The Handmaid's Tale

, #1

Hardcover, 350 pages

English language

Published Jan. 1, 2006 by Everyman's Library.

ISBN:
978-0-307-26460-2
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
140786839

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (68 reviews)

A gripping vision of our society radically overturned by a theocratic revolution, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale has become one of the most powerful and most widely read novels of our time. Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. She may go out once a day to markets whose signs are now pictures because women are not allowed to read. She must pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, for in a time of declining birthrates her value lies in her fertility, and failure means exile to the dangerously polluted Colonies. Offred can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Now she navigates the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules. Like …

41 editions

The Handmaid's Tale

4 stars

The Republic of Gilead is a military regime based on fundamentalist Christian values. There's no place for freedom, for choice, for self determination. Women in particular have been stripped of all their rights and are divided into castes. The narrator and main character, Offred, is a Handmaid and her only function is to breed. This is a very good novel, and a pretty scary one, considering how the rights of women, particularly reproductive rights, are constantly under attack by the religious fundamentalists and right-wing politicians. The dystopian society depicted in this book is far too plausible, at least in some of its elements...

Review of 'Opowieść podręcznej' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Świetnie wykreowany oryginalny świat.
Fabularnie jednak pierwsza połowa nie zachwyca, za to druga nadrabia za pierwszą.

Zakończenie nie jest satysfakcjonujące - po co pisać całą książkę, skoro można pod koniec dać suplement historyczny i wyjaśnić o co w książce w ogóle chodzi.

Wielką wartość dostrzegam w ukazanej pasywnej reakcji na działania reżimu.

Kapitalny pomysł, który nie został tu wykorzystany, za to z wielkim potencjałem na całe uniwersum.

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

4 stars

Started off a little slow.... but the book really grabbed me about halfway through. I think I read the last 150 pages of the book in one sitting. Really interesting exploration of mono-theocracies and the social implications they bring. Not quite sci-fi, but definitely dystopian. I really enjoyed piecing together the new world of 'Gilead' based upon the bits of information Offred knew. Very unique twist to the 1984 and Brave New World versions of the future we've seen over and over again.

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Subjects

  • Misogyny--Fiction.
  • Women--Fiction.

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