ignoring. Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you.’ 

I hope we don’t just keep reading such stories but learn something from them too. I hope we never let these nightmares become true. I hope we never ever forget to fight. I hope we help each our of fellow women. I hope we remember to be kind and just.