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

Margaret Atwood

Start date: January 1, 2017

Finish date: January 31, 2017

Discussion: Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Winner of the January 2017 Thug Notes Poll
[close] Winner of the January 2017 Thug Notes Poll

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Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Nov 09, 2016 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apocalyptic-dystopian, library, 2016

An interesting book to read right now for a couple of reasons. One, I just finished 1984 and it was very much a world like the one in 1984. Two, the storyline closely reflects the fears of the current political climate in America.

It is hard to say that a story like this is "great" as that has a positive connotation. I was very enthralling, but terrifying at the same time. As a man, I don't think this story has as deep of an impact on me as it would if I was a woman.

If you like dystopian, you mu ...more

286 likes · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2017 Simone rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Amazing book. This was such a surprise, because I had read a bad review of it in the Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature. I now understand why a more conservative person would have serious issues with the themes in the novel. It is a breathtaking exercise that imagines the most ultimate reactions to women's liberation and the breakdown of traditional social values. This book portrays and discusses in various ways what it means to be a woman, the psychology of a person ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2017 RachelvlehcaR rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, science-fiction-dystopia, science-fiction, kindle, 03-library-and-borrowed, kindle-unlimited, favorites-read-2017, women-studies

I loved this book. I just didn't want to put it down. When I was about to sleep this story would surface and I'd think about it.

This books has been on "to read" list for a long time. I've always been meaning to read it but was worried I wouldn't like it much because I've seen a lot of different reviews about it.

In the beginning I wasn't fond of the lack of quotation marks when characters would talk. It would make me have to focus more on if the narrator, Offred, was thinking or if there was a ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Oct 20, 2014 Valerie rated it really liked it

Shelves: z-2014sffchallenge, sf-f-bookclub

Margaret Atwood has a way of taking a handful of contemporary societal trends and twisting them toward a future possibility that is beyond disturbing. What makes it even more eerie is that despite that fact that while recognizing where she has engaged in obvious exaggeration, one can totally see how it could approximate a version of the future if a proper pattern of events were to emerge. Quite chilling, really.

In the case of The Handmaid's Tale, Ms. Atwood focuses on rape culture and the often Margaret Atwood has a way of taking a handful of contemporary societal trends and twisting them toward a future possibility that is beyond disturbing. What makes it even more eerie is that despite that fact that while recognizing where she has engaged in obvious exaggeration, one can totally see how it could approximate a version of the future if a proper pattern of events were to emerge. Quite chilling, really.

In the case of The Handmaid's Tale, Ms. Atwood focuses on rape culture and the often resultant backlash toward what is perceived as the loose morality of women. Entwine this concept with a well-funded and strong conservative religious movement and timely acts of terrorism and war and we arrive at a future where women are once again forced into roles of subjugation with few choices and no true rights.

What was interesting in this book is that their really was no true winner within the emergent patriarchy. Women, of course, had no rights and few options, but then, neither did men. The religious hysteria used to solidify compliance, also locked men into their roles and limited their desires. While the men were able to carve out a little more freedom for themselves, a step too far could bring everything crashing down.

I also liked Atwood's concepts of how women themselves propagated the continued system of subjugation. The status given to both the Aunts and the Wives gave them just enough to satisfy their needs of self worth to give them justification to condemn other women to their fates.

In addition to a very well-crafted plot, Ms. Atwood is also very good at world play. Often throughout the book she engages in a kind of free-flowing world association that layers meaning upon meaning to the situation. One particular instance stands out when she speaks of The Commander's house hold which flows into a litany of relevant definitions of the word "hold." It ends with the association of the ship's hold, indirectly drawing the imagery of slavery, which is an accurate description of the Handmaid's situation.

I don't know if I had read this book in my youth that I would have had the same appreciation for the book. I don't think I would have had the maturity to catch all of the nuances. Heck, as an adult, I am not sure that I captured all of the nuances on a single read. Thankfully, I am of an age where I am able to enjoy such a work. Well done, Ms. Atwood. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review