From the Bookshelf of 24 Classics for 2024…

The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)

Margaret Atwood

Start date: May 1, 2024

Finish date: May 31, 2024

Discussion: The Handmaid's Tale (May)

Why we're reading this: "A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.”…more
[close] "A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.”

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The Handmaid's Tale (May)

Reread for anybody else?
By Felicia · 2 posts · 19 views

last updated May 07, 2024 10:40AM

What Members Thought

May 12, 2025 Madalyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: i-own, 100-essential-novels-chart, 2025

*4.5 rounded up

Had to rate it high because it’s a classic and incredibly powerful, but the ending was not it. We’re gonna see what the sequel is like.

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Jul 19, 2024 Care rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“One of my rules was that I would not put any events into the book that had not already happened in what James Joyce called the "nightmare" of history, nor any technology not already available.“

A must-read for everyone, small wonder it’s banned in (too) many countries!

And no, this book isn’t “anti-religion” or “anti-Christian”. It is just against - or maybe rather a warning against - the use of religion for tyranny (even disguised as theocracy). ...more

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Jul 15, 2024 Erin Atacan rated it really liked it

Stunning! Exactly what I expect from Atwood. The narrator is unreliable, paranoid but so so human. Also I found it very impressive that no aspect of the Republic of Gilead was invented for the novel, all of the atrocities and technology has existed in the past in some form or another. Her writing projects such rich scenes in my mind. At once factual and efficient, but creative and whimsical as well. Loved this!

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