Earlier this month, I posted my review of Gretchen Rubin's Better Than Before. I'm attempting to read more by getting a book from the library, which has a two-week due date (and then a two-week renewal). It's not perfect, but it is a deadline to force myself to read something. I do look forward to the day when the kids are a little older, and nap time/quiet time morphs into reading time. For now, here's my other book review for the month...
A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I read a copy of this from the library. This is one of those books that pops up fairly often on "If you like dystopian young adult fiction book X, you might like this". So I finally requested it and read it. It's actually from the mid-80s, before dystopian YA books were a thing, so good job Ms. Atwood for being ahead of your time.
The book was really well-written. I liked the word play, and the characters were witty and unique. The book kept me hooked, and I wanted to know how it all turned out.
But. [Spoiler alert]. The ending is unresolved. I'm not a big fan of unhappy endings, but I think I like those more than the make-up-how-it-ended-in-your-head endings. The scenes were also really choppy. You'd get a paragraph of plot in the present, and then a few pages of a flashback, and before you know it, you're three chapters later and not much has actually happened in terms of moving forward. Like I said, the writing was spot on and really smart, which is a great talent. I would have liked a little bit more of what was happening at the moment and a continuation of the story, instead of so many flashbacks. I also disliked the little epilogue chapter. It gave me a bit of hope that the story wouldn't end unresolved, and then dashed that hope again by not really saying anything.
Overall, it got me interested in Margaret Atwood's writing, and I may seek out another book by her. If it ends like this one though, we're done.
Total books read this month: 2. Total books read this year: 9.
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