I listened to the version read by Claire Danes. Her breathless voice fits the story quite well. While the writing style is beautifully clear and concise the content of the story is rather heavy weight and with a slow moving plot I found it often difficult to follow Offred's meandering thoughts and ideas. But this is less about the plot and much more about the setting and its gruesome implications.

Set in a near future that is long past now - written in the early 80s it is set in the late 20st century - it feels dated and not at the same time. After a series of natural and other disasters New England has been turned into a religious authoritarian state. The major theme is the suppression of women through various means. And how quickly and easily we can fall for propaganda and can be made to accept nearly anything as normal ...

The protagonist is the Handmaid Offred, whose is forced to live in a Commander's household. While at first her duties aren't quite clear it is immediately obvious that she is not free. She serves a very specific function in this new society and she is never anything more than a "vessel". The scary thing is that even though the book has been written decades ago its themes feel extremely current.

I particularly liked the meta-chapter at the end and the afterword spoken by Margaret Atwood herself from 2017 in which she answers a few common questions about the book and draws parallels to current events.