From the Bookshelf of 2025 Reading Challenge…

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

Margaret Atwood

Start date: March 1, 2017

Finish date: March 31, 2017

Discussion: Group Reads

Discussion leader: Taylor C

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Showing 2 of 12 topics — 1,275 comments total

Group Reads

* December Group Read Nominations
By Carri Carey , TBR Twins · 1 post · 11 views

last updated 3 hours, 11 min ago

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* Group Read Rules and Timelines
By Winter , Group Reads · 1 post · 2556 views

last updated Jan 23, 2016 02:35AM

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What Members Thought

Nov 30, 2017 Barbara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-reads, american, audiobooks, dystopian

I have read various reviews by GR friends and not all have liked this book. But it worked for me. Set in the very near future, it is chilling how quickly things can change. The narrator, Offred, is still of child-bearing age and lived in a world we recognize. Her mother was active in Women's Liberation in it the early years. Offred doesn't know where her mother, husband and daughter are. Seeing this dystopian future through the eyes of someone who lived in our time was the most powerful aspect o ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Sep 30, 2017 Jennifer Lynn rated it really liked it

Really good! Not sure why I've never read it before. Although I would have like to know what happened to the main character, leaving the ending ambiguous let's you make your own conclusions. Looking forward to watching the TV version of the story. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2017 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I read this because of the Hulu Original Series, that is what got me to finally pick this up. I enjoyed the story well enough, just not the ending. I've already watched 3 episodes of the series and now know it isn't exactly like the book--shouldn't have been a surprise there.

I like June's story and her life as a handmaid. It's strange how the US became at that time and how much pressure was put on these women because of their age and the ability to bear children. How they got rid of those past ...more

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Dec 22, 2017 Anita rated it it was amazing

Somehow, I missed reading this back in the 1980's and have also missed out on reading anything else by this author. What an amazing, "this could definitely happen" dystopian novel. Not only is the book well written, handling flashbacks to the "time before", current action, and the characters thoughts seamlessly, but it also has characters that the reader comes to care about. There are a few slightly graphic sections, but they are integral to the story and leave the majority of the graphic-ness t ...more

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May 02, 2019 Genevieve rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019-reading-challenge

The story is definitely going to be with me for a while, but I don’t think I’ll recommend it to many to read.
Parts of it were just too frustrating and I don’t have any desire to read it again.
She made a very interesting world though, for sure. Again, it is a well worn world that seems to have been beaten to death. I tire of stories where religious zealots ruin society.

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