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A review by shelves_by_sim
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Let me start by saying that Atwood's style of writing is beautiful. I love how easy it reads, how she uses a nonlinear way of writing - jumping back and forth between the present and the past - and how her descriptiveness is so unique. Instead of explaining settings, observations and/or feelings in fully detailed sentences, she states details as one-word sentences which I found to be quite entertaining.
I understand what she did with this story, I understand it's significance in the world, especially seeing as it was written in 1985. There are some very heavy topics written in this book, that gives a nod to the life a woman would most likely experience under a totalitarian rule. It is abhorrent, it is uncomfortable, it is pitiful. And I can appreciate a story with so much depth.
But it had no plot. We follow Offred (someone who has experienced the before and after of this regime, mind you) while she just goes about her life under these new laws. While she is inquisitive, I don't feel any defiance or fight in her character. And yes, I understand that this book in particular really just observes what a woman in such a situation would go through but I would have preferred to have a more feminist approach to the story. A headstrong, determined character who puts up a fight, one who doesn't care what it takes or what might happen to herself, as long as she makes what she stands for clear. This was not Offred unfortunately and therefore, I ended up not enjoying the book as much as I wish I would.
I think that, after trial and error, I shall stick to romantic classics from now on! 😂
I understand what she did with this story, I understand it's significance in the world, especially seeing as it was written in 1985. There are some very heavy topics written in this book, that gives a nod to the life a woman would most likely experience under a totalitarian rule. It is abhorrent, it is uncomfortable, it is pitiful. And I can appreciate a story with so much depth.
But it had no plot. We follow Offred (someone who has experienced the before and after of this regime, mind you) while she just goes about her life under these new laws. While she is inquisitive, I don't feel any defiance or fight in her character. And yes, I understand that this book in particular really just observes what a woman in such a situation would go through but I would have preferred to have a more feminist approach to the story. A headstrong, determined character who puts up a fight, one who doesn't care what it takes or what might happen to herself, as long as she makes what she stands for clear. This was not Offred unfortunately and therefore, I ended up not enjoying the book as much as I wish I would.
I think that, after trial and error, I shall stick to romantic classics from now on! 😂