Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Handmaid's Tale

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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peachybee53's review against another edition

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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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eyebrightt's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition

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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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ellisinthetardis's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

when i saw that the handmaid’s tale and the kite runner were my two set texts, i thought for sure I’d enjoy the former most. im a feminist who grew up worshipping at the alter of suzanne collins (and really any other dystopia i could get my hands on), so it seemed like the perfect mix. however, i found the writing style (while intentional, as those who have finished the book will know) to be a bit of an obstacle to immersing myself in margaret atwood’s AMAZING world building. nevertheless, this book is obviously a classic and one that is undoubtedly required reading for feminists and dystopia-lovers.
i think i would’ve definitely enjoyed this book more had i read it before it’s premise became so well known, because a lot of it is dedicated to explaining how things work in Gilead; obviously this is not a thing either i or Atwood could have controlled, but it still impacted how much i enjoyed it.

all in all, defo give it a read! however much you think you know about the premise, there’s for sure more to find out, and it’s only 320 pages. but this wasn’t my absolute, 5-star, blow-my-socks-into-the-pacific favourite read of the year.

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sarahbroccoli's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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shay_talksbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark

4.75

Borrowed from my local library.

A classic of dystopian fiction that somehow I hadn't read before! It took me a while to get into the story and the writing, but once I did I enjoyed it.

Don't get me wrong, this is a heavy read, and one I had to take my time with so I had some space to process. I tend to avoid books that include talk of

pregnancy, birth and fertility

as they're a big trigger for me, so I went into this knowing they would come up & that I would need time to take breaks from the story.

It made me feel a lot of things: rage, a whole load of frustration, sadness and fear, but some hope was peppered in there too. The hardest thing about this book is just how plausible it is. This could totally happen, and we're seeing it happen across parts of the world right now, and that brought a lot of reflection on my own standing in soceity as a woman. My own fears and concerns. My own knowledge of how fragile my rights and freedom perhaps are.

The purposeful altering of names stood out to me in this book too, and made me think about the power of a name for self-identity, but also for ownership and power (especially when that's held by someone else)

On the whole, an incredible book. One I may bump up to 5☆ if it sticks with me like I think it will, and one I would encourage everyone to read at least once (even if dysopian isn't your thing)

Note: I didn't love the final chapter, Historical Notes. I can see what it added to the story and why it was included, but the story felt like it ended for me when Offred stopped speaking.

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sirch's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

3.5

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