The Handmaid's Tale

Set in a time not so distant but very different world from our own. A world where women are owned by men, and their fate is decided wholly by them. This is a story of a handmaid, a woman who was unvirtuous in her previous life and now only exists to bear children for her commander.

This is a book that tends to draw very strong reactions from people. Either a strong feeling of this could happen, we need to be about this becoming reality and other things of that nature. One the other side you have complete disbelief this is unrealistic, this could never happen society's don't dissolve this quickly and so on. I fall somewhere in the middle with my opinion. Granted I did watch the show before reading the book, so maybe my reaction would have been stronger if I hadn't, but I personally doubt it.

The story itself draws you in makes you feel for Offred, the main character, feeling her loneliness, her detachment from the world. Very clearly painting how she was stripped of her family, her identity, even her stripped name.

Worldbuilding is done very well, giving you a sense of this dystopia, where men are completely in charge and women aren't anything more then objects. There are descriptions of how a token system with pictures is now used, as women are no longer permitted to read, how the always walk in pairs.

This book is one that I recommend reading, it is thought provoking. That being said it didn't make my world suddenly shift. It should be considered an important book, one worth reading, as many places in the world there are women who this dystopia is uncomfortably close to their reality.