Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale

Gemma Langella

I tell myself it doesn't matter, your name is like your telephone number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter.

clara

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. - Don‘t let the bastards grind you down

A man is just a woman's strategy for making other women.

We lived, as usual by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.

We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom.

We lived in the gaps between the stories.

Luca Stromann

I don't want to be a doll hung up on the Wall, I don't want to be a wingless angel. I want to keep on living, in any form. I resign my body freely, to the uses of others. They can do what they like with me. I am abject.

I feel, for the first time, their true power.

I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said 

. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before.

Now and again we vary the route; there's nothing against it, as long as we stay within the barriers. A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.

I like this. I am doing something, on my own. The active, is it a tense? Tensed.

It was the feet they'd do, for a first offense. They used steel cables, frayed at the ends. After that the hands. They didn't care what they did to your feet or your hands, even if it was permanent. Remember, said Aunt Lydia. For our purposes your feet and your hands are not essential.

Sometimes, if you ask at the wrong moment, they say no. If you really have to go that can be crucial. Yesterday Dolores wet the floor. Two Aunts hauled her away, a hand under each armpit. She wasn't there for the afternoon walk, but at night she was back in her usual bed. All night we could hear her moaning, off and on.

What did they do to her? We whispered, from bed to bed.

I'm waiting, in my room, which right now is a waiting room. When I go to bed it's a bedroom.

There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it.

It isn't running away they're afraid of. We wouldn't get far. It's those other escapes, the ones you can open in yourself, given a cutting edge.

There are no more magazines, no more films, no more substitutes; only me and my shadow

Give me a break. Atwood's dystopia collapses faster than a house of cards in a hurricane, expecting us to believe that modern America would suddenly decide to enslave women because... Bitcoin? Evil men? A vague fertility crisis? 

The plot holes aren't mysterious – they're just lazy. Apparently, you can overthrow Congress with a few well-placed bullets, and millions of Americans will just shrug and accept women becoming property overnight. Right.

The real offense isn't the absurd premise, but the cartoonish portrayal of men as either mustache-twirling villains or useful idiots. This isn't feminist literature – it's misandrist propaganda dressed up as social commentary. 

The world can be horrible, yes, but it rarely changes overnight. And bad literature is still bad literature, even when it waves the feminist flag.

Liana

Give me a break. Atwood's dystopia collapses faster than a house of cards in a hurricane, expecting us to believe that modern America would suddenly decide to enslave women because... Bitcoin? Evil men? A vague fertility crisis? 

The plot holes aren't mysterious – they're just lazy. Apparently, you can overthrow Congress with a few well-placed bullets, and millions of Americans will just shrug and accept women becoming property overnight. Right.

The real offense isn't the absurd premise, but the cartoonish portrayal of men as either mustache-twirling villains or useful idiots. This isn't feminist literature – it's misandrist propaganda dressed up as social commentary. 

The world can be horrible, yes, but it rarely changes overnight. And bad literature is still bad literature, even when it waves the feminist flag.

Pretty cool but was kind of boring and hard to get through.

Kiran Aftab

** spoiler alert **
           This book angered me in so many ways and that, I believe, was also the purpose of it being written. I loved Moira and Offred's mom as characters. They were so full of life even during the horrible society that they were living in and within Offred's memories. It was difficult for me to relate to Offred which is why I struggled with getting through this novel. However, the incidents that were taking place around Offred were very interesting and horrendous. I did enjoy the writing style of Margaret Atwood.

Patrick Book

Maybe 3.5. I was interested, but would've like to see the world built more in the story instead of tacked on in an over-explaining addendum.

Léa

I loved it it is the best book i had to read for university so far, i cannot wait to read the second book this summer !!

i’d probably like it more if u gave me more time mrs murphey! sigh.

cyndi petronel

i’d probably like it more if u gave me more time mrs murphey! sigh.



Amelia C 

It was the 1st time i'd ventured into this genre- futuristic/almost sci-fi genre. I enjoyed it! Ms. Atwood certainly has a way of helping the reader imagine more vividly, and experience said imaginations with detail!

Anh Nguyen

one of the reasons why it's so hard for me to suspense disbelief is that the writing is cringeworthy and charmless

Monicap

“I look at the oranges, longing for one. But I haven't brought any coupons for oranges. I'll go back and tell Rita about them, I think. She'll be pleased. It'll be something, a small achievement, to have made oranges happen.”  

The Handmaid’s Tale is a work of dystopian fiction portraying a rigid, puritanically theocratic fascist regime that has taken over the United States. Following a dramatic decrease in birth rates, the Republic of Gilead staged a military coup killing the president and other high-ranking government officers, blamed the tragedy on other militant groups, and slowly suspended the constitution and seized many freedoms that American currently enjoy. The story follows Offred, a young woman who tried to escape the regime with her husband and daughter and ultimately failed, after she has already lived in Gilead for several years. 

I’ll be honest: I read this because I’ve watched the adaption on Hulu, and I wanted to read the book before the third season is released later this summer. I was partly afraid that the Hulu adaption would have ruined the book for me; the show is encompassing, enveloping, and extremely good. My fears, however, were unfounded. Many of the most powerful moments from this show I can now see were lifted directly from the book. The show has taken some liberties with the story: Offred’s role is entirely outside of her hands, and her narrative is thus vague and ambiguous. The novel doesn’t have the lens to pull away from Offred’s narrative and examine the inner lives of other characters like Ofglen, Serena Joy, and Janine in the way that show does. Offred is more passive in the novel than she is in the show. But this is a strength of the novel. In the show, Offred must ultimately seize control of her fate, since it is, after all, a television show. It must deliver a satisfying ending. The novel, however, is clear about the uncertainty of Offred’s end. It is unknowable. 

