Handmaid's Tale

, #1

No cover

Margaret Atwood: Handmaid's Tale (2011, Almenna)

Paperback, 278 pages

English language

Published July 6, 2011 by Almenna.

ISBN:
978-0-09-951166-3
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Goodreads:
49982302

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4 stars (2 reviews)

Offred is a "Handmaid" in the Republic of Gilead. She has only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America explores a world in which oppression of women, and repression of the truth, have become justified.

18 editions

Meh

2 stars

I read the Handmaid's Tale yesterday, finally. I'm disappointed. I did not like the writing style at all, there was no real story, just descriptions. And then it just ended. No conclusion or anything.

My best guess it's because the TV show was so intense and well made (at least the earlier seasons), and the book was... Not? Episodes would stay with me for days, but I'm struggling to recall the book.

Maybe the book is supposed to be unsatisfying to go with the theme. Nothing much happened after Gilead was created, every day just kinda goes by. Sure there was some torture and death, but... Eh.

Maybe I was expecting too much after all the praise it got. It's my first Atwood book, and way way outside of my usual genre (fantasy, scifi, horror).

reviewed Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)

a classic

5 stars

I read this classic just two years ago. It felt more relevant to the present than it may have been when it was written. This book is a revolutionary milestone in speculative fiction and probably feminist literature as well, but I found equally interesting that the text is based on progressive loss of innocence. The final chapter is incredible and left me very satisfied.

Subjects

  • Canadian fiction (fictional works by one author)
  • Fiction, fantasy, general
  • Man-woman relationships, fiction
  • Fiction, dystopian

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