The Handmaid's Tale

Hardcover, 350 pages

English language

Published Nov. 19, 1986 by Jonathan Cape.

ISBN:
978-0-224-02348-1
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5 stars (5 reviews)

Offred is a national resource. She is a handmaid; viable ovaries make her a precious commodity in the Republic of Gilead, where the birthrate has plummeted to dangerous levels. Assigned to a Commander whose wife cannot produce, Offred's purpose is onefold: to breed.

Dressed in red from veil to shoes, apart from the white wings which cover her face, Offred walks in silence each day past the Guardians of the Faith, who man each barrier. She exchanges tokens for food. She visits the Wall, where gender traitors and war criminals hang for atrocities, once legal, committed in the time before.

At night in the bare room, Offred remembers: quaint, outdated customs such as gossiping, using paper money, jogging. Illegal thing: women having jobs, reading, her real name, love. Love used to be central to everything. Now it is irrelevant.

Margaret Atwood, who has shown her formidable insights into the complexities …

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

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