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mvasso's review against another edition
3.0
It's difficult to imagine such a terrorizing society replacing the United States. I can't believe that people could go from living in freedom to having so much of their lives under government control or that women would tolerate such subjugation. However, the reality is that many societies in history have been like this and there are even some similar to it today in other parts of the world. This book really made me think and appreciate how precious our freedoms are.
mel420's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-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
ellisofia's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
dariusfli's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
fryln's review against another edition
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
really enjoyed listening to this at work. found the pacing almost hypnotic. freaky scary sad book
kaengera's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.5
oliviacasellini's review against another edition
5.0
This book was horrible and disturbing. And it was AMAZING. Although I find it terrible that someone could think of this, more so that I could see it happening, I felt like this book was both entertaining and pushing my limits on reading. I think everyone, men and women, should give this a try.
jojopatel99's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
dullshimmer's review against another edition
3.0
So going into The Handmaid's Tale I wasn't expecting much. I was expecting a book that used religion as the motivation for evil people to do evil things. I was positively surprised to see a much more nuanced view than that presented in the book, as much as it is really focused on in general really. Religious themes are behind part of the dystopian society known as Gilead, but it seems more focused on power and control than God and religion. In fact the book mentions a number of places where the government is going after other religious groups like Baptists, Catholics, and Quakers. I certainly didn't expect that.
While I was positively surprised with that aspect of the book, the rest of the book just didn't really wow me. It's a fine book in some ways, but in other ways I just felt that it lacked in a number of ways. I felt like most of the aspects of the book were mixed. There were pros and cons to a lot of the decisions made in the book and it just left a bit of an unsatisfied feeling on a number of fronts. I'll try to explain what I mean using some examples.
Let's start with the setting. On one hand the dystopian future of The Handmaid's Tale, is pretty interestingly awful. I feel like it is an interesting world and the structure of it is rather bleak and oppressive like any good dystopia should be. The color coding and strict caste system, the militarism, the pride of those at the top being above the system, and the religious symbolism being used to uphold the system are all well done in my opinion.
However, while the world is interesting in its structure. The setup for such a world coming into place seems much more unlikely. While I have run into religious people who hold some pretty patriarchal stances, the world of The Handmaid's Tale feels rather far-fetched. It would only really appeal to the most extreme of that group even. To have enough manpower to stage an entire revolt and new government is very unlikely. Atwood also seems to forget about state governments and that they would go down so quickly just due to the federal government being attacked/assassinated.
Honestly, it seems like Atwood knows this and doesn't really spend much time on this transition in any kind of concentrated way. She also tweaks this about this alternate US. A fertility crisis here, mentions of radioactive meltdowns here and there, but not a whole lot of details. It works due to her use of the first person narration and that person not knowing much, but it also doesn't help lend a lot of credibility to her dystopian vision. It almost would have been better to leave it a mystery.
Another example is the structure of the book. While it is interesting to have the three threads weave their way through the story: The time of transition with Luke, her training at the Red center, and the present as a Handmaid, it is also a bit confusing and disjointed. There were quite a few places where the transitions weren't entirely obvious and it took me a moment to realize we've shifted time periods again. I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of this way of writing, but I think it also did help the narrative because it was often "Offred's" way of spending her time alone, reminiscing about the past and how she got there.
Also in this vein, in felt like the first half of the book kind of dragged at times, then as things got more interesting and tangled the book went too fast and then just rushed toward the end. Then left us with a rather unsatisfying ending. One of uncertainty and mystery rather than anything too concrete. Although I must say I did like the epilogue and the imagining of a future conference where historians are talking about this time period and using the book, or rather the writing down of tape recordings, to get a grasp on how things were during the time.
So yeah it was just a mixed bag. Overall, I can see why people have liked the book. To me it just doesn't quite seem like the dire warning for the future than some other dystopian novels have. It does have a pretty interesting world setup and everything it just isn't quite the extreme that I see us going to. I expected to find a sloppy attack on religion, but didn't. Instead of that I found an interesting book that wound up being a mix of good and bad.
While I was positively surprised with that aspect of the book, the rest of the book just didn't really wow me. It's a fine book in some ways, but in other ways I just felt that it lacked in a number of ways. I felt like most of the aspects of the book were mixed. There were pros and cons to a lot of the decisions made in the book and it just left a bit of an unsatisfied feeling on a number of fronts. I'll try to explain what I mean using some examples.
Let's start with the setting. On one hand the dystopian future of The Handmaid's Tale, is pretty interestingly awful. I feel like it is an interesting world and the structure of it is rather bleak and oppressive like any good dystopia should be. The color coding and strict caste system, the militarism, the pride of those at the top being above the system, and the religious symbolism being used to uphold the system are all well done in my opinion.
However, while the world is interesting in its structure. The setup for such a world coming into place seems much more unlikely. While I have run into religious people who hold some pretty patriarchal stances, the world of The Handmaid's Tale feels rather far-fetched. It would only really appeal to the most extreme of that group even. To have enough manpower to stage an entire revolt and new government is very unlikely. Atwood also seems to forget about state governments and that they would go down so quickly just due to the federal government being attacked/assassinated.
Honestly, it seems like Atwood knows this and doesn't really spend much time on this transition in any kind of concentrated way. She also tweaks this about this alternate US. A fertility crisis here, mentions of radioactive meltdowns here and there, but not a whole lot of details. It works due to her use of the first person narration and that person not knowing much, but it also doesn't help lend a lot of credibility to her dystopian vision. It almost would have been better to leave it a mystery.
Another example is the structure of the book. While it is interesting to have the three threads weave their way through the story: The time of transition with Luke, her training at the Red center, and the present as a Handmaid, it is also a bit confusing and disjointed. There were quite a few places where the transitions weren't entirely obvious and it took me a moment to realize we've shifted time periods again. I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of this way of writing, but I think it also did help the narrative because it was often "Offred's" way of spending her time alone, reminiscing about the past and how she got there.
Also in this vein, in felt like the first half of the book kind of dragged at times, then as things got more interesting and tangled the book went too fast and then just rushed toward the end. Then left us with a rather unsatisfying ending. One of uncertainty and mystery rather than anything too concrete. Although I must say I did like the epilogue and the imagining of a future conference where historians are talking about this time period and using the book, or rather the writing down of tape recordings, to get a grasp on how things were during the time.
So yeah it was just a mixed bag. Overall, I can see why people have liked the book. To me it just doesn't quite seem like the dire warning for the future than some other dystopian novels have. It does have a pretty interesting world setup and everything it just isn't quite the extreme that I see us going to. I expected to find a sloppy attack on religion, but didn't. Instead of that I found an interesting book that wound up being a mix of good and bad.