A dystopian classic by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, which was published in 1985 and is rather unknown in Germany. Atwood called her book “speculative fiction”, meaning it could come true.
Offred, a “Handmaid” tells her story about her life in the state of Gilead, formerly the United States. The Religious Right (Fundamental Christians) came to power by a coup. Women are stripped of their rights because the Bible is interpreted very strictly and considered the law. Women aren’t allowed to work, read and write, own any money or in case of the Handmaids even keep their name (Offred = of Fred). Depending on their social status and their ability to have a child, women are divided into different classes: the Wives ranking highest, the Handmaids with their duty to become pregnant, the Aunts who “train” and monitor the Handmaids, the Marthas who are house servants, the Econowives of low social status and the unwomen who are unwanted and discarded off to the “colonies”. Due to ecological pollution and natural disasters, many women are infertile. The Handmaids live in the houses of the new governing class: the Commanders and their Wives. They have to get pregnant by the Commander, carry the child to term and leave it to the Wife.
Offred tells us what living is like for her, how she became a handmaid and what happened when she attempted to leave the country with her husband Luke and her daughter. She seems to describe everything very unemotional but then there are suddenly sentences that show us her resignation, despair and hopelessness.
"There must have been a chandelier once. They've removed anything you could tie a rope to."
She doesn’t dare to rebel against the system, she’s a “wimp” as her friend Moira would say. Yet Offred tries to act rebellious in small ways, because she feels so utterly powerless in her situation, as she and all the other women are.
Although Margaret Atwood gives information to the reader only in bits and pieces at a time and we only learn about Gilead from Offred’s thoughts, I was curious to find everything out. She has a great writing style, I liked especially the many metaphors and comparisons.
My main point of critique is the time setting of the novel. Atwood places it in the late 80’s or in the 90’s of the 20th century. I think it would have been better to leave the time frame unspecific for such a classic piece of literature.