Today is my birthday. Today, I'm 33-years-old. That's old enough to be an actual, honest-to-goodness grown up, and I have absolutely no idea how or when that happened.
I have never had a problem with birthdays. I kind of like them, but in an understated way. Most of my recent birthdays I've worked, then spent the night cuddled on the couch with take-out and a movie. It's a pretty awesome way to celebrate being a year older.
For today's book review, I decided to review one of my favourites, a book that also turns 33 today.
There are a few books that stick with you, that eat you up and make you lie awake at night while being regurgitated through its words and plot and characters.
I love Atwood. She's one of my favourite writers ever, and quite frankly, she just seems like a pretty awesome human. Anytime I'm asked that hypothetical question, about having a cup of coffee with someone alive or dead, she's always on my list.
This book is my favourite.
If you haven't seen the television show yet, I highly recommend it as well.
Check out the trailer for the first season here:
One of the things I loved about 2017 was watching this show. I loved the fact that this book showed up again on best seller lists.
I hated why.
I hated that groups of people have felt it necessary to dress in handmaid attire to protest. I love the fact that they did it, and the way in which they did it. I just hate that they've had to.
But there's something empowering about the people coming together, saying "no", saying we don't want that world.
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Don't let the bastards grind you down.”
The plot takes place in a future in which the birth rate has dropped so significantly that women are only prized for their ability to successfully carry and birth children.
This future, this Gilead, is revealed to us through Offred, who once had a different name, who once had a husband and child and friends and a job, who once had her own money and her own ideas and knowledge and memories and identity. All of that has changed now. Now, her life is reduced to her role as Handmaid, her worth determined by whether or not the Commander can make her pregnant.
This book is chilling. It's terrifying, in that get-under-your-skin way. The characters are complex, dynamic, and way too realistic to be merely entertaining.
In fact, The Handmaid's Tale is so effective because of that: It's just so damn realistic.
I studied my share of Bible verses growing up. One doesn't need to look long into history or current events to see the way in which these verses have been held up as, well, law. Polluted, filtered through that "I'm right, you're wrong" ideal. One of those efforts to make the world better. But, like Atwood attests:
“Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some.”
The world that Atwood imagines, that is reality both then and now, is that world, where people want better for themselves. Unfortunately, when we are so concerned about bettering our lives, we seem to not worry about the cost to others.
It's a dystopian novel. It's also a cautionary tale. It's just so close to reality to be terrifying. Just different enough that we may be able to console ourselves. "That isn't us. That can't be us."
You know, kind of like the people in this book thought leading up to the formation of Gilead, their solution for a better world.
“Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.”
Have you read this tale? It's considered a "modern classic". Do you agree with this statement, or is it going too far? Is it close to reality, or is it too far-fetched to ring familiar?
I'd love to read your comments on this polarizing book, below, and as always, feel free to contact me via my contact page, here. And don't forget to subscribe to my monthly newsletter while you're there!