Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

14 reviews

linnylionheart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Self harm, Abortion, and Deportation

emma97louise's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? No

4.5

Chillingly accurate to what could be happening to our society now 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Classism, and Deportation

charlottemarie17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

sav_22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Oddly, I did not feel as strongly for this as I did the show adaptation. I feel like it wasn’t as easy to connect to the story as much. Pacing was quick and it left you feeling hollow and sad; this was likely the point, but it didn’t really have any development other than world-building. this has a nihilistic perspective, which can be more impactful for the message depending on how you go into it.

the show covers this entirely in just season 1, except a few passages here and there. The show explores this concept far more deeply and gives Offred more depth and personhood. Her real name is never mentioned in the book, as the show takes many creative liberties to explore the concept more.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Self harm, and Abandonment

balamaqab's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Torture

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Gaslighting

Minor: Abandonment

jneverland's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Deportation

lakea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

lorraine19's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this book after I started the show. (See spoiler for connection between show and book.) It is very tense and covers extremely sensitive subjects in a brutal way. 

For this reason, I'd advise against reading if you are sensitive or have trauma that is easily triggered. 

However, it does highlight some very relevant issues and is something I think many people should read. It will make you uncomfortable. You might have to put it down for a couple days to process it or take a breather. But it is worthwhile and will make you recognize small signs of sexism and discrimination. It shows how small things can escalate. It is also very heavy on religion and politics, but I view the main character as someone wanting to reclaim her religion from extremists - for this reason I do not believe it is anti-religious but anti-extremism. 

I do wish they went more into some of the other characters impacted (which I believe she does in the sequel) but it also did a good job of explaining the world strictly from the main character's POV. 

<SPOILER> The book only covers what is basically the first season of the show but the plot is also a bit different. This leaves it open ended as well. <SPOILER>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Classism

Ritualistic rape, religious extremism, political abuse

luz21's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is an advance book at first had a bit of a difficult time to read. After a while I got used to it. The concept is pretty intresting and quite frightening.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, and Abandonment

reddeddy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Trafficking, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail