The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood, Michael O'Brien

Audio CD

English language

Published Oct. 5, 2004 by BTC Audiobooks.

ISBN:: 978-0-86492-341-7

(10 reviews)

The Handmaid's Tale is a radical departure for Margaret Atwood. Set in the near future, in a locale that oddly resembles Cambridge, Massachusetts, it describes life in what was once the United States. Now, however, it has become the Republic of Gilead, a monolithic theocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans, and has gone far beyond them. This regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for women, and for men as well.

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 …

The Handmaid's Tale is A Clockwork Orange as seen by women: unexpected, funny, horrifying, and altogether convincing. the book is at once a mordant satire and a dire warning. this is Atwood in top form.

47 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.

sculpin reviewed The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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

4 stars

This was my first read of an Atwood novel, and one which I chose as it is on the "Image Magazine top 100 books of the 20th century" list. I can see why the image folks appreciated the novel, lyrical prose, dark layered characters, and a very creative addition to the genre of dystopic science fiction. I'd recommend this as a read to anyone who found Cormack McCarthy's "The Road" to be just a bit too stark, but still appreciates the genre. Atwood only hints, though cleverly, at the industrial disasters which cause the social-breakdown that the novel subtly records, but it is a nonetheless convincing tale.