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mj_86's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexism
Moderate: Death, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Miscarriage, Abortion, and War
alyssapusateri's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Confinement, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Gun violence, Excrement, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War
readwithsarah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Rape and Sexism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Abortion
bethlevalley's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment
peachybee53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Slow but intriguing, it carefully balances monotony with memory, manipulation and soft rebellion. It tackles difficult topics such as misogyny, fertility, tyranny and religion in a way that makes this kind of dystopia feel eerily possible from our current reality. I appreciated the dark humour, the way that society was manipulated into Gilead law so easily, and the way the writing comforted you into feeling certain practices were normal when they were, in reality, extremely troubling.
I grew more hooked the further into the novel I read and believe the epilogue tied it all together in an extremely clever way. I'm looking forward to reading The Testaments.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, and Suicide attempt
eyebrightt's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content
Minor: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
ellisinthetardis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
i think i would’ve definitely enjoyed this book more had i read it before it’s premise became so well known, because a lot of it is dedicated to explaining how things work in Gilead; obviously this is not a thing either i or Atwood could have controlled, but it still impacted how much i enjoyed it.
all in all, defo give it a read! however much you think you know about the premise, there’s for sure more to find out, and it’s only 320 pages. but this wasn’t my absolute, 5-star, blow-my-socks-into-the-pacific favourite read of the year.
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
sarahbroccoli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
shay_talksbooks's review against another edition
4.75
A classic of dystopian fiction that somehow I hadn't read before! It took me a while to get into the story and the writing, but once I did I enjoyed it.
Don't get me wrong, this is a heavy read, and one I had to take my time with so I had some space to process. I tend to avoid books that include talk of
It made me feel a lot of things: rage, a whole load of frustration, sadness and fear, but some hope was peppered in there too. The hardest thing about this book is just how plausible it is. This could totally happen, and we're seeing it happen across parts of the world right now, and that brought a lot of reflection on my own standing in soceity as a woman. My own fears and concerns. My own knowledge of how fragile my rights and freedom perhaps are.
The purposeful altering of names stood out to me in this book too, and made me think about the power of a name for self-identity, but also for ownership and power (especially when that's held by someone else)
On the whole, an incredible book. One I may bump up to 5☆ if it sticks with me like I think it will, and one I would encourage everyone to read at least once (even if dysopian isn't your thing)
Note: I didn't love the final chapter, Historical Notes. I can see what it added to the story and why it was included, but the story felt like it ended for me when Offred stopped speaking.
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide