Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

182 reviews

katiey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Everyone should read this book. It is written in a vivid way that makes the strange world and characters jump out and feel so real. I love how the way it is written truly makes it feel like the main character telling her story to someone. In some ways a cautionary tale, as well as a reflection on patriarchy and control of women, it is an important story to be told and to be read. This book pulled raw emotion out of me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Alcohol

All of this content is important to the story told in this book, and helps it to feel real.

author_d_r_oestreicher's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

 

Gilead. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Offred is the Commander’s (Fred’s) Handmaid. She wears red. The women who work in the house (Cora and Rita) are Martha’s. They wear green. The Commander’s wife is Serena Joy. She wears blue. The male workers are Guardians. Offred’s purpose is to get pregnant. Serena Joy oversees the monthly ritual for this purpose. Many suspect that the Commander is sterile. “I almost gasp: he’s said a forbidden word. Sterile. There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that’s the law.” A classic novel of a patriarchal dystopia. Read it. 

 

 

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for Omega Cats Press books and book recommendations. 

For my extended notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-handmaids-tale-by-margaret-atwood.html 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Abortion, and Colonisation

kate_____'s review against another edition

challenging reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I thought this was a fascinating read after watching the show a few months ago! Pretty quick to get through, and fascinating to get more of Offred’s thoughts. However, I felt the end was a bit abrupt and open ended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Ableism

lorie266's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

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

bethlevalley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

4.0

It's objectively a great book, well-written and meaningful. However, I had a hard time actually reading it due to the subject matter and therefore found myself avoiding picking it up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

peachybee53's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense 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

4.0

The Handmaid's Tale is surprisingly witty and blunt for its complex subject matter. I didn't feel particularly attached to any character, though I found Offred and Moira to be relatable at times. 

Slow but intriguing, it carefully balances monotony with memory, manipulation and soft rebellion. It tackles difficult topics such as misogyny, fertility, tyranny and religion in a way that makes this kind of dystopia feel eerily possible from our current reality. I appreciated the dark humour, the way that society was manipulated into Gilead law so easily, and the way the writing comforted you into feeling certain practices were normal when they were, in reality, extremely troubling.

I grew more hooked the further into the novel I read and believe the epilogue tied it all together in an extremely clever way. I'm looking forward to reading The Testaments.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, and Suicide attempt

cumminsn's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

4.0

This book made me uncomfortable, which is obviously the point. Most disturbing is just how close society has managed to get to something akin to what is going on here as more and more rights are stripped from women. This book really does act as a warning for what could happen, and the notion makes me feel ill. 

Narratively, it was challenging at times to know what time period we were in, past or present, but this may have been further accentuated by the fact that was listening to the audio book so there were no obvious page breaks or any other such indicators that a change in time or place was happening. Otherwise, the story was chilling, and the end leaves us wondering what became of Offred. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

kmthood's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Classism

sestout's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and War