I finished reading Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale. It is one of those books that make you feel like you're reading it for the first time even if you're actually reading it for the fiftieth. I cannot get over the story of this book. I've grown so attached to Offred and the Commander's story that I found myself romantacizing about them whenever I think of love stories in fiction. I've always had a fondness for men like the Commander--Strong, stern and in control on the outside, broken on the inside. Just like the Republic of Gilead. It only looks right but it isn't. One thing I learned from this book is that no matter how much we try to put things in order (or at least in the way we'd like them to be), anarchy will always exist. Revolts and rebellion will always be the delicious side dishes to an entree called "states". Dystopia is both unfathomable yet fascinating. Thoughts about gender bias and sexual repression stirs the tigress in me but I always find myself getting caught up in the trance that is Margaret Atwood's prose. She has a way with reconstruction, I tell you. A reconstruction that is surprisingly swift, smooth and fluid throughout a fragile book. One wrong sequence and everything goes for a nosedive. It is brilliant, really.
Now, I'm ecstatic because I found out there IS a film adaptation of this movie! The Handmaid's Tale, The Film (Volker Schlöndorff, 1990). I am over the moon! This! Is! Excellent! I've always wondered how Gilead looks like. In my mind, it's a cross between Germany during the Cold War, Cuba during the Kennedy years and American suburbs after the ostentatious flapper era. I don't know if the movie will prove me wrong but I can't wait.
