Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum

"Now it looks like this
And you can swallow
Or you can spit
You can throw it up
Or choke on it
And you can dream
So dream out loud
You know that your time is coming 'round
So don't let the bastards grind you down"

I've been listening to this song (i.e. U2's "The Acrobat"), at least since 1999 ( since I got the album to my hands). And the phase "Don't let the Bastards grind you down", had always stuck with me. For, the lyrics otherwise are abstract, to finish several verses with that angry rant. So, when I learned of the English translation of  Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum, when reading The Hand Maid's Tale, I couldn't help but connect it to that song - and sure enough, U2's influence had been this dystopian novel of 1985, by the famed Canadian authoress. Once the book has been read, it is easy to read the once abstract lyrics, between the lines and draw parallels.

We read excerpts of Gilead, a nation that once was, post-cold war and when the world was hardly a healthy place, from the eyes, and mind of Offred. From the manner of how the hand maids receive their temporary patronymic names, to the more gory practices mentioned throughout the narration, Atwood supposedly has picked the practices from some stage - some dark, some not so, but darkened in its now, dystopian adaptation period - in human civilization. There are subtle political observations which make the book worth its salt, as a political and sociological fiction. Note this;

"no empire imposed by force or otherwise has ever been without this feature:control of the indigenous by members of their group"

This, is a  maxim of sorts, true from our own local history,  to the dark days of African slavery, all the way to the modern era.

For all its  world building through Offred's sparse, at times disconnected narration - intentional given the plot - it doesn't make an exercise in easy sailing when it comes to reading it. Although I had other responsibilities which affected my pleasure reading, when I did read it, often I took the pleasure part of it in another book, while exerting an effort to plod through this book, as is my wont. Hence, it wasn't the most easiest of books to read, as I dragged it over a month, flirting with several other books. Yet, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to any other able reader. In my case, I want to read the Man Booker winner sequel, so I simply had to read this.

As a parting note, I couldn't help but noticing the reference to Underground Femaleroad or Underground Frailroad, as it were. While the historical reference comes from the days of slavery, the book of that name post dates, and refers to the escape mechanism for slaves.

Rating: ****