The Handmaid's Tale

, #1

by
No cover

Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale (Hardcover, 1986, Houghton Mifflin Company)

Hardcover, 311 pages

English language

Published Feb. 17, 1986 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

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

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(5 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 …

46 editions

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

Well written, disturbing

This work was well written. I would say I liked it three stars. Definitely left me feeling uneasy, and honestly quite hopeless. In part I think that is what the author was going for. A speculative fiction work based in a North American society that has taken Calvinist fundamentalism to the extreme. Including, but not limited to, forbidding "baren" wives from fornicating with their husbands, instead forcing a "hand maid' to move in in which they have a breeding ceremony once a month to try to impregnate her with everyone watching. Its been said that when Atwood only put things in here that already existed somewhere in the world in 1980s. Maybe in Iran? I'm not sure. Seems far-fetched even for such repressive regimes. I was disappointed that the story kind of just ended. Nothing resolved, and it certainly wasn't happy (or maybe it was, we really don't know). The …

reviewed The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Captivating dystopia

I have not watched the TV series based on the book before reading it. I prefer it in that order. I was caught up in the story from the first few pages. It describes a dystopian future regime in the former United States with very strict rules and control and abundant capital punishment for those who step a bit out of line. The story has chilling similarities to some of what I read about present-day conservative America.

reviewed La servante écarlate by Margaret Atwood (Pavillons)

Not so speculative fiction

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.

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Subjects

  • Man-woman relationships
  • Misogyny
  • Fiction
  • Women