The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood

Feb 1986 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

Now a Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss. The Handmaid's Tale is an instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from "the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction" (New York Times)

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population.

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 funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.

Ratings and reviews

Get over yourselves, this book isn't a cautionary tale. It's slow clumsy fumbling, for a cross to climb upon. The sheer huberis, defecating on the one culture whose empathetic convictions, afforded you such privilege. I'ld love to hear the chastisement native Saudi, Somali or Vietnamese women would level at such a juvenile attempt to appropriate their struggles. You're so creepy Karen Atwood.

Its set far in the future. Total controlled government controls everything. About 2% of women can still conceive. The men are at war. There are just 2 classes of people: rich and the poor. Once You begin reading this book, you'll find it hard to put it down. The movie was ok, but the movie left out alot of important parts.

I'm 40% in and not sure I care to finish. Extremely minimal events have occurred to this point and if I were ignorant to the story, I wouldn't have any idea where we are headed. It's like listening to a vlogger describe her uneventful trip to the grocery store but with emphasis on sexualized produce. Stating that men use urinals to flaunt themselves to each other is quite ignorant actually... There are very strict rules on where to stand and where to look when using them, and they conserve water. I feel the points meant to rally are one sided interpretations and that comes off shallow. Nobody in this book seems happy, which is unusual and depressing. Even in dystopian books there's small reasons to be happy. But, this book is quite the slog in my opinion. I gave it a shot but I'd rather read something else with my time

About the author

Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries, is the author of over fifty books, including fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. In addition to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning television series, her works include Cat’s Eye, short-listed for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; The MaddAddam Trilogy; The Heart Goes Last; Hag-Seed; The Testaments, which won the Booker Prize and was long-listed for the Giller Prize; and the poetry collection Dearly. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in Great Britain for her services to literature. She lives in Toronto.