Cash only from now on

Book: the handmaids tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Completion date:19/09/10
Method: borrowed (baby Ali)

I became a really big Atwood fan this summer. I love the way she writes and how well she tells her stories. However, compared to year of the flood and oryx and crake or even the penelopiade I feel this book fell short. I enjoyed it very much, but I found I was really frustrated with how she resolved this novel. The book (which up to this point I had been unable to put down) ends with a professor lecturing about gilead and what happened and who the handmaid might be. This is by far the most boring part of the book. It was so boring i almost just forgot about reading it. I felt that the book had no resolution at all and that there would be a much better way to end this novel.
What is always so terrifying about Atwood's apocalypse is how they all have a ring of truth to them. At one point in the book, Offred explains that it only could have happened because the nation had almost entirely stopped using cash and they were able to shut down any account that had a f beside gender. They had totally control over everyones finances because everyone used their cards and never cash. Also terrifying is how quickly her husband adjusted to the fact that she had no access to their money and she became a part of his estate. I suppose you could argue that it only made sense to go along with this regime but I would hope that people I knew would fight this and not just allow ourselves to be overtaken and forced into slavery.
One of the major issues I have with this novel is it never really explains why people are infertile and what happened outside the walls of gilead. I felt that this was really integral to how much I enjoyed the book at the end. I felt abandoned and let down, which is not how you want to feel after reading a novel.
I only hope that alias grace will restore my faith, because I really love Atwood, and I don't want to lose her.

Xo-ellebee