The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood

Paperback, 309 pages

Published March 16th 1998 by Anchor  

(first published 1985) 

 

ISBN 038549081X (ISBN13: 9780385490818)

Finished Book:  January 1, 2011

My Rating: 3 Stars

About the Book
(Goodreads)

It is the world of the near future, and Offred is a Handmaid in the home of the Commander and his wife. She is allowed out once a day to the food market, she is not permitted to read, and she is hoping the Commander makes her pregnant, because she is only valued if her ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she was an independent woman, had a job of her own, a husband and child. But all of that is gone now...everything has changed.

My Thoughts on This Book

I found this book to be an odd one at first.  It was a book club selection and was a college classic at best.  I'd heard of it, but never really knew anything about the storyline.  Imagine going to work one day to find the government has taken over EVERYTHING.  They take your credit cards and cash, leaving you an allotted amount of money on a government issued money card.  The government now owns you and determines what class of people you are to be put into for your own protection.  If you really sit and think about it, it isn't that far fetched.  Think about our government for a minute.  If they really wanted to, they could trace everything about you...where you shop, where you work, what you spend your money on, where you vacation.  I can only imagine how this book was perceived when it first was written.  I'm sure it was a little far fetched.  What about now?  Not so much in my opinion.

Look Again

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

About the Book:
When Ellen Gleeson gets a "Have You Seen This Child?" flyer in the mail, she almost throws it away.  But something about it makes her look again, and her heart stops.  The child in the photo looks exactly like her adopted son, Will.

Everything inside her tells her to deny the similarity between her son and the boy in the photo, because she knows her adoption was lawful.  But she's a journalist and won't be able to stop thinking about the photo until she gets to the truth.  And she can't shake the question: If Will rightfully belongs to someone else, should she keep him or give him up?  Ellen makes the wrenching decision to investigate, uncovering clues no one was meant to uncover.  And when she digs too deep, she risks losing her life-and that of the son she loves.

My Review:
What would you do?  That's what the author is asking the reader through the entire book.  I'm glad the storyline (a) is about a boy and (b) about an adopted child.  To be honest, I had a hard time even imagining that I would ask myself, "What would I do?"  I can't imagine have a feeling that my child isn't really mine.  I liked the premise of the storyline.  It kept me interested and I really liked Ellen, the main character.  Then about 3/4 of the way through, the storyline got a little "out there" and all of a sudden, the book became a murder mystery.  HUH?  Up until that point, I was really enjoying the emotionally charged book I was reading.  The ending was far fetched and predictable for me.  Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but not as much as I would have with a completely different ending!

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder
by Rebecca Wells

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

About the Book:
The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder is the sweet, sexy, funny journey of Calla Lily's life set in Wells' expanding fictional Louisiana landscape.  In the small river town of La Luna,  Calla bursts into being, a force of nature as luminous as the flower she is named for.  Under the loving light of the Moon Lady, the feminine force that will guide and protect her throughout her life, Calla enjoys a blissful childhood-until it is cut short.  Her mother, M'Dear, a woman of rapture and love, teaches Calla compassion, and passes on to her the art of healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair."  At her mother's side, Calla further learns that this same touch of hands on the human body can quiet her own soul.  It is also on the banks of the La Luna River that Calla encournters sweet, succulent first love, with a boy named Tuck.

But when Tuck leaves Calla with a broken heart, she transorms hurt into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful cit of New Orleans to study at L'Academie de Beaute de Crescent.  In that extravagant big river city, she finds her destiny-and comes to understand fully the power of her "healing hands," to change lies and soothe pain, including her own.  When Tuck reappears years later, he presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love.  But who know how Calla Lily, a "daughter of the Moon Lady," will repond?

A tale of family and friendship, tragedy and triumph, loss and love. 

My Review:
I liked it.  I liked the characters and the setting.  I was a bit thrown of by the Moon Lady exerpts (could have done without that).  Experiencing a young girl as a teenager in loved made me relate back to my own childhood and first love.  Once Calla moves away to experience life, I loved her new gay friends in New Orleans.  Really, they made the book for me.  Being someone obsessed about my own hair, the book made me want to be a hairdresser too.  There was one unexpected twist in the book, but otherwise, it was a tad bit predictable for me.  It is hard for me to imagine having my childhood friends in my day to day life, but maybe that's how a small town in the south would be.  I would have like to have seen the book end differently, but I enjoyed it.  It kept me reading and I loved the character development throughout.

Moloka'i

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is our book club book for March.  It was very different from the other books we've read.  It takes place in and around Honolulu.  It is the story about a girl named Rachel who contracts Leprocy in the late 1800s.  At the age of seven, she is shipped off to the island of Moloka'i in order to quarantine her from the rest of her family.  She lives a life of seclusion away from her family and learns to live independently.  As lonely as it was, she learns to live a life full of meaningful relationships and trials.  The story kept my interest and felt so much compassion for the people who contracted this dreadful disease.

The interesting thing about this book as that it is based on historical information.  That many of these events actually happened.  Can you imagine shipping you off to an island if you contracted a disease that couldn't be cured?  Discovering facts like these, makes me feel like I live under a rock in my content little life.  What struggles people had to endure.  And how blessed are we to live freely??  Very.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is about a boy named Santiago who travels from his home in Spain to travel to Egypt to follow treasure.  On his journey, he meets a gypsy, a man who claims to be a kind, an Alchemist, and his future wife.  He endures many obstacles and questions his journey along the way.  It is a book about following our dreams and never settling for the easy path.  Trust God and trust in your strength.

Finding Noel: A Novel

Finding Noel: A Novel by Richard Paul Evans

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I have to say that this book was quite different from my previous entry.  I enjoyed the book, but it had a lot of heart ache and redeeming qualities to it.  The book is about a man named Mark who falls on hard times.  He keeps falling down time after time and then meets an angel out of no where.  He meets Macy.  Their meeting is somewhat a chance meeting and he helps Macy to discover who she is and coming to grips with her past and where she came from.  Is their such thing as fate or destiny?  That's what this book is about.  For a Christmas book, it seemed like there was an awful lot of death, but I guess death brings closure and that's what the author was wanting.  I liked it and do agree that certain people come into our lives at certain times.  Some stay in our lives and others don't.  At Christmas time, we do look back on our lives and remember those lost, but not forgotten.

Sworn to Silence

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Who doesn't love a good thriller? This was a gift given to me.  I love thrillers and after reading them, I always ask myself why I don't read more of them.  This thriller takes place in an amish community and is the story involving the chief of police, who is also a banned amish member.  It had some really good twists and turns, AND I didn't see the ending coming.  I liked it.  It was a good read and wasn't predictable as many of them are.

While My Sister Sleeps

While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

LOVE IS LOVE.

This book was essentially about love.  A love for your family, a love for who who we are destined to become, and a love for what we are.  The storyline of the book is about a motivated and driven woman named Robin who suffers from a massive heart attack while running and falls into a deep coma.  All the while, it leaves her family to discover who Robin really is and what she kept from the rest of her family.  The book focuses around Robin's sister Molly who has always lived in her sister's shadow.  Throughout this horrific ordeal, Molly learns who her sister really is and discovers who she is destined to become.  We grow up being who our parents mold us to be.  At what point do we break away from what they want into what we want?  Will they still love us?  Will they let us be "us?"  This is a book about family, love, being our true self, and fate.