Reviews

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Only show reviews with written explanations

fairycorebookclub's review against another edition

2.0

To keep this short, about halfway in I started to get really agitated with the run on, flowery sentences that were, in my opinion, of no use in this novel. I was going to read this before watching the Hulu show based off of this, however I started watching the show side by side with reading this and am so glad I did because without the show, I would probably have no idea what was going on in this story. The timeline bounced all around in the form of flashbacks and when it finally came back to the present moment, I had forgotten what was even happening. I solely give this 2 stars because of the idea & originality behind the plot. I saw someone describe this book as a juicy steak being waved in front of your face but you never get a taste…well said. It almost amounts to nothing. Watch the show, which is amazingly done. I regret to say that you should just skip this book.

lady_mel's review against another edition

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3.0

This is a story set in the future. Handmaids are assigned to upper-class married couples for the purpose of providing them a baby.

Offred is one of those Handmaids, and this is her story as she recounts it.

hannahstrashcan's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

taylormichelle1's review against another edition

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4.0

for english class

annatherbook's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was dark, ominous, uncomfortable and captivating! I loved it!

mawar12's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

it's a really sad book especially when the MC is talking about her ex husband Luke (I say ex because we don't know he's dead or alive) and her daughter who was taken away and probably didn't remember her. It does seem interesting because unlike 1984, the story take place when the revolution was quiet new and all of the characters except Luke the really young ones remember life before the revolution. The transformation between a normal country to a tolitarian state seem really scary when the women was suddenly forced out of workplace.
However, I do think the ending is a bit not satisfying as we don't know what happened to Offred and that it was left ambiguous. At least we know Nick is actually a member of the resistance group called Mayfly and the van he led Offred to might plan to rescue Offred. The ending where the lecturer of the university talk about Offred is a bit grim as it seemed he didn't treat the story seriously.
However, I feel it's really unfair people tht are liberals always use this book to scare people away from pro life stances when in fact the two instances are totally different. Offred didn't have a choice but to have loveless sex to produce babies while people that chose abortion mostly do it because they chose to have sex. They can't just have sex and then freely want to abort them just to avoid consequences. It's really far fetched how these people even think it's remotely the same situation. Like no, people choosing to have sex with someone while still wanting to abort your baby is NOT the same situation as Offred in this novel whatsoever. I'd make excuse if it's like cases like r*pe or for health reasons but to cry victim because you don't use protection while having sex and then wanting to kill the babies however you want is wrong. Stop saying it's the same as the handmaid's tale, it's an insult to people tht actually have to through such regimes.

Overall I like how the author tells her story , it's just the commander scenes where he suddenly likes her and take her out makes no sense to me but I guess it's probably needed to show how the world was like.
I find Moira such an intriguing character but I'm abit sad she didn't get to actually escape and ended up being a prostitute. It just shows how grim ths dystopian reality is and in a way, more realistic.