#2 The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

 


Booker Prize: Booker 1986 shortlisted

Plot Time and Place: USA in the future

Opening sentence: "We slept in what had once been the gymnasium"

Plot summary: It's about a totalitarian state called Gilead which used to be the United States. Gilead is ruled by religious extremists.

Review: I read this more than 20 years ago, and it was brilliant and scary. Reading it now is even scarier. The interesting thing is the stuff that's shown in the book is happening right now in certain parts of the world. And some other stuff could very easily be implemented in the so called "Free World"... and we wouldn't even notice it before it was too late. It's one of those books that you will never forget. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 

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