I recently watched the first season of The Handmaid's Tale - the television adaptation of Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel. The programme is extremely well done and sent me straight back to the book.
This is one of the scariest books I have ever read. The Rebublic of Gilead (formerly The USA) is a totalitarian and theocratic state. Pollution, radiation and sexually transmitted diseases have caused sterility and only a very few women have the ability to conceive and deliver a healthy child. The Handsmaids (named for the servants of Rachel and Leah in the Bible who bore children for their mistresses) have borne healthy children in the past and are assigned to elite families for the sole purpose of giving them a child. The book depicts a world in which no one is free, where everyone is constantly under watch, and women have no control over their bodies. The main reason it is so frightening is because although it seems so far fetched, it is based on an ideology that is heard every day from the lips of politicians, the media, religious leaders and others: the need to return to 'traditional family values'. This book shows how this can go terribly wrong when taken too far. But how far is 'too far'? We walk a very fine line when we start to give our freedoms - even little ones - away. It is entirely possible to lose much more than we bargained for.
This disturbing book raises many issues about personal freedom, government and conflicting ideologies - an excellent and thought provoking read.
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