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What Members Thought
I want you to kiss me, said the Commander. Well, of course something came before that. Such requests never come flying out of the blue.
Yes this is a classic and I've never read it! But now I finally have! In 1986, when this was published, I was in college, too busy reading textbooks on Mechanics, Thermodynamics, and Calculus to make time for a lot of current sci fi (I managed a few choice books ... but not this one, obviously). That said, I do remember that time, so I feel grounded enough in ...more
Feb. 2017 review:
Not sure where my head was at the first time I read this but I didn't remember almost anything except the general world the character lived in. While I was ambivalent 8 years ago, I really enjoyed it this time. It would be awesome for a (feminist) book club discussion.
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Jan. 2009 review:
I don't know how I feel about this book. Atwood does a detailed job of drawing you into another world, but overall it's just kind of depressing with no significant climax...no pun intended. ...more
Not sure where my head was at the first time I read this but I didn't remember almost anything except the general world the character lived in. While I was ambivalent 8 years ago, I really enjoyed it this time. It would be awesome for a (feminist) book club discussion.
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Jan. 2009 review:
I don't know how I feel about this book. Atwood does a detailed job of drawing you into another world, but overall it's just kind of depressing with no significant climax...no pun intended. ...more
I don't get the hype. It felt contrived and forced. I never gave one shit about the main character. And unlike other dystopian literature, I didn't find the premise/situation at all believable.
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I am starting to feel like I should have a distopic feminist science fiction shelf on my goodreads page. I am re-reading this for the first time since high school and it is the classic I remember it to be, though I feel like it would benefit from a discussion conducted by a really good high school English teacher--I can tell that I should be thinking harder about all of the nice 1984 like issues that it raises than I currently am, reading on the subway.
This book was a tough one to categorize. I really liked it. It was very readable but still felt like reading a classic. I could see college lit classes spending long periods of time on this! I found myself really not wanting to keep reading, especially during the flashback times, because it was such a painful thing. At the same time I couldn't put it down, wanting to know how it ended. Of course, being a 'classic' we never really know do we?!?
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I've read this book a few times, but each time I'm struck anew by its timelessness and the frightening plausibility of the horror Atwood describes. This is especially true at this moment, as reproductive rights for women are once more in danger. I read it while I listened in astonishment to Romney's "binders full of women" remark during the second debate. My only critique is the historical note at the end--I think this detracts a little from the force of the ending.
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This is my second read of Handmaid's Tale, but I read it so long ago that I really didn't remember many of the details from the book. I'm glad that I read it again at this time in my life. It really is quite scary to read during our current political climate.
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Impressive tale of a woman in a dystopian society, that invites to ponder on the role of women in any society, and the relationship one develops with its body and mind, with others and even religion.
Jul 24, 2010
Julianne Dunn
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
2017-read-harder
Jan 21, 2012
Nicole
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
read-in-2012
