Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It really pains me when I read a book that is hailed as a classic many times over but for some reason or another it just doesn't click at all with me. This is the case with The Handmaid's Tale, which is unfortunate because I was very much looking forward to reading this book. I really really wanted to like this book but I can't force what isn't there for me. The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel set in Gilead, which is formally part of the USA. Most of this book is told in the first person perspective by a character named Offred. Offred is a handmaid, which means her sole purpose in this society is to produce children for her commander (whose name is Fred, Of Fred, you see). Because of the fallout from a nuclear war most women are unable to have children, but Offred is thought to be fertile so during times when she is most fertile she is more or less forced to have passionate-free sex with the commander for the sole purpose of having babies(since his wife is unable to do such). Other women play their role as well. "Aunts" keep watch on the Handmaids and are allowed to read and write (unlike the Handmaids), "Wives" are the highest level caste, whom are married to high ranked men. "Marthas" are older, infertile women and "Econowives" are women who are married to lower ranked men. For men there are commanders, who are high ranking men, "Eyes" who are like the police and "Angels" who fight the wars. Only babies who are deemed as "keepers" are kept, "unbabies" vanish to somewhere unknown. There are other elements such as the Wall where people are hung-up dead for all to see, if they violate the laws of Gilead. What we have is an excellent setup for a good novel but unfortunately there are some serious issues with this book. First, this novel is really disjointed. The novel often bounces between present-time and Offreds past, but the transitions aren't smooth. This novel is written in a stream of concious style and it just doesn't work for me. Because it bounces around all over the place it can be a bit confusing at times which draws me away from the story. Next, the prose is just bad. I understand what Attwood was trying to do here, she's trying to make the character sound more real, but it often feels boring and the areas that are supposed to feel emotional just fall flat. It doesn't have that organic feel to it like, say, 'We' by Yevgenny Zamyatin, which is also written in the POV of the protagonist. Attwood often times tries to sound poetic but to me it comes off as just plain cheesy. She'll often write a cheesy poetic line, followed by a word or two which is supposed to feel impactful but it just doesn't to me. Or she'll write repetitive lines to try and build on the impact, but again it falls flat for me, for example - "The Commander is the head of the household. The house is what he holds. To have and told hold, till death do us part. The hold of a ship. Hollow." Or "What I feel towards them is blankess. What I feel is that I must not feel. What I feel is partly relief, because none of these men is Luke. Luke wasn't a doctor. Isn't." Or lines like - "Moira had power now, she'd been set loose, she'd set herself loose. She was now a loose woman." This type of prose is strung throughout the book (in fact I just fumbled through a few random pages to find these for this review, there are way worse). I was constantly drawn out of the story because of the cringe-inducing prose. The characters are also a bit flat. Offred is *slightly* three dimensional but most other characters are stuck in two dimensions. A good dystopia needs characters that really pop out of the page to succeed in pulling at my heart-strings. Finally, the ending fell flat. There is virtually no resolution. It seems like Attwood was going for an ending which would spark conversation (and for many people I'm sure it does) but I really don't like books where there is no resolution, you have no idea what happens to the protagonist. So, unfortunately this book just didn't work for me. It's hard for me to say I don't recommend reading it. Perhaps it's me and I'm just missing something. So, even though I give it a pessimistic 2.5 (rounded down to 2) I'd still say to check it out because so many people love this book.