So I recently finished the first FIVE star book I’ve read this year. The Handmaid’s Tale. Holy Moly.
Going into this book, I knew very little about it. I knew it was a “modern classic.” I knew it was about ~women’s issues~. I knew it had a funny cover with this huge brick wall and what looked like nuns. That’s about it.
I typically prefer books that take place in our reality or are unabashedly occurring in a completely fictional universe — not this scenario which is an imagined future. That’s one of the first things you learn when reading this book: the world was our world but there has been a drastic change that results in a shift of the roles of men and women in society. The protagonist is “Offred” which is her new given name representing the man she has been assigned to (i.e. of Fred). She is one of the best narrative voices I’ve encountered in a while. Offred is quick, funny, and sympathetic.
The story jumps back and forth from her life before “the change” happened, her time during the training she endured for her new life, and her experiences as the handmaid Offred. I really don’t want to give too much away, but essentially women have been stripped of power to a varying degree (depending what sect they belong to) by a totalitarian and theocratic government, and if they are to stray from their duties they risk an even worse life in a sort of interment camp or death. I really don’t want to ruin anything else because a lot of the enjoyment from the book comes from its surprised.
If you’ve read the book, let me just say one of my favorite parts was when Offred reaction to her husband’s reaction of when she lost her job and access to her bank account. Wow.
And this brings us to my new guilty pleasure. Beyonce latest lead single: If I Were a Boy. Very uncharacteristic for Beyonce to lead with a ballad (although she simultaneously released Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) which isn’t getting as much attention). My first impression of it was “Oh God, this is so Big Girls Don’t Cry…” Surprise, surprise: it’s co-written by the guy behind “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”
ANYWAYS, it’s really grown on me. Maybe concurrently reading Handmaid’s Tale when the song came out made me susceptible to its “plight of women” message. I am SO excited for the new CD, and I’m loving how it is being split into discs — the “I am… Beyonce” disc and the “I am… Sasha Fierce” disc. Here’s the interesting vid:
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