Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale Part 1
Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale Part 2
Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale Part 3
Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale Part 3
Part 5 Of The Handmaid’s Tale
Part 5 of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ book review by Ron Murdock opens with the Commander’s wife finding lipstick on one of Offred’s garments. She connected the dots and got quite angry over her husband and Offred seeing each other behind her back. In her room, Offred weighed some options other than facing the wrath of the Commander’s wife.
The dark van of the Eyes drove into the Commanders driveway. Nick, the Commander drivers, barged into Offred’s room telling her to come with them. Nick was part of the Mayday, a rescue group that set out to transport Handmaids into Canada.
As Offred was being taken out the front door, the Commander and his wife were still arguing. It was obvious by the expression on the wife’s face that she had others plans for Offred. I hoped that Offred successfully escaped, got her real identity back and was reunited with her husband and daughter.
The last chapter of Atwood’s book was set in the future. The Gilgean Research Association had a number of speakers on the earlier days of Gilead. Somehow Offred was able to write a manuscript on her experience as a Handmaid and keep it a secret. The manuscript was discovered in what was once Bangor, Maine. The Gileadean Research Association didn’t want to judge Gilead, as there would have been a lot of pressure on those residents at that time.
I found The Handmaid’s Tale a hard book to put down. The book was made into a movie some years ago with Natasha Richardson playing the role of Offred. The book was made into a TV series not long ago. Margaret Atwood wrote a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale called ‘The Testament’, another good read.
Ron Murdock
