The Handmaid's Tale

, #1

314 pages

Published Nov. 15, 1998

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5 stars (5 reviews)

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state, known as Republic of Gilead, that has overthrown the United States government. The central character and narrator is a woman named Offred, one of the group known as "handmaids", who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "commanders" – the ruling class of men. The novel explores themes of subjugated women in a patriarchal society and the various means by which they resist and attempt to gain individuality and independence. The novel's title echoes the component parts of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, which is a series of connected stories (such as "The Merchant's Tale" and "The Parson's Tale").The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also …

71 editions

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5 stars

Content warning Spoilers de “El cuento de la criada”

reviewed Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)

a classic

5 stars

I read this classic just two years ago. It felt more relevant to the present than it may have been when it was written. This book is a revolutionary milestone in speculative fiction and probably feminist literature as well, but I found equally interesting that the text is based on progressive loss of innocence. The final chapter is incredible and left me very satisfied.

Review of "The Handmaid's Tale" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I'm not okay.
This book was one of the scariest and hardest books to read ever, although purly fiction. I was reminded on the books about reports of north korean refugees and reports from any form of totalitarian government.
But I also loved it, the book is so clever, it makes me proud, it makes me angry, it makes me want to fight whoever deems to take away my human rights or reduce me because of my gender.

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rated it

5 stars

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