The Handmaid's Tale

This review contains spoilers.

This book seems prophetic considering everything that's happened in the last 15 years.

I found the main narrative to be simultaneously moving, repulsive, compelling, and distressing. I would absolutely recommend. Had the book stopped at the conclusion of the main narrative, I would probably have given The Handmaid's Tale 5 stars. However, the historical notes section at the end left me cold, and wishing that the author had trusted the reader a bit more with interpretation of the facts presented in the book and speculation about Offred's eventual end. The analysis provided by "history" at the conference provided little new information and was smug and offputting. Maybe that's the point of it. About how historical narratives water down and obscure the narratives of the past when they try to define them too linearly and narrowly. The main narrative casually rejects the importance of a linear narrative.

Whatever Atwood's motivation for the historical chatter at the end, I feel it took some of the power away from the narrative, and so I have to bump it down to 4.5 stars. It feels like a lack of trust in both itself and the reader.