I wasn't sure how I wanted to score this book. It's terrifying, in that it's way too close to plausible, given everything that's happened in the USA these last few years. I wonder if it was considered a more sci-fi read back when it was first published. The book is atmospheric, philosophical... it offers a conversation, but no answers. And with real politics of the day hemorrhaging what was fantastical about the novel decades before... now I'm unsettled to not have answers, to not have a clear heroine who saves the day and triumphs over overwhelming odds. There is less to debate any more, less enjoyment in the safety of fiction. A similar regime is real for some reader, somewhere, and I don't just want to hear the problem, I want to work towards the solution. I can see why the show took the story MUCH further, and focused on the Mayday resistance.
While it may have come up short in the adventurous plot department, it certainly excelled in the writing style. This anonymous woman is confessing, unraveling, romanticizing, daydreaming - all in an effort to remain human - and her associative storytelling, swirling past and present, really clicked. This book felt over too soon, I was that invested. I'm glad I have Testaments to look forward to.