REVIEW: The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback
Rating: 2/5 (It Was OK) ★★

Goodreads Blurb

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now... 

Thoughts:

I found the idea of this story to be so relevant at the moment, and too be honest a little scary, that even though this book was written in 1985 it is still so relevant today.

The idea of Gilead is a scary thought that religion could be taken to such an extreme way such as this mindboggling.

I found myself at parts of this becoming angry at the way women were treated, even the wives were lower then the men, and equality had taken a massive back step (I am surprised I never threw this book at the wall).

I found myself rooting to Offred and really wanted her to escape from Gilead and everything that it stood for as well as finding her husband and daughter.

I did find myself wanting at the end of the book, I wanted to know if she found her husband, and daughter, I wanted the happy ending. I needed to know that she had escaped, but the ending is left very ambiguous.

I thought this was OK but due to the ambiguous ending, I just gave this 2 stars, as I found it so slow going as well and I did have to push through it.