Review: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

So, I admit, this is a book that I had heard about in passing, but didn't think about reading until I watched the TV show (I know, I know, I should have read the book first, but surely a lot of people have done what I have done before).

The TV show had me hooked, and I really hoped the book would give me a lot more details and hook me even more. It did.

Here it is:

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.

So, definitely not my usual read, in fact, I very rarely go out of the YA genre, but I do love a dystopian novel, and as I'd seen the TV show I wanted to see if anymore details were given out in the book.

Now, the TV show was hard-hitting as it was, reading the book however really gets to you more than the TV show could. It's such a powerful book, and as you read you really begin to connect to Offred and hope for her freedom from the oppressive regime that she is a part of.

One thing I liked about this book is that you see little bits of Offred's rebellious mind in some of her narrations. Throughout the book you mainly see Offred as someone who has been made into someone who doesn't go against the regime and believes in the regime she is a part of, but there are also a few little points in the book where her old self comes out to shine, and I found these parts of the book so interesting.

One thing I didn't like, the book didn't really use quotation marks and that stumped me a bit throughout and I found it hard to keep up with the narration, but that is the only thing that bothered me about the book, and it is such a small thing that you eventually get used to that it's not even much of a complaint.

Overall, I liked the book, it gave a little bit more detail for me, and I definitely liked my foray out of the YA genre. In fact, I bought another book outside of YA because of this book, and I hope to find it just as good.

I give this book: 4 cats!

I liked both the book and the TV show, which is quite unusual, have any of you got opinions on either the book or TV show too? Comment below!