The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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 fertility, 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...

This was the book of the month for February with a mommy's online book club that I am head of. Book is written in the main character, Offred's voice. She talks to us as she reminisces about life before the Republic of Gilead. Life before was similar to how life is now. Women had rights, owned properties, had jobs, and some women raised family all on their own. And then something happened. And as the book goes along the narrator slowly begins to tell us what happened to make everything change completely to where now women were put in categories, and her category was handmaid. She was there for fertility purposes only, to help populate. Her name is only a name that describes whose handmaid she is, Of Fred. We go through the book seeing the struggles the narrator goes through because she has memory of how good life was before this new order took place. She has memory of a husband and her daughter and now she has none of those things.

I was astonished at how believable this book was as to what could really happen if for some reason our current government was abolished. How easily women could be oppressed. To read this as a possibility was a bit scary. How quickly things went from being the way they are now to a place that seemed so primitive in its thinking. Using the bible and biblical references to justify an unjust situation and rules. This book definitely had me asking question like, would I be resistant, a martyr, or a survivor and just go with it surviving the best I could. Would I try to be some sort of hero or she-ro? (smile). What would be my place in this terrible female oppressive world? I also said to myself, if I thought it was hard now for women, look at where we have come from, and see where we could possibly go. Scary.

The overall story was good, but I did have problems with the narrator and her lack of facts as to what exactly happened to make things the way they were. I somewhat understand because my guess would be that she herself did not know much about how she went from working, having money, and owning property to being a handmaid. But having the story told from her point of view left a lot to mystery. The ending was left a mystery as well. That somewhat frustrated me because we do not know the true fate of our narrator.

Overall I give this book 3 out of 5 stars but it is a book definitely worth reading. I have been told that this is one of Atwood's mediocre books and that she has other novels that are better. I would be interested in reading other books from this author.

My Review of The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The movie based off the book

This book was given to me for a Christmas gift. I expressed how much I wanted to read the book and then watch the movie. It took me some time to get through the book just because I have a lot going on, but it was a great book. At first the dialectic of the book turned me o a bit but the more I read the more I was able to get use to how the characters spoke. I like how the book is written in the voices of the 3 main characters and each has chapters dedicated to telling the story from their point of view.

In Detail:
I think that considering the author was from the same area, and had a maid herself, I think she did a good job on portraying what she thought a black maid would feel like. I can not say how accurate it was. I think only talking to some of the black maids of that time would tell us if she did a good job portraying it. I think a friend of mine in my book club put it best. Although the book was great, and well written we have to remember that this is a white woman doing her own thought of what she thinks the domestic African American workers of that time were like. Going off what she knows and has researched. She did an excellent job.

In the book my favorite character was Aibleen. She reminded me so much of my grandmother. Just the open heart and not super judgemental, but could tell you what you needed to hear without being mean about it. I loved her character in the book. In the movie, I would have to say that it would be between Minnie and why can't I think of her name, the woman Minnie ends up working for. Minnie was portrayed really well in the book and she kept some realism to this story that not every maid is super nice and doesn't talk back. (Smile) I loved the Terrible awful. And the woman she worked for, I loved her because she seemed to genuinely not see the difference between Minnie working for her and being friends. She never treated Minnie like she was less than she was, and her character really needed Minnie. I liked that.

I cried while reading the book, and I cried even harder when watching the movie, when Aibileen had to leave baby girl. It really hurt me because I know that child will never feel a love like that from anyone else. It sucks that Aibileen had to leave.

I did see the movie and I thought it was a good adaption. I think some parts were better than parts in the book, like the way Skeeter's mama stood up for her in the movie. You could clearly see that. The way she talked to Hilly when she came over. And even used some words from the book Skeeter wrote, to let Hilly know she has been identified. I liked that. It did not go quite that way in the book and I wish it would have. So we could have known that her mother was proud of her no matter what. There was something that they changed for movie purposes. The whole thing with Skeeter's childhood maid and how that situation went down. I did not like how the movie changed it. I also would have like to seen the scene where Skeeter and her family meets Stuart's family at the house. I liked the conversation the family had there and how this previous fiancee played a major role. But overall the movie did good.

I definitely think that Octavia was Minnie in that movie, and she deserved that Academy Award for sure.

One activity I have always loved is reading. I am not getting back to reading more and I want to share the books that I am reading with others so that maybe they can read them as well. So there will be more reviews like this on my blog. I already have two more books to write about.