Handmaid's Tale

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Margaret Atwood: Handmaid's Tale (2011, McClelland & Stewart)

368 pages

English language

Published Dec. 15, 2011 by McClelland & Stewart.

ISBN:
978-0-7710-0879-5
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Goodreads:
12590320

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5 stars (3 reviews)

It is the world of the near future, and Offred is a Handmaid in the home of the Commander and his wife. She is allowed out once a day to the food market, she is not permitted to read, and she is hoping the Commander makes her pregnant, because she is only valued if her ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she was an independent woman, had a job of her own, a husband and child. But all of that is gone now ... everything has changed.

46 editions

Captivating dystopia

4 stars

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.

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.

Subjects

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