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

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

 Despite not having got on particularly well with any of the Margaret Atwood books I'd previously encountered, I read The Handmaid's Tale when the TV series came out. (Hard to say why; I hadn't watched the TV series before, nor have I since.) 'Enjoy' seems the wrong word, but it absorbed me much more than Cat's Eye or The Penelopiad. Rereading was a very different experience, because I already knew how the society was structured, which allowed me more space to appreciate the nuances and details. 

For many people, the first read of The Handmaid's Tale will be all about the society of Gilead, working out what is different from our world, at what point in history it diverged and how all the different roles function. Margaret Atwood reveals this slowly, piece by piece, keeping the reader hungry for more knowledge, a better understanding. It creates a connection between the reader and Offred, who is also constantly seeking knowledge that she's not supposed to have. 
 
Once you've understood the society that Margaret Atwood has created, the rest of the story focuses primarily on Offred and her emotional reaction to what's being done to her. Margaret Atwood really takes the reader into Offred's thoughts, and this creates just enough distance from Offred's horrifying treatment that reading The Handmaid's Tale is uncomfortable without being agonising. That said, Offred's narrative involves metafictional elements of her questioning or outright contradicting her own version of events, so the reader can never be one hundred per cent sure what's true and what isn't. The academic conference which ends the novel doubles down on this, and yet, Offred's story always feels as though it's substantially honest.
 
While Offred suffers what seems to be primarily the 'normal' fate of a Handmaid, the characters around her face harsher or more dramatic conclusions to their stories. Hearing about Ofglen, Ofwarren and Moira shows just how rare it is that Offred seems to end the novel by escaping from her situation, giving the reader a glimpse of hope which is reinforced by the academic conference confirming that Gilead is a society firmly in the past.
 
While I expected my second read of The Handmaid's Tale to feel different from the first, I was surprised by how compelling Margaret Atwood's writing still was. I don't know if I feel the need to keep it to read again, but I won't rule it or the sequel out as future projects.
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