Reviews

It was really tough to get into this book as the writing style was not my style; HOWEVER the content was fascinating and exceedingly scary in today's political climate. I am looking forward to seeing how the TV series compares.

tedski's review against another edition

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2.0

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Claire Danes, and I am not sure how much that affected my enjoyment of this novel. The droning narration, coupled with the static writing, was not conducive to maintaining concentration. The subject of the narration often changed seamlessly, cross-fading from one story to a different one, so that several times I found myself thinking, wait, she's talking about "this" when I thought she was just talking about "that." I would then rewind back a minute or so to reorient myself.

As for the story itself, I never felt immersed in that world, and I had too many questions and doubts about the plausibility of the success of the religious cult in setting up such a socio-political structure so quickly and completely.

It took until about half way through the story before I started to feel the slightest emotional investment, as the story is recounted by the main character in such a dry objective manner, best summarized as, "This is life in Gilead. It sucks." Beyond that, there was no tension, no conflict, no plot development. While we are told how cold, impersonal, and debasing life is under this system, all the characters appear to have settled into their rolls, if a bit reluctantly. There is some lip service given about an underground resistance movement, but it's not developed into anything offering conflict and interest to the story.

I am all for feminism (although Atwood even says this novel is not about that), and I loathe organized religion, but, in the end, I found myself unable to connect with the ideas being expressed here.

In the afterword of the book, Atwood talks about the research that went into the story, and the historical precedents for the changes that have taken place in the country. While I can appreciate the author's scholarship and the sincerity in the expression of her ideas, as a work of fiction, this story simply failed to draw me in, and when the last scene faded to black, so too Offred and the world of Gilead.

scijessreads's review against another edition

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3.0

I can see how some people love/hate this book. Personally, I am not fond of Atwood's writing style. As for the book... I can appreciate where the story comes from, and what it tries to do with the idea of fundamentalist/totalitarian belief and rule. But the execution left me cold, and I never connected with the characters.