Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

269 reviews

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

aubsends's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Infertility, Rape, War, Murder, Torture, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization

florenceassetto's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

i LOVE the handmaid's tale! most definitely did myself a disservice in taking so long to get through it but the honest and rawness of the sentiments that offred echoes are so captivating for a reader and i cannot help but hurt for her in her suffering. i think handmaid's is so painfully relevant to the modern reader, just as it was when it first came out in the 1980s, and it speaks so truly to societal attitudes to what it means to be a woman, love, sex and sexuality, patriarchy and so much more. i would always recommend this book 100%, one of my favourite dystopias out there and truly a classic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Infertility, Misogyny, Trafficking, Death, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Confinement, Violence, Miscarriage, Torture, Sexual content, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Antisemitism

tieflingmom's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Police brutality, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Torture, Sexual content, Death, Infertility, Child death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, War, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Racism, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Suicide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Medical content

auri_underthing's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Red. Silence. Desperation.

Huh. Kinda grim and boring. But well written and good world building. 

I didn’t like the diff hanger. I would have preferred to know what happened to Offred.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Suicide, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Infertility

mimi_bookster's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence

arifairy's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Sexual violence, War, Torture, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

crypticspren's review against another edition

Damn this book aged so badly. This is 300 pages of unnecessary, unexplained violence and rape, with exceptionally little detail about how the world became how it did. Explanation would have improved this books tenfold, considering the flashbacks to a normal world were only two years prior. I don’t get the hype. I hated this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Rape, and Slavery

kileyjojo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Everything great has already been said about this book. It’s intriguing and horrific at times. The dystopian future is eerie and the fact that so much of this novel had been based on real events speaks volumes. It can be a hard read at times but it had a very powerful message.

The pacing does struggle every now and then and the ending feels abrupt. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Slavery, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Violence

deblambert's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

A cautious speculative tale of an alarming future that is possible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Kidnapping, Death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Rape, Trafficking, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: War and Homophobia