Now a Hulu Original SeriesThe Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive … beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population.
The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment’s calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid’s Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.
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Even though it ends as a cliffhanger, this book will stay with me until I read the finale, The Testament. I didn’t realize it was a modern, post apocalyptic
Type story and at times, it is scary how easily it could happen! She was a wife and mother but was made to bear children for those in charge after a chemical war renders some women barren.
An astounding tale explaining why religious is a blight upon humanity, which apparently even Atwood herself fails to grasp about it.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a riveting experience of one women who has had her life stolen from her. I have read this book several times and I still like it. The writing is smart and world that Atwood created is a cautionary tale. Could it happen? Yes it definitely could that is why it is scary.
This “classic” dystopian novel about the oppression of women was published long before a white, male-dominated culture began to restrict our rights–again. It is chilling, essential reading for anyone who cares about women’s rights.
Slow pacing, but great description and eerie
More terrifying now then when she wrote it as it comes alive on the screen and in our American political scene.
If you are a woman you must read this book
I first read this book back in college, long before Amazon decided to make a tv show. I couldn’t put it down. The world that Atwood created was rich and subtle and horrifying. In a dystopian future, women were objects: wives, servants, wombs. Offred is one of these wombs, called a handmaid, serving one of the Republic of Gilead’s leaders. She …
Hope it never happens!
A chilling read
I read The Handmaid’s Tale when it originally came out over 30 years ago. While I found the premise unlikely, the world building was chillingly realistic enough to make me paranoid about entering my gender on forms years later (there are advantages to a name that can be gender neutral, lol).
Yet here we are today, where women …
Utterly phenomenal book! Read this back in the late 80’s and it profoundly impacted me. To read it now and see so many correlations to current trends and events is absolutely horrifying. So worth a read; compelling characters, a dystopian story line, and the new knowledge that we are teetering ever closer to a similar reality places this book in …
Not my favorite Atwood book, but it’s amazing. Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin are my favorites.
Should be required reading for everyone.
it may sound like an unimaginable world far from todays reality but this book makes you think about our future and we are not so far apart!! best book I have ever read.
If you like post-apocalyptic tales, this one is for you.
I read this book many years ago and loved it. Re-reading in preparation for Atwood’s sequel to this book (The Testaments) I was frankly scared to death — there are just too many parallels to things happening politically today. The story describes a woman serving as a “handmaid” to a wealthy political figure (the Commander). Basically the …
A tale for our time… Well written and hauntingly current.
Let’s be honest, Margaret Atwook is a fantastic author. She slays dystopian novels, making them almost realistic in a not-so-far future. The characters are great and so is everything she manages to build around them. This was my first Atwood read and it was certainly not the last.
Haunting and terrifying read.
Wanted to see what all the hype was about, left you with more questions than answers. I personally thought this book was a complete waste of my time.