Reviews with content warning for Schizophrenia/Psychosis - The Handmaid's Tale

Rereading made me wonder if Atwood studied totalitarian regimes before writing this, or not. I like to think that there would be more solidarity between women than what's portrayed, but I'm not sure.

It's interesting that the narrator seems to downplay the racist aspects of Gilead - we learn more about that from the epilogue than the narrator. I only saw a few episodes of the Amazon TV series, but half the reason I watched it was for Samira Wiley as Moira. I guess there's a trade-off - if Amazon wanted a racially diverse cast, they had to ignore the way that racism and sexism are intertwined, & would have to be intertwined in an American regime like Gilead. But Amazon didn't seem to care that much about fidelity to the novel anyway.

I also noticed more the way the narrator's mother is sort of complicit with the coup leading to Gilead. Her mother is a feminist but shares some of the same broad goals as Gilead - pornography is evil, women shouldn't be sexualized, every child should be a wanted child, women should be free from sexual harassment. The scene where

the narrator's mother takes her to burn books and pornography with a protest crowd

struck me in particular.

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therobinjoyce's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The Handmaid's tale is such a wonderfully dark and gritty, almost dystopian novel. Considering its publication over 3 decades ago, it is surprisingly easy to read and flows with such emotion.

The system of Gilead within the book is so brutal and cruel yet it highlighted the true capabilities of man. What man can do to one another, and just how dangerous and misogyny can be.

There are so many other reviewers who could word their feelings about this book with much more eloquence than I'm capable of, but if I had to leave this review with one closing thought I would tell you that this book will change your life. It will make you think and question and ponder so many different things and appreciate the lives and freedom we are able to live in this bustling modern era. How lucky we are and how we need to remember this fact.

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