Handmaid's Tale

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Margaret Atwood: Handmaid's Tale (2023, HarperCollins Publishers)

English language

Published Sept. 12, 2023 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:
978-0-06-334762-5
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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 the Republic of Gilead, which 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 in Gilead.

The novel explores themes of subjugated women in a patriarchal society, loss of female agency and individuality, and the various means by which they resist and attempt to gain individuality and independence.

The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award.

Also contained in: Novels

75 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.

avatar for robhardware

rated it

5 stars

Subjects

  • Fiction, dystopian
  • Man-woman relationships, fiction
  • Canadian fiction (fictional works by one author)
  • Fiction, fantasy, general

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