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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
WTF. Like legit, what the actual... That ending was so bad. Ok, restart. This book is very influential. This changed my views a lot. This may be so far blown out of proportion of today's society, but it's not 100% unrealistic. Yeah, that'll most likely never happen, but today's society shares some values with the before in this book. Oh and I was on a Beyonce and Rihanna marathon while reading this so, I wasn't really focused.
“Better never means better for everyone. It always means worse for some.”
That quote from the Commander hit like a gut punch—and stayed there.
Originally published in 1985 but remains hauntingly relevant. Margaret Atwood has insisted that this isn’t speculative fiction, but a reflection of real-world history and its consequences. Everything in Gilead has actually happened somewhere before. The roots are chillingly familiar: the Salem witch trials, authoritarian regimes, and the constant policing of women’s bodies and identities.
In Gilead, women are stripped of autonomy and erased—literally. We never learn Offred’s real name. She exists only as property: “Of-Fred.” Her erasure is the cost of survival in a world that weaponizes religion, climate disaster, and patriarchy.
Reading this now—against the backdrop of modern-day threats to women’s rights, climate change, and systemic oppression—feels less like dystopia and more like a mirror. The scariest part?
The complicity.
And that ending!? What happened?
That quote from the Commander hit like a gut punch—and stayed there.
Originally published in 1985 but remains hauntingly relevant. Margaret Atwood has insisted that this isn’t speculative fiction, but a reflection of real-world history and its consequences. Everything in Gilead has actually happened somewhere before. The roots are chillingly familiar: the Salem witch trials, authoritarian regimes, and the constant policing of women’s bodies and identities.
In Gilead, women are stripped of autonomy and erased—literally. We never learn Offred’s real name. She exists only as property: “Of-Fred.” Her erasure is the cost of survival in a world that weaponizes religion, climate disaster, and patriarchy.
Reading this now—against the backdrop of modern-day threats to women’s rights, climate change, and systemic oppression—feels less like dystopia and more like a mirror. The scariest part?
The complicity.
And that ending!? What happened?
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Extraordinary. Interesting book to revisit through my life as an aging woman as my perspective continually evolves.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’ve watched most of the show based on this book, and wanted to read the book too. Just like the show, the book is chilling and eye opening. I highly recommend reading this one, and I plan on reading The Testament too.
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Ms. Atwood, I’d like to formally apologize for living much of my adult life having never read a novel of yours, worried your work was too over-hyped to me growing up as a young canadian and aspiring writer myself, and was perhaps not as great as I had heard it to be. I was simply unfamiliar with your game: your writing is utterly, breathtakingly well-done. I sincerely apologize.
challenging
emotional
reflective