Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

109 reviews

sophk8's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Misogyny, Murder, and Confinement

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Abortion

Minor: Miscarriage

james1star's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

The Handmaid’s Tale was my first Atwood novel and I am so excited to read more, this was truly a masterpiece in psychological and descriptive writing. We are transported to Gilead via incredible world building which is reinforced and added to throughout the book and Offred’s life. Her accounts are disjointed and horrific but can be conceived to be true. This is because the novel is a dystopian ‘speculative fiction’ based on real life events that Gilead worked into a synthesis to create their totalitarian theocracy. This was done so the events can be thought of as possibly happening which is super scary especially in July 2022 with the recent US’s overturning of Roe v Wade ‘banning’ abortions as a method of powerful men to have control over woman’s bodies - in the novel (Caucasian from the historical notes) low fertility and growing power of woman is a reason for implementing the regime. Additionally, in the story pre-Gilead world is dealing with nuclear contamination and political stalemates due to superpowers and in the notes it states no country was willing to interfere - Russia Ukrainian war? Scary stuff 

My favourite theme within the Handmaid’s Tale is how Offred is shown to bring up this separation of the mind and the body. She does this in a society where women are defined and characterised by their bodily attributes and abilities and so she takes ownership of her own mentality and in doing so showcases her rebellion. This spirit and drive does wither and her internal monologue is characterised by disjointedness expressing the impact that her circumstances has had on her. Her flashbacks to the past and telling of her story is mixed but you are very hooked on it and Offred is portrayed as a very real person. 

Unlike some I actually really liked the ending because it is super ambiguous where she enters ‘into the darkness within; or else the light’ so we will never know what happened to her. There is a sense of hope but also tragedy. However the main point Atwood puts forward is unknowing and this is reinforced by the historical notes where they’re questioning the accuracy and credibility of her account by historians of the future at a convention on Giledean studies. Despite teetering on her Tale being true, I mainly got a sense of distrust and ‘brushing off’ of the events which Offred so courageously shared. Towards the end of her account she is shown to be in psychology pain thinking about what she’s endured, it’s hard for her to tell these things and she wants to get them right but undoubtedly it’s hard because of the traumatic nature of the circumstances. And for historians (academic professionals who specialise in the subject and we trust to interpret it) to in a way belittle her efforts is such an injustice. But true, we’ve done that to past accounts of people in horrific situations, further emphasising a need to not repeat the past. 

I do want to mention I did watch the show long before reading the book (only got into reading the past 5 months) and I do enjoy it so I did have my own opinions and idea of the storyline. However, I definitely enjoyed the book way more and I imagined and realised Offred more vividly in my head then seeing her physically real. Also I love how in the book we know Offred knows her name, but she has power in withholding it from us and her being the property ‘of’ the commander ‘Fred’ we’re constantly reminded she is property, her value is merely in her bodily functions for Fred and his household (yes she does pose mental stimulation in the book but under the Gileadan regime, as a Handmaid that is her function) and the show outright giving her a name in a way diminishes the significance of Atwood not revealing her name in the book. A thought. 

To conclude I did really enjoy this novel, I initially was listening to as an audiobook but this was removed from YouTube so got the book and actually much more enjoyed reading it myself, it took me a long time to get through it and I think that’s because of the method in which I took it in. It is hard to read in parts but is okay exceptionally well written and really hooks you in. Bring on The Testaments. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Infertility, Suicide, Genocide, Rape, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Abortion, Classism, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and War

ratandorange's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

the world building takes time but it’s very interesting. it’s sad seeing offered forget her husband and child slowly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Infertility, Rape, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Infidelity

meursault_letranger's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

good book, characters somewhat flat and meant to represent a type of reaction to society rather than be full fledged characters, which is pretty common in dystopia and works well here. i personally loved the writing style but if you need everything to be linear and make sense it might not be for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Slavery, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Infertility, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia, Alcohol, and Infidelity

jennylarue's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Misogyny, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, and Infertility

Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Self harm, Infidelity, Mental illness, Torture, Suicide, Miscarriage, Classism, Child death, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

msfordreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Misogyny, Infertility, Infidelity, Violence, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Sexism

jehughes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Rape, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Cursing, and Police brutality

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death, Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and War

reddeddy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Murder, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Abortion, Antisemitism, Biphobia, and Bullying

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Excrement, Police brutality, Racism, Torture, Trafficking, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Pedophilia

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I found I wasn't massively drawn to this book for the first half and struggled to keep picking it up between reads. The world that the Handmaid's live in intrigued me, but Atwood's style of writing was the thing that made me feel slightly disconnected from the novel. 

However, when reaching the mid-way point, I found myself being more engaged in it, mainly influenced by the fact that you work out what the Handmaid's are used for. I have found myself reviewing this at 3.5 stars because I didn't find the book completely engaging. I find the symbolism in this book is more interesting than the book and plot itself. 

But despite having a lower rating, this is definitely something I will re-read because I want to completely and utterly analyse the hell out of it. There is so much symbology and meaning to this text and I want to take my time next time to completely uncover it all. I feel like after, my rating would probably be higher. However, from a first read with not much reading between the lines, this is where I have placed it. I do think it has much potential to be higher as I re-read and analyse the content.

Overall, complicated feelings with this book. However, if you love dystopian fiction, and can stomach the trigger warnings, then I would recommend this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Medical content, and Infidelity

Minor: War