"My name isn't Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it's forbidden. I tell myself it doesn't matter, your name is like your telephone number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter. I keep the knowledge of this name like something hidden, some treasure I'll come back to dig up, one day. I think of this name as buried. This name has an aura around it, like an amulet, some charm that's survived from an unimaginably distant past. I lie in my single bed at night, with my eyes closed, and the name floats there behind my eyes, not quite within reach, shining in the dark." 
 I've been meaning to pick this up for quite some time now, and wish I had done so sooner. The most important thing that comes to mind when I think of this book is the fact that no matter how hard some entity tries to scrub away your identity, there are always small pieces of ourselves that refuse to be washed away. The resilience of the human spirit. 
 You really have to go into this book with an open mind, and a mind that is ready to read and dissect all of the marvelous things that Margaret Atwood wrote. There were times were I had to put the book down, because I was too distracted to truly focus on the content. If you are interested in bodily autonomy, gender politics and inequality, definitely check this book out. 
 There were parts of this book that I loved, and parts that I hated. It's a dystopian setting where women basically are given certain roles and that's it - that is their life. They have very few purposes. Those that are fertile are literally child bearing machines, once they produce a child for one family, they are moved to the next. Offred (literally her name if Of + whatever the name of 'the commander' of the home is at the time) was a normal woman at one point, she had a husband, a daughter, a job, a life. Society has suddenly become dominated by a specific religion, and women basically lose their rights and their identity. 
 This was written in 1986, and there are large portions of this book that ring so profoundly true today. There is still a war on bodily autonomy, in 2016. I want to write more about this book, but I won't. I could go on and on, but I will say this - this book is an experience, and it will truly make you think.