The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel set in a time when women had all their rights taken away by a new government called the Republic of Gilead. In this world women can’t have jobs, money, property or freedom. Fertility is a big issue, and fertile women who do not have husbands are forced to become Handmaids. A Handmaid’s only job is to become pregnant with another man’s child. Offred is one of those people. Ripped of her rights, her family, her dignity, and even her name, Offred thinks constantly of escape from this terrible world. One day, Offred’s relationship with her “master” begins to become personal, and everything starts to unravel.

This book is amazing. Every detail is captivating, and the mundane details of Offred’s daily life makes her situation seem real and even more painful. Offred’s history and the back story of Gilead is revealed in small flashbacks throughout the book. Each flashback renews the pain and shows the true horror of what has happened. The plot is wonderfully drawn out and perfectly paced. The ending is satisfying and perfectly suits the book.

The way the back story is put together in the book makes Offred’s past and the history of Gilead confusing and mysterious for the majority of the book. This adds to the idea of the handmaid's identity being taken away. Atwood does an extremely good job at showing the reader every emotion Offred is experiencing. This book is important to read for its relevance to real life. Although there is nothing as extreme as Gilead in this world, thousands of women (and men) are being degraded every day and have had their rights and freedoms taken from them. In my opinion the scariest aspect of this book is when you can fully understand how Offred’s world crumbled, in a way that could have been very easily our world.