Stylistic Choices

I felt as though I missed a chapter when I first opened this book! The story began abruptly, with the usage of unfamiliar terms, like Angel and Handmaid, right off the bat - a bit intimidating, but intriguing. Like many of my classmates, I found myself very engaged in the novel, even from an early point of reading, due to the stylistic choices Atwood made.

The change in tenses through flashbacks made me become caught up in the novel immediately – as if I had been reading it for much longer than I had. The amount I felt immersed into the story was surprising – I found the descriptions and storyline eerily realistic (most likely this was attributed to the usage of intense descriptions).

I love how physically the author describes settings – in the second chapter, almost every paragraph begins with a blunt list of items or colors: “a chair, a table, lamp.” The way people are described is also very physical. I sense that this will be of note later on in the book

I predict themes later on to revolve around a sense of self and individuality, and I am excited to read on and see how the stylistic choices aid to the unfolding of themes in the novel!