 Other people have written and spoken about this novel in ways far more eloquent than I have with thoughts far more original than mine: The Handmaid’s Tale takes place outside of time, both in the future and the past. The Handmaid’s Tale is a cautionary tale, an admonition of the phrase “It can’t happen here.” The Handmaid’s Tale inspiration from purely historical atrocities makes it a realistic examination of dystopia that some more current takes lack. Etc etc. 

Suffice it to say, this is an astounding work of fiction, well worth the read. Even if, like me, you’ve already watched the television show.

envee

Sarah Sammis

I'm glad I finally got a chance to finish the book. I started reading this about 17 years ago and then didn't get to finish. I don't recall why or what happened to my copy of the book.

I enjoyed this book as much as Oryx and Crake. Atwood is best at describing the aftermath of a society going horribly wrong. I like that in this one she does let the reader know that life goes on outside of Gilead even if her characters are unaware of things have remained the same outside of their immediate existence. Most authors of this type of story neglect the bigger picture and I'm glad that she didn't.

Sunny

Read as a buddy read with James's Buddy Reading Club ✨

3.5 stars 
I was excited to try something different from what I usually read, and I found this to be very accessible. It was horrific to think that the events of this book were moved along so quickly and that a huge group of many people's rights could be snubbed out so easily.
There was no happy ending, and it wasn't difficult to see the cycle we were briefly shown throughout the book would continue on and on until it was just accepted no questions asked.
However I did find the ending rather lacking, like it was waiting to continue on for nothing.
Overall, it was very thought provoking and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's intrigued with the premise.

Isabella 

reading this felt like i was personally experiencing the gilead. the ending line is "are there any questions?" and i have tons of questions about this book. it leaves the readers wanting more. i read a review saying "Perhaps Atwood did not close the book with an ending because there is no end to oppression. A long look at world history proves this to be true." and i could see why it ended ambiguously. it is a timeless book, and would definitely recommend it.

review mentioned: https://alissasmith6724.wixsite.com/t...

Absolutely horrifying and growing more topical by the day. I adored it. 

Emma

Tobias V. Langhoff

A great piece of dystopian fiction. Like all the other great ones, such as 1984, it is an eerie story because of its plausibility. In the near future, the US has become a theocracy and institutionalized patriarchy. Fertility is at an all-time low because of biological warfare and/or irradiation, and fertile low-caste women are slaves who bear women for the upper echelons. The protagonist is one of such “handmaids”, who tells her story in the first person.

I read this to prepare for the upcoming Hulu TV series, which, judging from the trailer, looks very promising. I also listened to this as an audiobook, which was fitting because it’s a recorded story. Claire Danes does a great narration.

Recently, a short piece of addendum material to the epilogue was released: http://ew.com/books/2017/03/29/margar...

eileen sheats

I wasn’t going to read the sequel but after the plot twist in the epilogue I have to

jack

i think this book makes meaningful insights re: epistemology and language under totalitarianism. i also think it is written in a compelling style. however, i think the style limits the effect each insight has on the reader–everything feels forced, basic, and lazy on atwood's end. certain puns and word associations seem like complete stretches for the sake of making a dull point that atwood puts profound emphasis on. gets to be a turn off thru out the book. still an enjoyable read, especially in the context of orwell, lessing, and bradbury.

shadee

liked how it described scenes so cool. but it was just not the book id go crazy for or id really recommend to someone.

One of my favourite books ever. The world-building is insanely good but it had much more potential than what was explored in this book, the sequel and the TV series by Hulu

Damızlık Kızın Öyküsü

Yağmur Yıldız

Akıcı, keyifli, bazı noktaları vurucu bir romandı. Anlatı bazı noktalarda çok feminist, bazı noktalarda çok din karşıtı kalsa da anlatmak istedikleri ve olayı örgüsünü kuruşu merak ettirici ve tatmin ediciydi. Gerçek ismini asla öğrenmediğimiz Damızlık’ın Komutan, Eş, Marthalar ve diğer Damızlıklar ile kurduğu ilişki; temelinde korku barındıran ve Gözlerin yarattığı güvensizliği hissettiren ögeleri barındırıyordu. Bunları anlamak ve ‘haklı’ bulmak beni etkileyen ana unsur oldu.

unfortunate that atwood's criticisms of society seem timeless as many of the subtle jabs sting just the same as they would have when she was writing this. i thought the writing style was neat and had a fun time reading this! 

riss

Brandy

Rereading this book brings so much stress (in a good way). Looking forward for the sequel

Sercan Y.

Feminist aktivist bir yazardan çok etkileyici bir kitap.. Son dönemde okuduğum en iyi distopyalardan biri.. Günümüz muhafazakar iktidarlarının uyguladığı kadın politikalarına, hikayelenen distopya içinde yapılan göndermeler aslında anlatılanların çok da uzağında olmadığımızı göstermesi açısından manidar olmuş; ancak bu benzerlikler insanı dehşete düşürüyor. Hele ki bir de günümüz Türkiye'sini düşününce...

"Meclis binasında katliam yaptıklarında, suçu teröristlere attıklarında, anayasayı askıya aldıklarında, hiçbirimiz uyanmadık. Geçici olduğunu söylemişlerdi. Zaten hiçbir şey bir anda değişmez. İçinde olduğun kazan yavaş yavaş ısınırken, farkında olmadan haşlanarak ölürsün."

An incredibly pervasive set of distopian ideas simmer and bubble in this book. It can safely sit alongside 1984 and Brave New World on the Shelf Of Depression, instilling fear at a glance, I will say, however, that this book was rather more exhausting and less deeply developed than the other two, but that could easily be attributed to the perspective we are given.

The Handmaid’s Tale

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