The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

“But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest. Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn't really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.”

- The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood.

This book is extremely sad and heartwrenching! It was physically painful to read this book (especially the parts where the protagonist talks about her estranged daughter and husband). It’s a sad tale about a woman caught in unusual circumstances, it is a sad tale about a women whose sufferings you can’t bear to read because they are just too overwhelming and extreme. I won’t give away too much about this book it’s afterall for you to discover. All I want to say is even though the author manages to deliver an extra ordinary tale it still leaves readers with more questions then answers. It’s sort of vague and incomplete. (Is the author going to publish The Handmaid’s Tale – Part 2?? Because the way it ended so abruptly I feel like she should and give us a closure of some sort). This book also reminded me of Anne Frank’s Diary (not that Anne Frank’s diary is a sad book. Infact it’s a book about hope and inspiration.) However the sort of living under in a trapped circumstances and wishing for escape part reminded me of Anne Frank's Diary. Honestly, I have never read anything like 'The Handmaid’s Tale' before. This book is gloomy, dark and yet true to the core. If you are a woman who has experienced loss and if you are a woman who knows what loneliness feels like and how it can get under your skin... you must read this book.

PS: I have even managed to find the trailer of the movie based on this book. Although I can guarantee you that the movie cannot capture the essence of this book. This book is not about the war on the outside it's about the war that goes on inside a woman's heart and to experience that you have to read the words first...