Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

38 reviews

kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content

Minor: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

alixbx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

To be edited when I can compose my thoughts.

This main character is a piece of work (derogatory) but the story’s major elements are so relevant all these decades after it’s first publication. I don’t know yet how to reconcile that I hate the main character so much and yet feel that this should be required reading.

Full thoughts to come in an edit, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

This book is explicit in every topic it addresses, and it is addressed through the mind of the main character who sexualizes everything, no matter how unnecessarily. It is often without warning, too, so you can’t even skip over it if you think it’s coming up. It’s also graphic in every other way, too.

rchulin1's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow I loved this book immensely. It is very dark but so worth it every sentence word paragraph was so well thought out and placed I found myself imagining all the reasons for each placement though this book is on the shorter side the story feels so long in a good way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lmagie's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infertility

Minor: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and War

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

pokecol's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.5

It is hard to say much about this book as a story because I feel fundamentally there isn't one. A good deal of the design of the plot layout is to inform us and to educate us in this frame of reference so that we might interpret the smaller actions within the bounds of this set-up. This is very good at doing its intended job, making us uncomfortable, question and abhorred by such a possible interpretation of the future.
However, as a narrative, the amount of content could make perhaps 3 or 4 chapters maximum. All that is told occurs as: part of the collective, Moira vanishes, meet a man, eventually find a zone of comfort in the horror, find Moira again and "escape". But also not really, because some of the events aren't true at all, a lot of the story ends up having been a fantasy of the Main Character derived to display a measure of comfort compared to what she is known in the identity of telling the story herself.
I do think there is of course a lot of power in this whole way of telling The Handmaid's Tale, but it makes for an admittedly very dull experience besides the deeper reflective context of the book.

Fundamentally the divined idea of the society proposed is disgusting and the hyper subjugation tickles a sore-point for me in a way I do not enjoy. I feel there is required reading in the intent of the novel but it only explores so much through the idea of our Main Character and provides little in the expansive meaning or identity of these change beyond hierarchy. As a story the snippets we flashback to and compare the lives before and after, is excellent and made for compelling hope in drawing our Main Character out from this world eventually.

But the fact of the matter is we do not really have any progress to the story, at all, for the first entire two thirds of the book, and then the last third ends up not even necessarily being true. I do not fault the MC for her choices and attitude, considering the circumstances she is very much doing better than one might expect - yet as having just finished it, I do not at all recall her name.
The fact that some points of reference are used to describe the horrific nature of the set-up but we skip over the "really bad" parts near the end seems to be a really weird choice. I have no interest in abuse topics at the best of times but I have to say that it seems a backwards idea to avoid that harshest dichotomy to near the conclusion in the failure to escape - even if it is to help frame the whole scenario as a more positive outcome.

Unlike other deeply dystopian outlooks on modernity, I do not feel I got so much a good a grasp on things that allowed me to live the experiences, or understand character perspective. I feel a little trite in critiquing The Handmaid's Tale for solely it's story content, because there is more message to it than that, however, such a message can be conveyed by many means and Margaret Atwood chose for it to be a fiction novel - and in many respects the fiction novel part is where it fails the most in my reading experience.
I do think though, the world is revoltingly plausible, and in many ways these smaller accumulating elements are no stranger to a 21st century world already. In predictive, and cautionary, writings such as this I think The Handmaid's Tale does do its job providing the subject matter to a reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

athrillerreader's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, and Murder

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

breedawnwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

4.0

This is a very good book.

It was a little difficult to get into if I didn’t read it consistently (as the writing style is very different from what I typically read), but I really did enjoy Atwood’s imagining of this wretched, disturbing, and utterly gripping dystopian world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, Torture, and Alcohol

lexib13's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

wow. the parallels between Gilead and America in 2023 are insane. this book restored my faith in humanity while simultaneously crumbling it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail