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lina_petrina's review against another edition
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mayavelazquez13's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
spongefoot's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mirandababbitt's review against another edition
5.0
I listened to the audiobook version, read by Claire Danes. This version doesn't just tell a story—it insidiously crawls under your skin, leaving you in a state of discomfort and trepidation. There were times when I almost didn't want to click play, but I couldn't help myself from it either.
As someone who slept on this book for too long, this review is not just an endorsement. It's an urgent recommendation. This is a must-listen, not for its inherent discomfort, but for its all-too-tangible relevance in today's socio-political climate.
In her role as narrator, Danes is a true virtuoso. Her performance is outstanding. Without resorting to flamboyant character impersonations that could border on the irritating, she somehow infuses each character with a unique and distinct voice. There is an art to her subtle shifts in tone that capture the tension and the underlying emotions, rendering the characters and their plights strikingly real. I rarely think an audiobook actually elevates a reading experience, but I will forever be partial to any books read by Danes.
Now, onto the story.
The narrative presents an emotionally desolate world, where the hunger for love, connection, any drop of it, is pervasive. Each chapter, each line, is tinged with an unquenched yearning. It's this deep-seated absence that paradoxically makes the presence of love even more profoundly missed and desired.
The book made me question: Can those who want strict control over women genuinely understand love? Love involves supporting a person's own path to freedom, understanding, and respect. Trying to control someone contradicts these ideals. Control isn't a form of love; it's a display of deep disrespect, even hatred.
Roe v. Wade was already overturned by the time I read this book. In fact, that's what prompted me to pick this one up, finally, as everyone heralded Atwood as some sort of prophet.
Well, prophet or not, I'm horrified. This novel is, accurately, a chillingly stark reminder of the slippery slope from rights to control. It can happen overnight. It is happening already.
I rate this 5 out of 5 stars. Listen to it, and prepare to be profoundly affected.
As someone who slept on this book for too long, this review is not just an endorsement. It's an urgent recommendation. This is a must-listen, not for its inherent discomfort, but for its all-too-tangible relevance in today's socio-political climate.
In her role as narrator, Danes is a true virtuoso. Her performance is outstanding. Without resorting to flamboyant character impersonations that could border on the irritating, she somehow infuses each character with a unique and distinct voice. There is an art to her subtle shifts in tone that capture the tension and the underlying emotions, rendering the characters and their plights strikingly real. I rarely think an audiobook actually elevates a reading experience, but I will forever be partial to any books read by Danes.
Now, onto the story.
The narrative presents an emotionally desolate world, where the hunger for love, connection, any drop of it, is pervasive. Each chapter, each line, is tinged with an unquenched yearning. It's this deep-seated absence that paradoxically makes the presence of love even more profoundly missed and desired.
The book made me question: Can those who want strict control over women genuinely understand love? Love involves supporting a person's own path to freedom, understanding, and respect. Trying to control someone contradicts these ideals. Control isn't a form of love; it's a display of deep disrespect, even hatred.
Roe v. Wade was already overturned by the time I read this book. In fact, that's what prompted me to pick this one up, finally, as everyone heralded Atwood as some sort of prophet.
Well, prophet or not, I'm horrified. This novel is, accurately, a chillingly stark reminder of the slippery slope from rights to control. It can happen overnight. It is happening already.
I rate this 5 out of 5 stars. Listen to it, and prepare to be profoundly affected.
vegankitkat8's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
hanzy's review against another edition
4.0
I don’t really know what to say. A very well written novel that touches the realities of the world in the most unfathomable way. Classics always stand out. You’re left wanting more.
shes_book_obsessed's review against another edition
2.0
The Handmaid’s Tale
⭐️⭐️
Trigger warnings:
Cheating
Family
Separation
Forced Pregnancy
Hanging
Oppressive Government
Prostitution
Rape
Sexism
Review:
This was slow paced and boring.
I had to read this for school, and I was not interested except for the fact that it was science fiction with a dark twist on the future.
Nothing really happened, it was more of building a world than a plot.
Moira you bad bitch<3 She was the only likeable character in my opinion.
This wasn’t a book for me, not at this point in my life at least.
⭐️⭐️
Trigger warnings:
Cheating
Family
Separation
Forced Pregnancy
Hanging
Oppressive Government
Prostitution
Rape
Sexism
Review:
This was slow paced and boring.
I had to read this for school, and I was not interested except for the fact that it was science fiction with a dark twist on the future.
Nothing really happened, it was more of building a world than a plot.
Moira you bad bitch<3 She was the only likeable character in my opinion.
This wasn’t a book for me, not at this point in my life at least.
savaging's review against another edition
5.0
"A story is like a letter. Dear You, I’ll say. Just you, without a name. Attaching a name attaches you to the world of fact, which is riskier, more hazardous: who knows what the chances are out there, of survival, yours? I will say you, you, like an old love song."
The plot of this story isn't the point. Sure, it's 'speculative fiction' and requires some accounting of what particular political coup and sociological upset led to this redrawing of maps and mores. And a person within this world has to do something and see things and be either saved or damned. But this isn't the point. Atwood writes out a woman who never could have been and all the same it feels like pages ripped from her personal journal -- the crux of it all is that dusty old joke love in a world of power and coercion and hate. And, of course, the rest of the earth -- "Flowers, for instance, because where would we be without them?"
Nobody needs to speculate too hard to imagine this.
When I read this book, I think things. Like:
How perverse is the old morality. The old (and remaining) obsessions with female purity, the marriages that are like ownership, the lust after rules and punishments. Against this heavy System, sex chosen freely through mutual desire appears quaint, positively wholesome.
Also: the loneliness of the patriarch. The sadness of the ones who have all the power, who control everything but can only say, tired, "No, kiss me like you mean it." Who can only be kissed like you mean it, because when they control kisses they can't be meant. As the narrator puts it:
"Still, it must be hell, to be a man, like that.
It must be just fine.
It must be hell.
It must be very silent."
Jouissance, joy, pleasure -- they slip out of their grip. They slip out of grips. The heavy weight of economic and social inequality -- relationships can't carry it. Too much misunderstanding and resentment are built into every word.
Shards of pleasure and love, bits here and there, they wind up only where you'd least expect it, among the no-account people. Cracks in a Wall. Am I sermonizing now? Perhaps I'm sermonizing, which is a betrayal of a book like this.
The plot of this story isn't the point. Sure, it's 'speculative fiction' and requires some accounting of what particular political coup and sociological upset led to this redrawing of maps and mores. And a person within this world has to do something and see things and be either saved or damned. But this isn't the point. Atwood writes out a woman who never could have been and all the same it feels like pages ripped from her personal journal -- the crux of it all is that dusty old joke love in a world of power and coercion and hate. And, of course, the rest of the earth -- "Flowers, for instance, because where would we be without them?"
Nobody needs to speculate too hard to imagine this.
When I read this book, I think things. Like:
How perverse is the old morality. The old (and remaining) obsessions with female purity, the marriages that are like ownership, the lust after rules and punishments. Against this heavy System, sex chosen freely through mutual desire appears quaint, positively wholesome.
Also: the loneliness of the patriarch. The sadness of the ones who have all the power, who control everything but can only say, tired, "No, kiss me like you mean it." Who can only be kissed like you mean it, because when they control kisses they can't be meant. As the narrator puts it:
"Still, it must be hell, to be a man, like that.
It must be just fine.
It must be hell.
It must be very silent."
Jouissance, joy, pleasure -- they slip out of their grip. They slip out of grips. The heavy weight of economic and social inequality -- relationships can't carry it. Too much misunderstanding and resentment are built into every word.
Shards of pleasure and love, bits here and there, they wind up only where you'd least expect it, among the no-account people. Cracks in a Wall. Am I sermonizing now? Perhaps I'm sermonizing, which is a betrayal of a book like this.
gopher_man49's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
itcbitz's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0