The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood

Paperback, 324 pages

Published 5th July 2007 by Vintage (Originaly published August 1985)

Shelves: adult-fiction, books-i-own, dystopian, favourites, read, read-in-2020, series-or-companions

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.

Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first-century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception.

The Handmaid's Tale is a difficult book to review. In fact, it's a difficult book to even shelve. Is it science fiction or is it realistic fiction? I only know that for sure that it's a modern classic that is even more scarily relevant now in 2020 than it was when it was first written in 1985. 

The Handmaid's Tale is something that you really have to experience for yourself - it's a book unlike any other that I've read before as you're aware that it's set in the dystopian Republic of Gilead but you're also aware that what it happening is shockingly relevant - maybe not directly, but the undertones, the insinuations and ideas are most definitely there. It's the philosophy that is relevant, rather than the actions portrayed. This is where its main success lies. For anyone who's intrigued by religion, women's rights and feminism, this is a necessary read. 

This is a relatively short book at only 324 pages, but it took me quite a while to get through -  although it's written well, the subject matter can feel draining. There isn't a huge amount of character development in the book apart from that of the narrator, Offred, but as I say, this doesn't really cause concern. Although I have no deep insight into the personalities of the characters, I can imagine their feelings and concerns. 

Gilead is somewhere I have a good picture of in my head - both the workings of the Republic and  the atmosphere there. I can most certainly imagine the dreary dystopian, yet familiar setting. The fact that the setting is so familiar - a once regular town in the United States, something that we can all relate to from personal experience or films - is one of the things that make it so disturbing. 

Overall, this is a powerful book which I will probably revisit in the future. The book has always been on my radar, but since watching and adoring the TV adaptation of the book, I knew I had to read it straight away. I would highly recommend both. I'm looking forward to following it up at some point by reading The Testaments which I hope will expand on some of the characters that we were introduced to and just what happens to the women and children of Gilead.

From The Review Pile (97)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

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This week, I'm going to showcase Breaking The Silence!

I would really love to read some books by Diane Chamberlain. As readers of this blog will know, one of my favourite authors is Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain is often hailed as the nearest comparison. I've a couple of Chamberlain's books on my shelves and I would like to read more of them soon. The stories sound very captivating. Although they all sound great, Breaking the Silence sounds like the most intriguing offering to me.

Breaking The Silence by Diane Chamberlain

Paperback, 407 pages

Published 17th December 2010 by Mira 

“My husband shot himself in our bedroom. When I got home, Emma was standing at the bottom of the stairs, screaming.”

Since that awful day, Laura Brandon’s little girl hasn’t uttered a word. When a psychiatrist suggests that Emma won’t talk because she’s terrified of men, Laura is guilt-ridden. To help Emma, she needs to know what unspeakable secret lies behind her husband’s suicide.

Laura thought her family was perfect, but her quest leads her to a shocking truth. For her child’s sake, should her father’s sins be kept silent?

For fans of JODI PICOULT, this is a must read.

The Donor

The Donor by Helen Fitzgerald

Paperback, 320 pages

Published July 2011 by Faber Faber

Shelves: adult-fiction, crime-thriller-mystery, disliked, drink-and-drugs, let-down, medical-conditions, new-adult, read, read-in-2020, realistic-fiction

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

The Donor, Helen FitzGerald's fifth novel, is a nail-biting psychological thriller about a single dad's horrorfying dilemma. Will, who has given up everything to raise his twin daughters, has a terrible choice to make when both girls suffer kidney failure age 16.

Should he save one child? If so, which one?

Should he buy a kidney - be an organ tourist?

Should he sacrifice himself?

Or is there a fourth solution - one so terrible it has never even crossed his mind?

Perfect for fans of Julia Crouch, Sophie Hannah and Laura Lippman, The Donor is a gripping thriller about a single dad faced with organ donation as his twin daughters battle to survive. 

