This was my first book by Margaret Atwood, and I definitely get what all of the fuss is about. "The Handmaid's Tale" was a brilliant imagining of a scary future, that resonated just as strongly with this reader today as it did with readers when it was written in the 80's.
The story opens on a time in the not too distant future, when the country has been overrun by a fanatical religion intent on bringing around a society free of sin, where men hold power and woman are subjugated.
The handmaids are a group of woman who are used soley as vessels for procreation. They carry the children of society's elite when the men's wives are too old to concieve themselves. The main character, and narrator, Offred, is just such a handmaid.
Offred tells her story of loss, pain and emptiness, and the pining for a life that she can only vaguely remember, when she had a husband, a job and a child. In this new existence, all of those things have been taken from her. She is left to live as a walking womb for a Commander and his spiteful wife.
"The Handmaid's Tale" is a unique twist on the typical dystopian future, one that has significant moments of foreboding that key into current battles in the women's rights arena. This book is as powerful eye-opener for any generation.
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