My New Favorite

I just finished The Handmaid's Tale which I found fascinating with an thought-provoking open-ended finish. It takes place in a future with a declining birthrate and a repressive regime in America that came about by way of a bloodless coup. Not surprisingly this ultra-puritanical society has it's own corruptions and hypocrisies and it's own rationalizations for them.

I love the image of the Handmaids in long red habits with white wimples having built-in blinders; they look like nuns yet different and they serve a very different role. Somehow in my imagination this image is much stronger then in my memory of the movie version of this book. The image I do recall from the movie was the Ceremony which is introduced in a subtle startling way. In particular it was the image on Serena Joy's face when her husband, the Commander appeared to be enjoying the ritual. I guess both forms of this story have their strong points but I think the book is superior. Perhaps it was the blackness of the story that I found difficult to accept on first exposure, or perhaps it is just the realism/cynicism of a more mature perspective but I was even more enthralled with the written version of the story of Offred (she is of Fred; she has even lost her name in this new society), the Handmaid whose tale we are hearing (we never learn her former name or the name of her daughter who was taken from her). There are some very inventive touches such as the Marthas, the Unwomen, the Wives and Econowives dressed in blue, the Handmaids in red who are always in pairs, the Aunts, the colonies, the Salvagings and Prayvangazas , the Guardians, the Angels, and the Eyes. The irrepressible Moira is a well-formed character who gives yet another perspective on this society.
When the husband/commander commands Offred to join him surreptitiously, it is at least at first to play Scrabble and look at old outlawed magazines such as Vogue.
Another wonderful touch is the names of the stores of the town: Lilies of the Field, Milk and Honey, and All Flesh. Finally there is the store called Soul Drafts (formerly a lingere store) where you can buy time on a machine that reads prayers on your behalf.
This world is a well-wrought wryly inventive creation.

I have previously reviewed books by Margaret Atwood in this blog.