Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

122 reviews

lexithelion's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Margaret Atwood's writing skill is impeccable, there is absolutely no doubt about that. However, I can acknowledge when a book is simply not for me. Nothing much plot-wise happens in this book as it is more meant, I feel, to embody the bleakness of Offred's situation and the world she is living in. This book is dreary and bland, as the lives of the handmaids are, thus it is an incredible book in that it completes its purpose and makes you feel as though you are living in Gilead. This book is pretty boring, but that seems to be the point. It took me longer than usual to finish this book but if you enjoyed reading it, you would probably also enjoy the TV show.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexism, Pregnancy, Death, Infertility, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

Moderate: Medical content, Blood, and War

mgcalder's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Whilst Margret Attwood is clearly an excellent writer, and the concept of the book is fascinating, I found the story itself to be somewhat lacking. The open ending also seemed at odds with the rest of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Slavery, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, War, Body shaming, Death, Self harm, Abortion, Confinement, Medical content, Physical abuse, Blood, Mental illness, and Murder

rchulin1's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow I loved this book immensely. It is very dark but so worth it every sentence word paragraph was so well thought out and placed I found myself imagining all the reasons for each placement though this book is on the shorter side the story feels so long in a good way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, War, Violence, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Classism, Rape, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Medical content, Miscarriage, Child death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Abortion, Alcohol, Body horror, Deportation, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

peasandpancakes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

My rating might be biased because I “loved” the series and I listened to the audiobook narrated by Elizabeth Moss. It scares me how some of the things in these books are happening right now somewhere in the world, which makes it impactful I think. 

I think it helps to have watched the series, because there was a lot less about the daily way of things in the book than I expected. Having seen the series, did help to make it feel more immersive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Slavery

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and War

dorris_s_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Racism, Confinement, Sexual content, Rape, Violence, Suicide, Infertility, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry

evaeyre's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

one of the most amazing books i’ve read in my life — from the moment i picked it up it was already a favorite of mine. Margaret Atwood is a genius telling a story that women have known in their hearts for centuries, of suffering and power and human nature. nolite te bastardes carborundorum.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Rape, War, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Suicide, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Infertility, Death, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Infidelity, and Confinement

Minor: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism

katostano's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

bookaholic_in_wonderland's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Police brutality, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Trafficking, War, and Infidelity

Minor: Infertility, Antisemitism, and Homophobia

frozenheartv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

5 stars
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

🧠 My thoughts
This is so far one of the best dystopian novel I've ever read. It's disturbing, horrific, cruel, slap as many terrifying adjectives as you want here. It just scared the hell out of me. The book was not too descriptive but had enough details to build up the whole disturbing Gilead world. I've watched the series before reading it (I'm quite surprised that the first part of the series is a very close adaptation to the book though). Although I've known most of the details, it's still intriguing to read this book. The historical notes chapter at the end of the book was outstanding. If our world ever becomes Gilead, that for me is nothing different than the end of the world.

👍 What I like
- Very realistic dystopian world
- The world-building is superb
- Intriguing story
- The historical notes chapter at the end of the book is very creative and nice to read

👎 What I don't like
- If you listen to the audiobook instead of reading, the author's language could be confusing sometimes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Rape

riverofhorton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I went into this book having watched the series, as each season was released, so the first was largely forgotten, although I did remember the vague plot. I personally would say the series is better than the book. For a start, the writing style took a bit of getting used to, especially with the way flashbacks are presented, but once I got used to it I did find it to enjoyable and thought provoking, but the series was more enjoyable and had the same thought provoking bits. I think that had I read the book first, I wouldn't have been interested enough to then watch the series, and may have DNFed the book before getting used to the writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Slavery, Body shaming, Gore, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, War, Classism, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Suicide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Self harm