I just finished The Testaments, the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale and I realized I cannot write that review without first republishing this one From the Archive.
[From the Archive are book reviews that I wrote on my previous other blogs.]
Seeing how I just finished the book and the first season of the TV series, is this really the right moment to write this book review? The answer is… complicated. While I know my thoughts about everything related to this novel are all over the place, I also feel like I cannot move on to another book unless I write about it.
You probably already read it or watched the show, but I was completely new to this universe and I somehow managed to avoid any spoilers about it. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. And, let me tell you, I was so shocked that I had days when I couldn’t read the book anymore.
This. Sh*t. Is. Scary.
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| ★★★★★ |
Nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.And it is scary because I can actually believe it could turn into reality…
With any other dystopian novels, I get fascinated by the worlds presented, and although I would never want to live there, I can imagine them and enjoy them in some way. With Gilead… I do not want to do that. It feels too close to reality and this is thanks to Atwood’s amazing way of spinning the story. The uncertainty that wraps around you, the not knowing, the fleeting details from a past that feels so close to the reader too (even though the book was writing 30 years ago)… everything together builds up this world that is too believable for my own good.
I don’t think I will ever be able to explain it, but I had days when I felt drained to such a degree that I couldn’t read this book.
There is a fluidity to Atwood’s writing that makes the story flow from one page to another, but the magic stands in the subtle gaps you as a reader are left on your own to fill in this puzzle. And I guess that’s what the show does too – filling in the gaps somehow, but we will talk more about that soon. I will refrain myself from mentioning the biggest gaps of all, although let me tell you that no other book, even those ending with a huge cliffhanger, left me speechless and shocked and lost as The Handmaid’s Tale did. There was a sequel publish in 2019! You read that right! More than 30 years after the original book.
The story follows Offred, a handmaid. The chapters jump from her day to day life in the Republic of Gilead, offering us a glimpse into the lives of every handmaid, and Offred’s memories and personal thoughts, usually presented at night or while she was waiting. There is a lot of waiting in the life of a handmaid. As with every dystopian novel that I read, I am usually more interested in the society that novel presents rather than the plot or main character, but The Handmaid’s Tale is the first novel told from the perspective of the main character that managed to capture and present the society in a manner that doesn’t feel lacking or less than it would’ve been if told from a third person point of view.
Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse, for some.This is the future of disturbing oppression and injustice. A future where only the powerful have rights and where they misuse religion to justify whatever they want. As I said before, Atwood manages to create a future that is shockingly scary and feels incredibly real – or at least has potential to become reality. Because at one point, certain aspects of it were real… There was a time when women couldn’t own property, couldn’t vote, couldn’t go to school. Atwood just brings it all back and in a new light, creating a world where fertility rates are so low, that the unimaginable becomes possible.
It’s the first time I encounter a book that is so compelling and powerful, so hard to read, yet hard to put down at the same time.
Surprisingly, the show captures the essence of the novel perfectly.
The first 75% of the series is almost exactly as the book, with the timeline and chapters rearranged a bit, to fit the medium. The changes make sense, but the subtleties of the novel are kept. Then they start filling in the gaps and building on the other characters too and they do an extraordinary job at that.
It’s a wonderful adaptation, making changes to the story but being respectful of the original source at the same time. Fantastic – and as soon as I publish this I am starting the 2nd season and I will probably not go to bed until I’m done with it.
Edit later: I’m on season 3. Each episode finds a way to break my heart.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood was first published in August 1985
and won the the first Arthur C. Clarke Award; it was also nominated for the Nebula Award and the Booker Prize