"Gymnasium"

I found the shifts from flashback to present tense remarkable. It really helped paint a picture about the world that the Handmaids live in, without any explicit explanations of the key terms and laws that are in place. I'll admit, I definitely felt very lost when I first started reading the novel. In fact, this started to upset me quite a bit. I had not been looking forward to reading this novel after only skimming the first half of the blurb on the back, and now the first page had baffled me. It seemed I was in for a long ride. Determined to get through this, I decided to give the confusing first page another glance.

The most notable point of confusion I remember was seeing the word "gymnasium" on the first page, and I had to start over again. I was not expecting to read that word and needed to back up and get a clearer understanding. It did not arrive immediately, but as I pressed on the world unfolded in an extremely delightful manner. At first this book was not so appealing to me, but the further I get into it, the more eager I am to learn what happens next. I hope everyone else is enjoying this novel as much as I am now.