The Handmaid's Tale
Ratings1,397
Average rating4.1
I absolutely loved this book. The book itself is a brilliant representation of how not only women, but many currently and preciously marginalised groups have been prosecuted. The fact that to this day, paralels can be drawn between the fictional world of Gilead to modern day America is scary however proves the societal importance of this book.
My first Atwood read was actually The Year of the Flood, and honestly it didn't grab me the way I thought it would based on reviews. I picked this book up because I'm trying to read some “classics” that I missed, and it blew me away. Such concise, terse language which nonetheless blooms into something amazing. It's not a happy read–way too close to home in that “our society is a thin veneer” sort of way, but that's the strength of the book as well, of course: With a few years, things could change significantly for the worse for all of us, and for women in particular. (When I was growing up, the idea that women wouldn't have easy, cheap access to abortion by now seemed silly, for instance.) This is definitely a book I will read again and again.
SPOILER BELOW
One odd thing that hit me as I finished the book up last night is the shift in tone at the very end, as it is revealed that the Mayday folks are there to save our protagonist–the whole book seems to be building to her suicide, almost from the first page, and then BAM! she's part of the resistance. It seems so unlikely, in a way–but also, it speaks to the fact that many of us don't see the resistance going on all around us, aren't familiar with the ways in which people resist every damn day. I suppose the ending is ambiguous on purpose...
I didn't really like Margaret Atwood's writing style in Oryx and Crake and I'm not a huge fan of it here, but I have to say there are glimmers of enjoyment in the writing in this book.
I've never been a dystopia fan, but there is something chilling about the realism of some aspects of Gilead that might very well happen in our world, any time in the near future - all this despite the fact that this book in itself was published almost 2 decades ago.
3.5
A very detailed, yet white-washed analysis on a dystopian (yet realistic) look at a future where women (specifically fertile ones) are made property (again). This was very well-written and the premise was very interesting, but I found myself losing interest in some parts.
Grim and Shocking Tale!!
A grim tale of possible future that makes you think should we raise voice against the totalitarian regimes when they start making disastrous changes or just act ignorant and think it will not impact us. The main character had the same thinking and very well conveys it by saying “we are the people who live in the white spaces of newspapers always thinking that actions by government will never impact us.”
On the other note, the book is slightly difficult to read but you slowly get hooked to the story of Offred and how world came to a dark future like this.
Read a little over the half of it. Good book, but I didn't care for the story. I've seen the movie, and didn't like it as well. Not my kind of reading.
Picked this up on a whim because I wanted to read it before watching the series on Hulu. If I'd read it before, it would have been just another dystopian tale; but, given the way things are in the States these days, it feels prophetic and is absolutely terrifying.
Docked a star for the writing style. I know everyone's got their own and I should probably be more appreciative, but it just didn't suit me. So many commas...
I give up. The writing is just not a style I enjoy or am easily able to digest. If I hadn't watched the Hulu series first, I'm not sure I would have even understood what I was reading before I abandoned the book. :\
Scintillating, if not terrifying, read. As a woman, especially in a post-Trump victory America, the book is absolutely chilling and clearly just as resonant today as it was 20 years ago. Atwood explores (beautifully, I should note) a totalitarian, patriarchal New England in which women are relegated into singular spheres of domesticity. By splicing womankind into the different ways by which women have typically gained agency (the role of wife, the role of birthing, of home care, etc), and stripping them of any other means of gaining power, women are wholly reduced to meaningless lives devoid of love and purpose. I would recommend this book to any woman of any age as a means of contemplating women's historical, and future, place in our society, especially moving into a Trump America.
I think I last read this book sometime around high school. The afterword section of it - especially the part with the “underground frailway” had left me with a negative feeling about the world after Gilead. it bothered me for years.
Now that I've re-read this, though, I seem to recognize Professor Pieixoto as a particular type of academic, that of an academic asshole. These may well always be with us.
Where to start with this book? I guess I'll say what I liked and what I didn't like.
Liked:
The idea of this story. I'm all for dystopian, post-apocalyptic and so on books. The idea of women and men becoming sterile and having trouble making children, thus in the long run, having the threat of the human race dying out; is a really good idea.
The Eyes. The black vans pulling up and kidnapping people in broad daylight reminded me of Nazi Germany with the SS and Gestapo. Of the people in charge going mad with power, that they can do all of this and everyone turns a blind eye to it.
Moira. The one woman in this book who wasn't completely useless or dumb as a sack of potatos. A shame this book wasn't about her.
