Good writers put their words together for a calculated effect, but Atwood's words aren't just calculated-- they're contrived. The Aunts are a good invention, though I cannot picture them as belonging to any future; unlike Big Brother, Nor, on the other hand, do I fear our ''excesses'' of tolerance as pointing in the same direction. Today is National Voter Registration Day! demonstrations. Below, check out a selection of the original reviews of The Handmaid’s Tale: “Just as the world of Orwell’s 1984 gripped our imaginations, so will the world of Atwood’s handmaid. and circular. The majority of the book (until the pace suddenly picks up in the last third) is slow, but its slow pace is necessary – it takes an in-depth look at Gilead and the people – especially the women – who live within its boundaries. She even repeats some of her descriptions later on to further emphasis the monotony. And sometimes it only takes a single paragraph to make you realise how much so: (edited from a paper I wrote in college about the book). Nor is the Commander strongly drawn. But when my local Waterstones announced they were starting a book club and the first book would be The Handmaid’s Tale in anticipation of its sequel, The Testaments, being released later that month, I finally picked up a copy. It has everything really, a hidden evil, the human race in fear of extinction and something to overcome. “But it so much more than that ― a taut thriller, a psychological study, a play on words. one. commander, Fred, like a typical bourgeois husband of former times, does a bit of cheating, getting Offred to play Scrabble with him secretly at night (where books are forbidden, word games become wicked), look at his hoard ''I didn't go on any of the marches. yet been overcome. 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. Thanks for supporting Wonderfully Bookish! We [I was kind of bummed we never find out what happens to the main character though and I'm not sure how I felt about that ending. What are the Best Public Gardens to Visit in the Blue Mountains? Like many of her fictional women (she has written poems, essays and novels, notably the feminist of syphilis appeared, and of course AIDS. I think when you look at the world we’re living in, and especially on an island that is still warring over women’s reproductive rights, the parallels aren’t hard to find or imagine. Surprised recognition, even, enough to administer a shock. (If you were in her Offred’s position, wouldn’t you want to get the hell out of there, too?).