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The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
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The Handmaid's Tale (original 1985; edition 1998)

by Margaret Atwood

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
42,076113447 (4.1)1 / 2191
This look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.
Member:hirotani
Title:The Handmaid's Tale
Authors:Margaret Atwood
Info:Anchor (1998), Edition: 1st Anchor Books, Paperback, 311 pages
Collections:Kindle (read)
Rating:***
Tags:Science Fiction

Work Information

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)

  1. 818
    1984 by George Orwell (cflorente, norabelle414, Schwehnchen)
  2. 604
    Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (ateolf)
  3. 473
    Brave New World & Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley (fannyprice)
  4. 413
    Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (readerbabe1984, rosylibrarian, ateolf, browner56)
    browner56: Two chilling, though extremely well written, reminders that liberty, freedom, and self-determination are not idle concepts.
  5. 264
    The Road by Cormac McCarthy (mrstreme)
  6. 201
    Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Schwehnchen, mcenroeucsb)
  7. 181
    Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (smiteme)
  8. 269
    A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (wosret)
  9. 140
    Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (krazy4katz)
    krazy4katz: An upside down recommendation, as this is an "all-women" utopia rather than a dystopia, but a fun read.
  10. 2411
    The Giver by Lois Lowry (cflorente)
  11. 120
    The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper (lesvrolyk)
  12. 110
    When She Woke by Hillary Jordan (sparemethecensor)
    sparemethecensor: The Handmaid's Tale is the classic forerunner to dystopic fiction of sexist futures. When She Woke picks up the mantel with a more modern version of a misogynistic theocracy taking over government. Both show terrifying futures for the state of women in society.… (more)
  13. 111
    We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (themephi)
  14. 112
    The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (smiteme)
  15. 167
    V for Vendetta by Alan Moore (readerbabe1984)
  16. 124
    The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (wosret, Kaelkivial)
    Kaelkivial: Both stories of strong women who resist (in one form or another) the system that holds them down. Both books fairly fast paced and gripping; acts of violence and loss scattered throughout.
  17. 91
    The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (LamontCranston)
  18. 92
    Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (k8_not_kate)
  19. 92
    The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (bookcrushblog)
  20. 70
    I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (wosret)

(see all 66 recommendations)

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AP Lit (45)
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» See also 2191 mentions

English (1,074)  Spanish (15)  French (7)  Dutch (5)  Catalan (5)  German (4)  Italian (3)  Swedish (3)  Finnish (3)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Danish (1)  Arabic (1)  Hebrew (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (1,124)
Showing 1-5 of 1074 (next | show all)
Read for the comparative on the LC which I think made it less enjoyable, had also watched the first 2 seasons of the show which added to my lack of enjoyment.


Reread and it was 10x better than the first time reading it ( )
  highlandcow | Mar 13, 2024 |
Still terrifying, still a warning to be heeded. I was surprised however at the ending. I very clearly remembered Offred escaping, with a whole scene of her being safe. That doesn’t happen in the book. ( )
  73pctGeek | Mar 5, 2024 |
How sad! This was a gut-wrenching story, brilliantly narrated by Clare Danes. I see why this is labeled a modern classic. ( )
  jazzbird61 | Feb 29, 2024 |
I really wanted to like this book. I first read it in high school and thought I would give it another chance as I might not have liked it initially due to the assignment attached to the read.

But this book just is not for me. The style of writing is not one to which I am accustomed and it was difficult to get through. ( )
  brozic | Jan 27, 2024 |
Amazing, may be my favorite book I've read so far. Especially chilling given the current political climate. ( )
  emilychristen | Jan 23, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 1074 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (27 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Atwood, Margaretprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Balbusso, AnnaIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Balbusso, ElenaIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Boyd, FlorenceCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Danes, ClaireNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
David, JoannaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Marcellino, FredCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Martin, ValerieIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Moss, ElisabethNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pennati, CamilloTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.

And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

And she said, Behold my maid Bihah, go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.
                              — Genesis 30:1–3
But as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal . . .
                              — Jonathan Swift,
A Modest Proposal
In the desert there is no sign that says, Thou shalt not eat stones.
                              — Sufi proverb
Dedication
For Mary Webster and Perry Miller
First words
We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.
Quotations
As all historians know, the past is a great darkness, and filled with echoes. Voices may reach us from it; but what they say to us is imbued with the obscurity of the matrix out of which they come; and, try as we may, we cannot always decipher them precisely in the clearer light of our own day.
Time has not stood still. It has washed over me, washed me away, as if I’m nothing more than a woman of sand, left by a careless child too near the water.
The shell of the egg is smooth but also grained; small pebbles of calcium are defined by the sunlight, like craters on the moon. It’s a barren landscape, yet perfect; it’s the sort of desert the saints went into, so their minds would not be distracted by profusions. I think that this is what God must look like: an egg. The life of the moon may not be on the surface, but inside.
But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest. Maybe none of this is about control ... Maybe it’s about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.
There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia, freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.
Last words
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Disambiguation notice
The Reading Guide Edition is the substantial equivalent the main Handmaid's Tale work, with a few additional pages of questions for groups to consider at the back. Please therefore leave these works combined together. Thank you
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Wikipedia in English (4)

This look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.

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