THE HANDMAID’S TALE

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by Margaret Atwood (1985)

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The Republic of Gilead has somehow managed to avoid the severe radiation exposure that has beset whatever lies beyond its walls. Its governance is totalitarian, and its citizens are expected to believe in its history and causes, or at least they must perform the various social rituals convincingly. Moreover, Gilead is a highly stratified society where a small and powerful minority of men and women, the upper class, exploit the wider population. Its salient feature is that young working class women must “bear fruit” for the republic, which in plain language amounts to being impregnated by upper class men, carrying the baby to full term and giving birth, and then relinquishing all power and control and ownership of the newborn, which is then swiftly bundled away to become the property of upper class women. It is within this dystopian scenario that our courageous protagonist must live, work, and have babies. Her body may at times be subject to an external power but her mind, heart, and will, remain her own. And, she is not about to let anyone grind her down. Fiction. 324 pages.

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DETAILS:

Title: The handmaid’s tale

Year: 1985

Author: Margaret Atwood

Pages: 324

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Book review by Keith Salter