Didn't like:
The story felt all over the place. At the end (spoiler) the author gives a half assed reason as to why it seemed like this, because Offred had recorded her story on cassetes that were never labeled so years later the Professers who found the tapes had to guess what went where. It was a very lame excuse. The story didn't connect well and took me right out of it whenever it would change.
Offred herself. I get after having her family and rights and everything stripped from her, will change a person. But god damn I could not feel for her. She was a whiny little coward, she even says so in the book. That she'll tell the Eyes anything they want to know. She's also stupid as hell. She doesn't plot or plan to escape in detail, she just thinks of half assed ideas and never puts effort into them. Like an airhead...one second the idea starts to form and then the next she's thinking about flowers or something. Moira was a way better character and I wish the story had been about her, with Offred being the side character.
The sexism. Now I've read that people call this book 1984 but for feminists and how it's about women's rights and all that...but it's sexist. I know it's meant to be since the story is about a goverment power (?) who takes all the rights away from women and treats them as objects. But damn, when you have a shitty weak main character that just bends over to this BS and takes it...it loses the “feminist point”. I'm not a feminist even though I'm all for equal rights, so maybe I missed that part, but this book screams sexism.
The ending. It's bad. Hands down one of the worst I've ever read. It's like a TV show with that cliffhanger...and then it's done. Unless there was a follow up book (?), it just leaves off with a cliffhanger. Oh there's that crap about the Professor's but that's not an ending. Not a good one at least. It leaves so many questions unanswered. Like what happened to Moira and Offred? What about Offred's daughter, husband or Mother? The daughter is alive and adopted by a Commander and Wife but nothing else on her. Husband...dead or alive? At parts in the story it make's me think Luke is dead, other times I think he's alive? The Mother was seen in a film by Moira...that's it. And Nick...we can only guess what happened to him as well. This book just left me without answers and that's the sign of a piss poor book.
Overall feeling:
I'm glad I read it because it was a different take on dystopia from what I've read, but it was poorly written and left a lot of questions unanswered. I won't be reaching for it to reread it for some time but I also won't be chucking it into the donate pile. It's just good enough to sit on my shelf, but bairly. I wouldn't recommend reading this unless you ran out of dystopian fiction to read.
Finally read this “modern classic” and I'm glad I did. It's not a pleasant read, but it's engrossing and terrifying. Plenty of food for thought about reproductive rights, freedom, and desire here.
I stumbled upon this book without even knowing how old it was or what genre it belonged to. It had me hooked from Page 1 due to the awesome imagination that the words invoked it me. I could visualize this world where women are not individuals anymore but just baby producing machines. These handmaids are not even allowed to read. The fact that other childless women were complicit in this scared the hell out of me. The story here also furthers the thought that under a theocratic regime, it's always the women whose rights are taken away first. The way religious fanaticism is spreading across the world today, who knows what the future will bring.
This was the first book I read in 2013 by a female author – after reading 36 other books. After finishing it, my initial reaction wasn't altogether positive. The more I reflected on the book, I came to realize how amazing a world Atwood created in this dystopian tale. Not one of my all-time favorites, but still great storytelling.
Very good, though perhaps it was a mistake to choose to read this in the summer.
Scarier than the dystopia of 1984 because this one could actually evolve into reality, if the god-believers and right-wingers get enough power.
I've always loved this book, but I used to think the world was a little silly and far-fetched. Upon rereading, it's absolutely terrifying
Full review at SFF Book Review.This is considered a classic for good reason.Long as it may have taken me to finally pick up this book, it has lived up to every bit of hype I had heard before. I have been very fed up with what is sold as “dystopias” lately, especially in the YA genre, and I needed something with the same power as George Orwell's [b:1984 5470 1984 George Orwell http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348990566s/5470.jpg 153313]. Now this is a very different book in subject, but the tone is just as horrifying, the world as full of terror - and that's how it should be.It is strange to say that I enjoyed cuddling up with this book, under a nice blanket and with a cup of tea by my side. Because this is not exactly a comfort read. It shocks and terrifies and, above all, makes you think. As my first Atwood, I am duly impressed and will read many more of her books.Highly recommended.8,5/10
Nothing makes me more at home in this world than a terrifyingly real dystopian novel. So oddly satisfying.
Atwood is a literary genius.
Read for Bookoplathon 2021 - 48 hour round
This book honestly did nothing wrong. I just started it for school back in November and my teacher made everything hella confusing. We never finished it, so it literally took 4 months to finish which also made me not like it as much as I should have. The concept was amazing despite all of that, and hopefully I'll reread it in a couple of years when I'm more distant from the traumatic experience that was AP Lit.