I tried hard to understand this book. It was totally confusing. The excerpts before the chapters were no better. Those couldn't even be called foreshadowing, for the most part. The book thrives on describing every exploitation known to man. It kind of, sort of, ties up loose ends at the very last chapter, but not really. The issue with the drugs in the cabinet, for instance. Did I miss something? I probably should have written down the names of the drugs and looked them up, but this book did not motivate me to do the things a good reader ordinarily does. I read and re-read pages, trying to "get" what I should. I personally didn't like the book, but if I had rated it on that, it would have been one star versus three. I would rather be waterboarded versus read The Water Cure again. And how was the water cure a cure? I have more questions than answers by the end of the book. And I kept waiting for the word Munchausen Syndrome to come out in this book. Funny thing is, I like a little bit of light-hearted male bashing jokes, but this obsession with men being all evil and contagious really was old and nauseating to me after several chapters. If you like rituals, OCDish behaviors, deviant stuff, over and over and over again, you will LOVE this book! It was hard to get attached to any character because their redeeming qualities were far outweighed by their dysfunctional state! I will say that their fascination with Science was amusing at times until it went so far off the realm of reality that it was disgusting how they rationalized everything they did from the mundane to the serious. I wanted the main characters and myself to jump that barbed wire fence very early on. Another thing that bothered me was timing. Timing to tell others important information. Timing to carry out duties that were supposed to be carried out. Waiting and killing time during the course of the story with these characters didn't make any sense AT ALL to me! Now I need a water cure to scrub my brain of the memory of reading this. Sorry! ( )

:/ ( )

There are two ways to read this book: as some kind of feminist themed dystopian novel with a big important message. Or, as a story of a dysfunctional family with a father who has the appeal of a cult leader. If you read it as the former (and my sense is that the book is being promoted that way), I think you will be sorely disappointed. Review to be published first at The Reader's Room blog.

**UPDATE** My review

There are two ways to read this book: as some kind of feminist themed dystopian novel with a big important message. Or, as a story of a dysfunctional family with a father who has the narcissistic appeal of a cult leader. If you read it as the former (and my sense is that the book is being promoted that way), I think you will be sorely disappointed.
I loved the language and foreboding atmosphere of the book, the unrelenting tension. But I didn't see it as an important novel or as one with a whole lot to say. The author is purposefully ambiguous and that creates interesting work for and engages the reader. The writing itself is really evocative, and I loved it. However, at the end of the day, the story seems to be merely one of family dysfunction at a new level, but derivative of other books about cults or other situations where people are entrapped by the mentally ill. Man Booker worthy, hmm, I don’t think so. An interesting literary excursion, yes. I am just not sure you can pin a theme on a book after you've written it. Either one has emerged, or you edit it to enhance a theme you had in mind from the get go - - but I feel like the marketers of this book are trying to retrofit it with an importance that isn't actually there.
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I kind of loved this book! Forget the Handmaid’s comparison as it has nothing to do with Handmaid’s. It is more like Dogtooth with the girls being taught to fear men, until men show up.

I was looking forward to this one and it is messed up enough to keep the reader off balance. There were times I just went- wait, what did she just say? It is a unique story and I was all in.

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3.5.....3.75?

i think i really liked it but i'm also not sure???
very weird but also very powerful.

well. womanhood in a nutshell isn't it. ( )