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This look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.
sparemethecensor: The Handmaid's Tale is the classic forerunner to dystopic fiction of sexist futures. When She Woke picks up the mantel with a more modern version of a misogynistic theocracy taking over government. Both show terrifying futures for the state of women in society.… (mais)
Kaelkivial: Both stories of strong women who resist (in one form or another) the system that holds them down. Both books fairly fast paced and gripping; acts of violence and loss scattered throughout.
Having seen the first two series of the TV adaptation of this novel, I came to it with certain knowledge of the backstory which perhaps made it easier to follow in places than for someone without that awareness. However, it was interesting to see the major departures from the novel, such as the very different fate of a woman from the Mayday underground (Gilead name Ofglen) and the Waterford couple, who are younger in the TV version and in Serena's case given a more central role. The narrator, who the novel names only as Offred (literally "of Fred", that is Fred Waterford), doesn't actually have a child by the end of the novel either. The TV version is also racially diverse, with an African American Handmaid and the narrator's husband and child also African American, whereas in the novel the regime is racist as well as misogynistic and a brief indication is given that all black people have been packed off to a reservation.
Nevertheless I found it fascinating. For those unfamiliar with the core story, the USA has been taken over by an extreme right-wing organisation which launched an attack on the capitol (blamed on Islamic terrorism which is spookily topical despite being the book being published in the 1980s) during which the President and most of Congress were murdered. (Following the real life assault on the capitol this isn't so far fetched as it might have seemed in the 80s.) Before this, a combination of environmental degradation, pollution etc radically reduced male fertility and also resulted in many miscarriages/stillbirths/babies with disabilities.
The men in power have imposed a punishing regime where women are slaves by any other name and are categorised into strict roles. The Wives and the Aunts (basically prison guards) have a few privileges, but only the Aunts are allowed to read and write, so that they can keep records about the Handmaids (women who have shown they can produce a healthy baby). Older or infertile women either become Marthas, who do all the domestic work including child care, or are packed off to the colonies where, if they are lucky, they become field workers. If unlucky, they have a brief and horrible existence cleaning up toxic waste. The only other role that an infertile woman (or a rebellious Handmaid) can fulfil is a Jezebel; basically a sex slave in a brothel. The Handmaids have to go from house to house - two years seems to be the normal assignment unless shortened by pregnancy - and every month during their fertile days they are subjected to rape by their current owner, one of the leaders of the regime. This is the focus of a ceremony where a spurious rationale has been taken from the Old Testament where 'handmaids' had to produce children for childless wives of a biblical patriarch. The Wives participate in the ritual and frequently mistreat the Handmaids.
The narrative shifts time frequently as Offred recollects her past. Her present is a mixture of intense boredom and stark terror which is conveyed superbly. She is more passive than portrayed on TV, but it is entirely plausible that she mostly keeps her head down and tries to keep out of trouble given the horrible fate of others who fail to do so. In the novel, she is an everywoman rather than a kickass hero. Her goals are limited. Some are not realistic - she wants somehow to find out if her husband Luke is still alive and hopes desperately that he is, and she yearns to be reunited with the daughter who was given to a couple in the ruling elite though she doesn't know who or where. Her main aim is simply to make it through the day without being denounced and dragged off to a horrible end, her body hung on 'the Wall', a landmark she often passes on her way back from the shops with her fellow Handmaid, as an example to others.
The time in which the regime took hold is slightly hazy. In some places, an impression is given that quite a few years have gone by, yet at another point in the narrative (all while she is still at the Waterfords), her daughter, five years old when the family was captured trying to escape to Canada just after normal society was overthrown, is stated to be eight. I suppose it would be more 'realistic' if a longer time interval had gone by, say at least 10 years, but that would be tricky to allow Offred to be still of childbearing age. Chilling comments are made by one of the Aunt, in flashbacks to training, that indicate the present generation finds their situation far more difficult than their successors will, who will know no different.
The ending is ambiguous but I didn't mind that. I wasn't keen on the afterword, where an arch male professor titillates a university lecture hall with a talk on the narrative - The Handmaid's Tale being a name he and his fellow transcriber have given to audiotapes found in a ruined house. Given that and the slight vagueness of the time frame - though I don't personally think it would be impossible for such a regime to be imposed if it followed the chaos and breakdown which is hinted at - I can't quite give this a full house but it earns a well-deserved four stars. ( )
I keep wanting to put this book in the context of "Brave New World" and "1984" but the only thing that concludes from this comparison is that I seem to have liked The Handmaid's Tale better. Even though the writing can be pretty confusing at times, it did make me feel worried for the future more than any dystopian novel has done before. I don't know about the ending though, it seemed sudden and unnecessary, but it could just be that it served a purpose that was lost to me at the time (which would not be surprising since I finished the book at 7AM on the plane back from Scotland). ( )
4.5 rounded up This book was scary! It seems like it could really happen, especially with the happenings over the last few years. I loved Offred and Ofglen, and of course, Nick. In spite of myself I really liked the Commander, he didn't seem like a bad dude, just doing what he had to. ( )
What I find most compelling about this book is a main character that is neither hero nor anti-hero. Offred is merely a person thrown into a horrifying world who reacts in a most human manner. Her actions are not the the things we dream of daring or the things we fear to do. Rather, they are the almost inconceivably mundane responses that the mind latches onto in a desperate attempt to cling to sanity when circumstances take us to the edge of our tolerance. ( )
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
And she said, Behold my maid Bihah, go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. — Genesis 30:1–3
But as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal . . . — Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
In the desert there is no sign that says, Thou shalt not eat stones. — Sufi proverb
Dedicatória
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
For Mary Webster and Perry Miller
Primeiras palavras
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.