You should never judge a book by its cover. Unfortunately, when it comes to actual books, I'm afraid to say that I'm guilty of doing so and this The Donor attracted me on both counts. The title was enough to grab me, but after reading the blurb, I knew I just had to read it straight away. It's been said that this book is perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain and Sophie Hannah, all authors that I've enjoyed in the past. The premise sounded intriguing, it had so much potential, but sadly, this book didn't live up to my expectations at all.

It usually takes me a while to decide whether I like a book or not - I feel I should give them all a fair chance. It's rare that I take such a quick dislike to a book as much I did with this one. Initially, I wasn't a fan of the mix between first and third person narration but I did adjust to it quite quickly, so it didn't pose too much of an issue after I'd read through a quarter of the book. The main reason I didn't like the majority of this book was the pure 'trashiness' of it - I'm certainly not a prude or afraid of expletives but I felt that half of the things in this book were just thrown in for the sake of it.  The whole book was littered with random sex scenes and encounters which seemed to hold no purpose whatsoever, not even adding to character relationships or development. There wasn't a chapter that didn't hold a multitude of swearing either, none of which had any real impact as it was just too frequent. Even excusing those first two issues, I had to draw the line at the derogatory language that was used for absolutely no real reason - at the point where one character offhandedly called autistic people 'windowlickers' for absolutely no reason, I had to stop myself from throwing the book across the room. It honestly felt like there was a teenager writing this book, just throwing in anything that they could to be rebellious - this may have benefitted Georgie's narration but it wasn't appropriate for third person.

With a book like this, it's especially important to connect to the characters and feel for them. We're introduced to Will, the unsuccessful parent of Kay and Georgie with a penchant for weed, alcohol and S&M with a married woman who lives nearby. He's probably the most likeable character of them all, showing equal parts of desperation and love for the twins. The  twins, both in need of a donor, are polar opposites - Kay is the 'pretty', kind twin and Georgie is the twin that appears to shows only contempt and cruelness. Georgie's character seems to have more development than Kay as she is who narrates alternating chapters. Initially, I strongly disliked her but her character does develop slightly throughout the book. The other characters include Preston, a strange but admittedly intriguing character who is tasked with searching for the mother of the twins, Cynthia, a relentless drug addict with absolutely no redeeming qualities, and her equally dislikable partner, Heath.  

Despite my issues with this book, it was a page-turner - it was very easy to read and it didn't have any long or drawn out sections - it didn't become boring, which is an extremely positive point. I got through The Donor very quickly in only a couple of sittings. The book did keep me entertained during the last half in particular. Whilst some of the occurrences in the book seemed slapstick and ridiculous, as simple entertainment, the action and the twists in the book weren't disappointing and kept me reading on, despite my issues with the writing. I believe that the bare bones of a good story are in this book, but unfortunately it's just not quite developed as it should be. Disappointing, but this was likely mostly due to my preconceptions. 

From The Review Pile (96)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

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This week, I'm going to showcase The Green Mile!

Believe it or not, I am yet to read a Stephen King novel. As someone who loves anything to do with crime and prison-set novels, I think that The Green Mile will be the most appropriate first choice for me. I did watch the film adaptation years ago and really enjoyed it so I'm pretty sure that this will be with hit with me. I have a copy of this at the forefront of my bookshelf and I'm determined to finally  read it soon!

The Green Mile by Stephen King

Hardback, 453 pages

Published 10th September 1999 by Orion

At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, condemned killers such as 'Billy the Kid' Wharton and the possessed Eduard Delacroix await death strapped in 'Old Sparky'. But good or evil, innocent or guilty, prisoner or guard, none has ever seen the brutal likes of the new prisoner, John Coffey, sentenced to death for raping and murdering two young girls. Is Coffey a devil in human form? Or is he a far, far different kind of being?

There are more wonders in heaven and hell than anyone at Cold Mountain can imagine and one of those wonders might just have stepped in amongst them