I always knew dystopia was scary but...

This book was crazy!  I really don't know how Margaret Atwood imagined this one up, but it's certainly original.  Even though it was written about 20 years ago it still makes perfect sense today and actually still felt very modern.  The Handmaid's Tale is the story of a woman living in a world where everything has been changed.  She's one of the first generation in this society and therefore still knows how to read and write even though these things are forbidden for women.  In this world women are used specifically to replenish the earth.  Men are either in charge of a household of women dedicated to giving he and his wife a child or they are sent to the armed forces never to love a woman.  It's a society of duty.  Pleasure is essentially forbidden, but what happens when the people are smarter than government gives them credit for?

The story was not only original, but the writing was spectacular.  If the story doesn't draw you in the writing will.  Atwood writes the way the main character is really thinking and you, as the reader, can't help but picture everything she sees with brilliant clarity.  Disclaimer: Because this story is largely based on the fact that the main character is used only for her fertile organs, there are scenes that can be potentially disturbing to some readers.  They are not long, it's the exactness of the language that may be disturbing.

My advisor had a list of books to read for my writer's workshop class.  I had to choose one that was most like the style I read and write.  Because I work a lot with dystopia (the opposite of utopia, for those of you who don't know) this book was the one I wanted to read.  It really made me think a lot about the factors in an unstable society and it really made me think about my own writing.  I've found another author whose writing I can aspire to.

Torment

I finally got the chance to read Torment by Lauren Kate.  (it seems like I'm saying "finally got to read" a lot lately.)  It was pretty good and I'd say it was a worthy sequel of Fallen.  I dove right in and just read and read and enjoyed it the whole way through.  One thing that has always bothered me in books like these is the fact that the simple actions of honesty and forgiveness are sometimes the best way to solve a problem with someone you love.  That was really the only problem I had with this book is that the main character, Luce, is tormented by the fact that she doesn't know all the answers because the love of her life can't tell her.  She, like many other women and girls I know, has a tendency to blame everything on the man she loves instead of just trusting him and what he's doing.  However, that's the torment she feels and I can't blame her for how she feels.  She just does things different than I would... or hope that I would.  That aside, I still liked this book and if you are in the mood for an entertaining love story I recommend this series.  There were some very unique and original ideas that I thoroughly enjoyed in this book as well, but you're gonna have to read it to know what they are.