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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this when I first read it over 30 years ago and still love it. It definitely hits differently now in the current Geo political environment.
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Least fav. Atwood book. Relevant of course but don't like it.
dark
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Having never watched the TV series but hearing so much about it, Atwood’s original book and the sequel, The Testaments, I decided to download The Handmaid’s Tale from my library app (given I’ve been reading so much during lockdown).
The lead character, Offred, is a Handmaid living in the dystopian future in ‘Gilead’; a misogynistic and highly religious place in which women are categorised in to roles based of their use and function within society. Offred, designated a Handmaid, has the sole purpose to breed with the Commander she is assigned.
Given that Atwood wrote this in the early 80s, it still stands the test of time and is as compelling a read as any contemporary feminist novels.
The story is without doubt a fascinating and uncomfortable one that you want to keep turning pages for. The varying pain and suffering these characters are forced to endure is hard to stomach; with the main triggers including rape, assault, suicide and domestic abuse. We start amidst this ‘new-world’ with its history and Offred’s back-story slowly drip fed to the reader. Although frustrating at times, it does help to continue to capture the readers attention throughout. You want to know how it all began, how Offred found herself where she is now and what happened to those lost to her. I found it to be a slow starter, but from about a third of the way through it becomes far more interesting and faster paced.
It took me a while to adjust to Atwood’s writing style; it’s not my cup of tea in all honesty but as the story progressed I found myself more and more comfortable with it. The basic lack of speech marks, the inconsistent flitting between flashbacks and the general lack of character detail/depth is something that I personally wasn’t keen on. Atwood even references in one of the latter chapters how jumbled the account of events are, which I found a little odd, but the point is clearly made that it is an intentional stylistic decision.
Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of this book and the questions it raises internally. There are also some surprises along the way. Sadly however, the characters are a little shallow for my liking, and so you don’t feel invested in any really other than Offred; and only to a point even with her. Offred’s perspective on the other characters and the part they play in the wider scheme of things is telling of her character and her growing passivity in to what is happening around her.
This is not a cheerful book, and so I would warn anyone expecting there to be some light as well as shade, as there really isn’t much, if any. I have to say that I’m glad I didn’t have to wait 30+ years to read the sequel in order to finally get some questions answered! I’m looking forward to watching the TV adaptation of this book and reading the sequel The Testaments soon.
Overall a 4/5 from me; the writing style took away from the story too much for me to enjoy it as much as I would have liked.
The lead character, Offred, is a Handmaid living in the dystopian future in ‘Gilead’; a misogynistic and highly religious place in which women are categorised in to roles based of their use and function within society. Offred, designated a Handmaid, has the sole purpose to breed with the Commander she is assigned.
Given that Atwood wrote this in the early 80s, it still stands the test of time and is as compelling a read as any contemporary feminist novels.
The story is without doubt a fascinating and uncomfortable one that you want to keep turning pages for. The varying pain and suffering these characters are forced to endure is hard to stomach; with the main triggers including rape, assault, suicide and domestic abuse. We start amidst this ‘new-world’ with its history and Offred’s back-story slowly drip fed to the reader. Although frustrating at times, it does help to continue to capture the readers attention throughout. You want to know how it all began, how Offred found herself where she is now and what happened to those lost to her. I found it to be a slow starter, but from about a third of the way through it becomes far more interesting and faster paced.
It took me a while to adjust to Atwood’s writing style; it’s not my cup of tea in all honesty but as the story progressed I found myself more and more comfortable with it. The basic lack of speech marks, the inconsistent flitting between flashbacks and the general lack of character detail/depth is something that I personally wasn’t keen on. Atwood even references in one of the latter chapters how jumbled the account of events are, which I found a little odd, but the point is clearly made that it is an intentional stylistic decision.
Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of this book and the questions it raises internally. There are also some surprises along the way. Sadly however, the characters are a little shallow for my liking, and so you don’t feel invested in any really other than Offred; and only to a point even with her. Offred’s perspective on the other characters and the part they play in the wider scheme of things is telling of her character and her growing passivity in to what is happening around her.
This is not a cheerful book, and so I would warn anyone expecting there to be some light as well as shade, as there really isn’t much, if any. I have to say that I’m glad I didn’t have to wait 30+ years to read the sequel in order to finally get some questions answered! I’m looking forward to watching the TV adaptation of this book and reading the sequel The Testaments soon.
Overall a 4/5 from me; the writing style took away from the story too much for me to enjoy it as much as I would have liked.
This one stays in the mind even while I continue to try to forget it. It was depressing but frightening in a real world way. Suddenly women are thrust back into roles that those in charge would have us live practically under Old Testament law. A woman's nightmare and possibly a wonderful dream for the extreme religious right
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Read this for a banned book book club. I’ve never seen the tv show and thought it was interesting. The beginning was really slow and it slowly got more interesting as time went on.