The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

Hardcover, 311 pages

English language

Published Feb. 17, 1986 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

ISBN:: 978-0-395-40425-6
OCLC Number:: 12558693
ASIN:: B003JFJHTS

(22 reviews)

The Handmaid's Tale is not only a radical and brilliant departure for Margaret Atwood, it is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men of its population.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment's calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid's Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.

46 editions

Magnesium reviewed La servante écarlate by Margaret Atwood (Pavillons)

Not so speculative fiction

5 stars

I was warned this book is not a fun one. Indeed it is not.

You get to see the omnipresent fear and violence of a patriarchal surveillance state. You get to see how it got there, little by little, and how it got accepted. The disturbing part is that it is very much believable...

I hadn't seen since Orwell's "1984" the effect of a totalitarian system on an individual so well described, especially at an individual level. You get to see how a single mind resists or breaks when faced with such overwhelming brutal and oppressive environment.

It is definitely worth reading, especially when you keep in mind the fact that Atwood has been censored in several US states.

Paul reviewed The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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

2 stars

An interesting book - very post apocalyptic - but it felt like it ended too soon, with questions left unasked. For example, who are The Eyes? Why does the Commander have his position? What happens to the narrator? What’s happening in the rest of the world? You don’t really get a feel for who is behind everything - the organisation is named but none of the individuals make an appearance.

Interesting, but unsatisfying.

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

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

No rating

It might be worth getting the York Notes book and then I'll try reading this again. I didn't start enjoying it until I viewed it as black humour. It has some deep and important themes... and I missed every single one.

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

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

5 stars

En el libro hablan de una sociedad totalitaria en las que las mujeres han perdido su libertad y son asignadas a un rol en la sociedad. El libro te absorbe por que es totalmente pausible, y más en viendo los días que llevamos, que la sociedad se degrade de esa manera. Me ha gustado mucho.

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

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

3 stars

Anyone who followed my status updates will know I struggled with this book, particularly in the first half. The graceful prose could not compensate for the complete absence of plot. Instead we have an extra-ordinary focus on the minutiae of life that eventually becomes painful. I pushed through this for two reasons:
1) I'd never seen anything negative written about the book as a whole and therefore was continually expecting something to change, possibly something amazing to appear. A brief incident at 1/3 of the way turned out to be a false dawn but gave enough hope to get me through to when the real story starts at half way.
2) I could understand what Atwood was trying to achieve with all that minute description; Offred's life had been reduced to such - there was nothing else for her to focus on - there was no narrative in her life - no incident - just tiny experiences in a mundane, excruciatingly narrowly circumscribed existence - hardly a life at all. 150p of such, even somewhat intercut with memories of events leading up to her current situation, proved to be hammering the nail long after it had been hit home, though.

When it finally arrives, the plot is not much, either and exists more to show the corruption extant in this Brave New World than to tell an exciting story and we are finally led to denouement, the story ends abruptly and ambiguously.

The book is hugely redeemed by the "Historical Notes" however; far from being the tidied up working notes of the author or a chronology of the future history as I had feared, it is a crucial part of the novel itself that made me feel that the book was a decent effort.

Part of my troubles were down to the fact that I was more in need of an exciting adventure story than a sledgehammer political warning about the dangers of the Religious Right of the USA, which is hardly Atwood's fault. As such it works well but to be effective it needs to be read by young people - that is, people in schools - and perhaps the most profound comment in the entire books is, "Our biggest mistake was teaching them [women] to read." Mass education is the best thing that can happen to women - and men, too. It's appalling that this isn't a given for everybody, worldwide.

There's no escaping the fact that this is a novella's worth of material diluted to novel length, though.