The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Reviewed by Jack
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Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is, deservedly, considered to be one of the great classics of modern story-telling. When I first read this book at A-Level I was more than a little sceptical of this dystopian, feminist tome. What I discovered was a story that has influenced my way of thinking more than any other. We follow the narrative of Offred, a handmaiden to one of the leaders of Gilead; a hellscape of familiar terror and unimaginable horror. In this 23rd Century America, all fertile women are enslaved to male leaders of Gilead (their wives being barren) for the continuation of the ultra-right-wing state. Atwood's eviscerating tale becomes evermore relevant in our world every time we hear that women are told how to dress, how to think, how to act and especially when they are blamed for their own humanity.Essential in every way and a book that should be on every reading list - please do not think of this as 'feminist literature' but rather as a warning to every person, man or woman, of what happens when we value the life of the few over that of the many and abandon the humanity of all.