Citações
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
As all historians know, the past is a great darkness, and filled with echoes. Voices may reach us from it; but what they say to us is imbued with the obscurity of the matrix out of which they come; and, try as we may, we cannot always decipher them precisely in the clearer light of our own day.
Time has not stood still. It has washed over me, washed me away, as if I’m nothing more than a woman of sand, left by a careless child too near the water.
The shell of the egg is smooth but also grained; small pebbles of calcium are defined by the sunlight, like craters on the moon. It’s a barren landscape, yet perfect; it’s the sort of desert the saints went into, so their minds would not be distracted by profusions. I think that this is what God must look like: an egg. The life of the moon may not be on the surface, but inside.
But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest. Maybe none of this is about control ... Maybe it’s about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.
There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia, freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.
I have a fork and a spoon, but never a knife. When there’s meat they cut it up for me ahead of time, as if I’m lacking manual skills or teeth. I have both, however. That’s why I’m not allowed a knife.
To go through all that [childbirth] and give birth to a shredder: it wasn’t a fine thought. We didn’t know exactly what would happen to the babies that didn’t get passed, that were declared Unbabies. But we knew they were put somewhere, quickly, away.
Since the paper famine there have been no newspapers ... At the corner is the store know as Soul Scrolls .... Behind the shatter-proof window are print-out machines ... they are known as Holy Rollers. They print prayers, roll upon roll, prayers going out endlessly. ... There are five different prayers ...You pick the one you want, punch in the number, then punch in your own number so your account will be debited, and punch in the number of times you want the prayer repeated. The machines talk as they print out the prayers ... Once the prayers have been printed out and said, the paper rolls back through another slot and is recycled into fresh paper again.
Whenever there is butter or even margarine, I save some ... There’s no longer any hand lotion or face cream ... [Our] outside can become hard and wrinkled, like the shell of a nut .... The butter is a trick ... we all do it .... butter our skin to keep it soft.
I try not to think too much. Like other things now, thought must be rationed.
Últimas palavras
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
The Reading Guide Edition is the substantial equivalent the main Handmaid's Tale work, with a few additional pages of questions for groups to consider at the back. Please therefore leave these works combined together. Thank you
Editores da Editora
Autores de citações elogiosas (normalmente na contracapa do livro)
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
This look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.
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Google Books — A carregar...
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Nevertheless I found it fascinating. For those unfamiliar with the core story, the USA has been taken over by an extreme right-wing organisation which launched an attack on the capitol (blamed on Islamic terrorism which is spookily topical despite being the book being published in the 1980s) during which the President and most of Congress were murdered. (Following the real life assault on the capitol this isn't so far fetched as it might have seemed in the 80s.) Before this, a combination of environmental degradation, pollution etc radically reduced male fertility and also resulted in many miscarriages/stillbirths/babies with disabilities.
The men in power have imposed a punishing regime where women are slaves by any other name and are categorised into strict roles. The Wives and the Aunts (basically prison guards) have a few privileges, but only the Aunts are allowed to read and write, so that they can keep records about the Handmaids (women who have shown they can produce a healthy baby). Older or infertile women either become Marthas, who do all the domestic work including child care, or are packed off to the colonies where, if they are lucky, they become field workers. If unlucky, they have a brief and horrible existence cleaning up toxic waste. The only other role that an infertile woman (or a rebellious Handmaid) can fulfil is a Jezebel; basically a sex slave in a brothel. The Handmaids have to go from house to house - two years seems to be the normal assignment unless shortened by pregnancy - and every month during their fertile days they are subjected to rape by their current owner, one of the leaders of the regime. This is the focus of a ceremony where a spurious rationale has been taken from the Old Testament where 'handmaids' had to produce children for childless wives of a biblical patriarch. The Wives participate in the ritual and frequently mistreat the Handmaids.
The narrative shifts time frequently as Offred recollects her past. Her present is a mixture of intense boredom and stark terror which is conveyed superbly. She is more passive than portrayed on TV, but it is entirely plausible that she mostly keeps her head down and tries to keep out of trouble given the horrible fate of others who fail to do so. In the novel, she is an everywoman rather than a kickass hero. Her goals are limited. Some are not realistic - she wants somehow to find out if her husband Luke is still alive and hopes desperately that he is, and she yearns to be reunited with the daughter who was given to a couple in the ruling elite though she doesn't know who or where. Her main aim is simply to make it through the day without being denounced and dragged off to a horrible end, her body hung on 'the Wall', a landmark she often passes on her way back from the shops with her fellow Handmaid, as an example to others.
The time in which the regime took hold is slightly hazy. In some places, an impression is given that quite a few years have gone by, yet at another point in the narrative (all while she is still at the Waterfords), her daughter, five years old when the family was captured trying to escape to Canada just after normal society was overthrown, is stated to be eight. I suppose it would be more 'realistic' if a longer time interval had gone by, say at least 10 years, but that would be tricky to allow Offred to be still of childbearing age. Chilling comments are made by one of the Aunt, in flashbacks to training, that indicate the present generation finds their situation far more difficult than their successors will, who will know no different.
The ending is ambiguous but I didn't mind that. I wasn't keen on the afterword, where an arch male professor titillates a university lecture hall with a talk on the narrative - The Handmaid's Tale being a name he and his fellow transcriber have given to audiotapes found in a ruined house. Given that and the slight vagueness of the time frame - though I don't personally think it would be impossible for such a regime to be imposed if it followed the chaos and breakdown which is hinted at - I can't quite give this a full house but it earns a well-deserved four stars. (