Let's start by saying that Margaret Atwood obviously needs no praise because she has been getting plenty since the 80s (maybe even earlier), however, The Handmaid's Tale has left me almost speechless. When I was trying to explain its amazingness to my fiance, all I could come up with was "It was like... REALLY good" and for someone with a master's degree in English, that's pretty depressing.
This is one of those books that changes you. The plot of the novel revolves around a 1984-esque regime where women are either housewives, maids/cooks, or baby makers. The "handmaid" is a baby making machine. She lives with a husband and his wife, and her job is to have sex with the husband once a month (with the wife present, creepy!) in order to have a child. She only gets so long with this family before she will be moved somewhere else if there is no luck. Just that premise alone, which is not nearly all of it incase you were wondering, is so strange it leaves you wanting more. Pages and pages in to this book, you don't learn how things became the way they are, but finally it is revealed and it seems almost too easy for something like this to happen, even today. I was left thinking the whole time I was reading this book how scary it actually was and it was a bit unsettling for a while. However, I feel that a book that unsettles you is the best kind.
Kari, this is my recommendation for you for your 52 books of 2009 (the first one at least).
5/5
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