The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 31, 2017 Natasha rated it it was amazing

A brilliant book that will make your blood run cold. Although the author herself claims it is not a prediction as we can never predict the future with great accuracy it does tell us what horrible things might happen (and we know have happened so many times in the past) if we keep our eyes closed, figuratively speaking, and refuse to acknowledge the changes in the society as they happen. How fragile is democracy (even the flawed one we have now) and how easily we could lose our basic freedoms and ...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Martha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book holds up well a second time although there's a 30-year time difference between reading and listening. Clare Danes' voice was perfect for the story. I alternated between listening and reading. ...more

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Jul 06, 2013 Kent Winward rated it really liked it

Can a dystopian novel be lovely? This is one of the better dystopias and almost twenty years after I first read it the issues raised seemed even more relevant today with the rise of ultra-right wing politics. It is just weird to see Margaret Atwood so prevalent on Twitter -- how do you reconcile that with this tale?

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Dec 29, 2012 Tanya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: format-audiobook, genre-young-adult, list-1001-btrbyd, list-rory-gilmore, list-1001-btrbyd-2006, list-1001-btrbyd-core, 2015, challenge-2015-popsugar

I read this for the 2015 PopSugar Challenge in the category of a book that had bad reviews, as his was criticized by the NYTimes when first published in 1986. It is also one of the core books of the 1,001'Books to Read Before You Die list.

The epilogue was harder for me to get through than the rest of the book, which was from the protagonist's point if view. I am glad I waited until I was older to read this one as I could not have understood or appreciated this when I was in high school. The male I read this for the 2015 PopSugar Challenge in the category of a book that had bad reviews, as his was criticized by the NYTimes when first published in 1986. It is also one of the core books of the 1,001'Books to Read Before You Die list.

The epilogue was harder for me to get through than the rest of the book, which was from the protagonist's point if view. I am glad I waited until I was older to read this one as I could not have understood or appreciated this when I was in high school. The male characters were less developed, and I am not sure why the Commanders were said to be in power, but didn't seem to have as much authority, but perhaps that is because we see Offred's view only, so the male world is more hidden from her and thus, from us. That she didn't work harder at establishing or maintaining female friendships seemed odd to me too, even if that was forbidden, given that she engaged in so many other behaviors that were also forbidden. That made it harder for me to embrace her character fully, as humans have such a strong desire for companionship, but I didn't get that feeling from her...even her own husband she hadn't remembered so many details of him, the original love of her life, and over time he just faded and was somewhat interchangeable with the guard with whom she had the affair to get impregnated. She missed her daughter, but the lack of maternal instinct to break away completely from her own situation, even if it meant her own death possibly, made me feel like Offred just disconnected emotionally overall, possibly even before this new society had formed. There was a line in the story, delivered by her mother, about the acceptance of such a regime and how one gives in, but I just don't relate to that aspect. I know that being a mom and reading this affects my understanding in such a different way than it would have as a college student (which is when I probably would have read it, had I put my hands on it after its recent publication).

The author comments upon her book, "Anyone who wants power will try to manipulate you by appealing to your desires and fears, and sometimes your best instincts. Women have to be a little cautious about that kind of appeal to them. What are we being asked to give up?''

Think about that statement before you read the book and I think you will enjoy this one. ...more

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Apr 24, 2017 Dana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

In the totalitarian theocracy that is the Republic of Gilead, Handmaids are “two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.” They are there simply for “breeding purposes”, enclosed within the white wings of their caps, and imprisoned within barriers and walls manned by Guardians. In this patriarchal society, the names of the Handmaids are derived from the names of the Commanders they are there to serve: Offred (of Fred), Ofglen (of Glen) and so on. FAITH rules, while HOPE and ...more

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