The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)

by Margaret Atwood

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 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.
--front flap

Reviewed by inlibrisveritas on

4 of 5 stars

Share
The Handmid’s Tale is one that most people have heard of at least, but I’ve sort of avoided it for years. (I have this thing against reading books that people tell me I need to read…) To be honest I’m glad I waited until now to read it because I don’t think I would have appreciated it as much.

The tale follows Offred, a Handmaid in the home of a Commander and his (kind of intimidating) wife. As a woman she has been assigned to the job of the Handmaid, and once a month she has to lay with the commander to try and get pregnant. Her only job is to provide the Republic of Gilead with children, and her whole reality revolves around that. She’s required to stay healthy and devoted to theirs cause. Occasionally we are given flashbacks of her life before Gilead and during the first days of the Republic, and she frames it in a way to show the differences and slow progression of a woman who lived independently to a woman who is forced to have a companion to walk to the market. It’s a chilling story to say the least, and it’s hard to not kind of pull personal politics in to how you view the story because it’s sort of a political message in itself.

We see a world where women’s rights are taken away, reduced to the bare minimum (like breathing and living), and then given back in shitty wrapping paper that they swear is actually golden. They reinforce the message that the world before was a mess, choices for women lead to all kinds of disruption and lude enterprises that made the world fall into madness. Things like rape and sexual assault are reinforced as being the woman’s fault, abortions are illegal and punishable by death, and the lgbt community outlawed. It’s a stark and unforgiving book, that presents a stark and unforgiving reality. I think after the year that I’ve had, where I’ve witnessed a very public rise in dissension for minorities, women, and the lgbt community this book sort of hit home. Well it more of punched home and then proceeded to kick it a little.

I will say the writing style is going to be a love it or leave it affair. You’ll either walk away from it feeling somewhat unimpressed or bored, or you’ll enjoy it and fall into the unique quality. It is a short but slow feeling read.

This is my second Atwood novel and I think I like her! This one was really different from Hag-Seed, but she has a way of presenting human nature that really works.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 29 November, 2016: Finished reading
  • 29 November, 2016: Reviewed