Handmaid's Tale

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

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.

Excellent

5 stars

It took me a bit to get into the story, mostly because of how it’s written. It seemed to me too mysterious and in some cases, vague, but once I got fully immersed in the story I couldn’t leave. It’s such a rough story that makes you think about how the current world relates to it. I’m glad I read this book.

Subjects

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