Reviews

Many insights into the way women were viewed in the 19th century and how it affected their perceived guilt or innocence when accused of a crime. Good story, although the ending seemed a bit too tidy.

sjandersen's review

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emotional reflective 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

3.75

heathercide's review against another edition

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5.0

This might be my favorite Atwood book, though it’s been forever since I’ve read The Handmaid’s Tale. It hit all the right notes for me: a story about storytelling, an incredibly compelling female protagonist/narrator (though the male narrator was a little bit like Jimmy in Oryx and Crake: more than a little gross, especially in certain attitudes and behaviors towards women, but somehow you root for him anyway), lovely, quiet, vivid imagery and prose. There were so many passages where I wished I had a highlighter to make note of it, and I rarely annotated anything in college (bad English major, I know). I don’t typically find murder mysteries interesting—which this is, in a sense—but I liked this one quite a lot, probably because it’s less focused on the murder itself but on the remembering of it.

I’m so happy this has been adapted into a miniseries on Netflix. I know what I’m doing over the next few days.

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