The Handmaid's Tale in Utopian and Dystopian Reading Group

Mar 15, 2017 Enya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The hype around this book gave me high expectations, instead, I spent the book waiting for something interesting to happen only to be left bored and disappointed.

Pros:

- The idea that everything that happened to women in the book has, in some time and culture, actually happened stuck with me
- This book is a great one to discuss, regardless of your own opinion on it, you can pretty much guarantee it'll provoke a good debate in one way or another if you bring it up in conversation. Part of this is The hype around this book gave me high expectations, instead, I spent the book waiting for something interesting to happen only to be left bored and disappointed.

Pros:

- The idea that everything that happened to women in the book has, in some time and culture, actually happened stuck with me
- This book is a great one to discuss, regardless of your own opinion on it, you can pretty much guarantee it'll provoke a good debate in one way or another if you bring it up in conversation. Part of this is thanks to its insane popularity at the moment (helped by the Hulu adaptation that's recently been aired) and partly because the book's plot points, though presented in an extreme way in the book, are a good vehicle to talk about feminism, politics and religion.

Cons:
- The way the world switched from familiarly liberal to radically misogynist felt wholly unbelievable without any explanations as to what changed
- Similar to the above point, the book relies on constant guesswork to keep up suspense but in my view, it never delivers

First of all let me just say that I'm all too aware of the heated debates on this book, especially when someone doesn't leave a favourable review. In fact, this initially put me off writing a review at all. After some thought, I came back to the reason I review books in the first place - if in 10 years time someone asks me about the book, I'll need some help from past-me to remember the plot and my own thoughts on it straight after reading. And y'know, books are wonderful.

So, the book. My biggest irritation with The Handmaid's Tale wasn't actually the book at all but the hype surrounding it. This book is probably the one that's been recommended to me the most by friends knowing my interests in history, politics and gender. For me though, it just didn't deliver on any of the expectation and had I read this book without knowing its reception, I probably would've been apathetic to the whole thing and it would've ended up on its way to a charity shop or shoved in the back of a cupboard to be forgotten about.

All in all, I would encourage readers to open this book with a far more open mind than I did and to avoid the commentary and reception surrounding it as much as you're able to until you've read it for yourself and processed your own thoughts. ...more

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May 17, 2017 Chris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian-novels, fiction

Wow. I just can't find the words to describe how I feel about this book. It's been on my shelf forever and I finally decided to read it, especially after all the hype lately and the upcoming hulu series. All I can say is, if you are a woman, this story will stay with you for a long, long, time. Regardless of your political views, and I still hold firmly to my own, this darkly intense novel will affect you like no other. ...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Anne Charnock rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian-fiction

Atwood insists on categorizing The Handmaid’s Tale as speculative fiction as opposed to science fiction since she feels no technological breakthroughs are needed to make this story a reality. This book is a landmark in feminist dystopian literature and tackles the issue of religious fascism. However, I felt The Handmaid’s Tale required a greater suspension of disbelief than some dystopian stories – not in the overall theme, but in the detail. Nevertheless, Atwood raises a spectre that sticks in ...more

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