The Handmaid's Tale

by

Paperback, 325 pages

English language

Published April 25, 1998 by Anchor Books.

ISBN:
9780385490818
OCLC Number:
964816254

View on OpenLibrary

3 stars (2 reviews)

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a moth and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.

46 editions

reviewed The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Meh

2 stars

I read the Handmaid's Tale yesterday, finally. I'm disappointed. I did not like the writing style at all, there was no real story, just descriptions. And then it just ended. No conclusion or anything.

My best guess it's because the TV show was so intense and well made (at least the earlier seasons), and the book was... Not? Episodes would stay with me for days, but I'm struggling to recall the book.

Maybe the book is supposed to be unsatisfying to go with the theme. Nothing much happened after Gilead was created, every day just kinda goes by. Sure there was some torture and death, but... Eh.

Maybe I was expecting too much after all the praise it got. It's my first Atwood book, and way way outside of my usual genre (fantasy, scifi, horror).

reviewed The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Review of "The Handmaid's Tale" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I liked it.
I like what the book is aiming for.
While clever, I didn't love the writing style simply because it's not the kind of style that draws you in so you basically experience the events along with the MC, mainly because it is a recounting on events and jumps around all over the show occasionally. This is not a comment on the quality of the writing, or talent. Simply my enjoyment.
That being said, I was constantly reading when I got a moment to find out how things played out.
Interesting re-reading it now and seeing the similarities in the events that led to the regime in the book and what's happening in our own world. While there are technological differences that might affect how such a thing played out, it's still scarily possible.

Subjects

  • Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
  • Misogyny -- Fiction
  • Women -- Fiction