The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale is one of those novels I've always meant to read, but never got round to. With the impending release of Atwood's much-awaited sequel The Testaments, I knew I had to finally read it (I got pretty lucky as on the very day of The Testaments' release in stores - there were queues outside Waterstones nationwide - I happened upon a copy in the supermarket at half the RRP!). Anyway, back to The Handmaid's Tale. I think it's hard for any book to live up to the type of hype this one has surrounding it. That being said, I enjoyed the novel, and it grew on me further in hindsight of reading it.

The novel, written by Margaret Atwood and published in 1985, is a dystopian fiction (also categorised as science-fiction) which centres around the protagonist Offred who is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, in an age where the birth rates are in rapid decline. Each Handmaid serves a Commander and once a month they must lie with him (in the presence of his wife, which is extremely disturbing) in the hope that they become pregnant - once they are no longer fertile, they are no longer any use. 

The novel jumps between Offred's solitary life in Gilead, with her minimal amenities and bland food, and her previous life with her husband and her daughter. We are introduced into the action with very little context and have to piece Offred's life together through fairly erratic narrative. It's probably an unpopular opinion, but I didn't find the novel particularly enjoyable to read - and not as gripping as I had hoped. But I certainly appreciated its value and Atwood's writing is important. The themes are relevant and the message is vital, but I think that because I'd recently read Vox - a hugely gripping novel - I felt a little underwhelmed.

Much like Anna Burns' Milkman, I found I liked the book better when viewing it from afar. Some passages I was utterly hooked by, and others I felt completely lost in. And still, I'm excited about The Testaments and what more Atwood has to bring to the tale.