The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets where signs are now in pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant because, in an age of declining births, Offred and other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now....

Picture the scene:
Two women in red dresses, white headresses on. Their heads are bowed, and they walk in silence.
This is the way America has become.

Women have had all rights stripped from them. Working in the conventional sense has become illegal, they're not allowed to go out by themselves, and they're not allowed to read. That might inspire something dangerous, a rebellion.
Offred is a Handmaid. Loathed by the Wife of the house (Serenity Joy) as well as the Marthas (the servants), her job is to be a vessel. Her sole purpose for existence is to bear a child for the Wife. If she resists, she'll die. If she fails to become pregnant, she'll be declared an Unwoman and will die.

A frighteningly real look at a dystopian society in which women have become mere objects, I would recommend this book to anyone. Obviously written by a feminist, it's nonetheless evocative, painful, and often very hard to read, but those are the hallmarks of a brilliant piece. Once you get over the abundant commas that seem to be used six or seven times a sentence and the non linear format, then it is easy to appreciate the quality of the writing: lots of the details of the story is left to the reader's imagination, putting them in a similar sort of place that Offred's in: we know everything she knows, and nothing more.

A must read.
8/10