Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

51 reviews

booksnobb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

this was obviously a brilliant book and is defo a new fave of mine.

it was not what i was expecting. i did not expect such incredible writing, nor such a disturbing story - but i loved it anyway. the writing style made this book and if im honest, its easily the best writing i have ever read: it was complex, not to the point of it being a difficult read, but it was so soul-bearing and rich with tension, emotion and vivid mental pictures. i could rave about it for ages but in summary, it dropped my jaw and it WILL open your legs. However, i found that near the ending the writing became slightly repetitive - like too much of a good thing. i wish Atwood used less minicliffhangers at the end of paragraphs (please tell me that makes sense) because although they were all great, there were so many that they kinda lost their punch and had a much lesser impact.

Atwood’s take on dystopia was so captivating and actually quite frightening. even though it is very very far off from our current reality, as i read this, the worldbuilding was so solid that i felt like this was a genuine possibility. and im not gonna do a whole analysis here but the social issues dealt with here had such intriguing commentary. you could write a book on this book and im sure someone has. i would read it.

oh and this is the first book where i didn’t roll my eyes at the first-person narrative bc she executes it SO WELL. there was no looking into her golden orbs in the mirror 🥳🥳 ngl i didnt even notice that it was in first person until like the middle of the book. Whether thats a compliment to Atwood or an insult to me im not sure. probably both. and this book actually wouldnt have worked in the third person, even if it were omniscient. it’s just too intimate for that. 

i loved all the characters, especially the protagonist because damn they were so INTERESTING. im not really one for morals influencing whether i like a character, but i need them to feel genuine. so although there wasnt much development per se, there was a lot of character work, and i felt like i understood them. i think its because the protagonist had so much empathy, so through her eyes we saw each character laid bare. Atwood also didnt give two shits whether we liked them, and in doing so made them much more real and imo likeable. 

i loved the structure - the story escalated gradually and the plot thickened as it kinda examined and critiqued the society and it made me feel pretty smart while reading it. i love books that boost my ego. Atwood just has this way of providing information unhurriedly, so it feels like a natural expansion and never like infodumping.

so, in summary, go read The Handmaid’s Tale 💗💕

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

samshort's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

apatheticastronaut13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Colonisation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sashtastic3's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A very good book. The story telling was interesting as was the dark horrific plot. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of indication of who was speaking and the lack of quotation marks in the book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

alliekaye23's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Open ending, not my favorite. I prefer cut and dry. Enjoyed the process of getting there. More modern and relevant to today than I was expecting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Animal death

readerorwateva's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Miscarriage

bookish_bry's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a difficult book to rate. I liked it well enough, though it was a bit slow. The narrator had a pretty good voice and I didn't find her annoying even if I disagreed with her a lot. Honestly, it was good that she wasn't a perfect person. At the same time I struggled to really get into the book and plot. I would have liked to have seen a little more about our narrator from before as we only got brief flashes. I feel like that would have cemented her personality and its changes in my mind a little better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicide, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and War

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

this is considered a classic in my eyes. this is technically my second time reading this book; the first time i read the handmaid’s tale was the summer before my sophomore year of high school. it definitely made an impact on me. now that i’m older, i respect atwood so much more. she truly is an amazement.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death and Alcohol

giulianalb99's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

Al principio me pareció un poco aburrido y me ha costado leerlo. Está bien, pero esperaba más. Todavía no he visto la serie y tengo muchas ganas pero creo que esperaré a leerme el segundo libro. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol

elijah__'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Wonderful book, frighteningly real. One little detail (which may be me overanalyzing) that I thought was really interesting was the main character's name -- Offred is, of course, Of-Fred, but can also be split into Off-Red, and she is dehumanized and reduced to the red garments she wears by Gilead; the book humanizes her, takes off the red. This is, terrifyingly, the most realistic and tangible dystopia I've ever read, and I love how Offred's flashbacks paint her life before and the very realistic descent into dystopia.
There are a few very small things that made me go 4/5 instead of 5/5; the biggest (while still minor) is the lack of distinction of the dialogue in memory or flashback scenes, of which there are many. I get what she was going for -- it feels more stream-of-consciousness, like Offred is idly thinking back on these events -- but if Atwood didn't want to use quotation marks, italics also would've gone a long way to clarify which bits were spoken by characters. Also, while her one-changed-word perversion of a Marx quote ("from each according to *her* ability, to each according to *his* needs") is very effective and completely alters the meaning with a single swapped pronoun, a right-wing American theocratic dystopia inserting Marx into its amended bible just seems like a stretch, considering the right's hatred of communism. Again, those are fairly small nitpicks; everyone should read this book. It's truly horrifying that it's as real now as it was when it was published (perhaps even moreso.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Misogyny