The Handmaid's Tale Tough-o-Meter

(6) Tree Line

• Tricky narrative structure? Check.
• Lead character who may or may not be lying? Check.
• Lots of characters going by fake names or no names at all? Check.
• Uncomfortable subject matter? Check.
• Absence of quotation marks during dialogue? Check.
• Ambiguous ending? Check.
• Compulsive readability? Oh yeah, that too.

While The Handmaid's Tale isn't James Joyce's Ulysses, it's still a pretty complicated book. It's going to be tough for anyone squeamish about infertility or tricky narrative structures, and it asks readers to commit to a world all the more frightening because it resembles our own. It's a gnarly ride, but we think it's worth it.