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Top recommendations. Written over 30 years ago, but based in present time. Scary close to what could happen the near future. Makes you think. MUST READ!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I am a rabid reader and when they bother to make a TV show or movie about the book I read the book. I have found that on a whole it's a big mistake and this is one of those examples. Story moves like a painting ,interesting but no motion. It was a quick read,thank goodness. One word. Boring!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
BooksAll Categories Home Media Books The Handmaid's Tale Overall rating: Reviewed by 31 Epinions users Write a Review Compare Prices View Details Read Reviews Add to wish list Subscribe to reviews on this product Read Review of The Handmaid's Tale Review Summary A shocking dystopia: Could it happen in America? Apr 17 '00 (Updated Apr 17 '00) Author's Product Rating Pros The writing is incredible, engrossing, and horrifying. Cons I already mentioned horrifying. Full Review This is one of the very few books I didn't sell back at the end of the semester from my Core I class. The Handmaid's Tale is one of the best books I have ever read, and I suggest it to absolutely everyone. Required for Core I - Perspectives on the Individual, I had to read Margaret Atwood's novel. I am glad, though, because it's a book I most likely would never have even picked up otherwise. Offred ("Of Fred") is the narrator of this story. Ripped from her home and family after a very extremist Christian group had overthrown the U.S. Government, she is now basically property, maybe even a pet, to her Commander. Her sole purpose in life is to bear him a child, as many women have been rendered infertile due to nuclear radiation and other factors. Her "freedom from" is great - freedom from harm, freedom from fanciful emotions like love and passion. But her "freedom to" do anything else has been restricted to all but the bare essentials - eating, sleeping, doing her exercises, going to buy food, and preparing for the "ritual" where the Commander will try to impregnate her. Atwood creates a whole different world, a counter reaction to the greater liberalization of society. The Japanese women in their lipstick and high heels are used as a symbol of "what America had been before," a world that Offred can't even relate to anymore. With increasingly more liberal attitudes today, are we going to come full circle and revert once again to an ultra-conservative state? This is what Atwood suggests when creating the Republic of Gilead. The Commanders, the Wives, the Handmaids, the Marthas, and the Eyes... Could it really happen? The mere thought sends chills down my spine. I also love the very end of the book. If you haven't read it, I won't spoil it for you. I believe it is an "Afterward" that puts a whole new spin on the entire book you just read. Absolutely ingenious. You will despise almost everything you read in this book, but it will make you think. And that's what is so great about it. I've heard that it was made into a movie some years ago, but I haven't been able to locate it. I also heard that an X-Files fan had written a great fan-fic crossover where Scully became Offred and Mulder became Nick, one of the Eyes. I keep hoping to come across either of these things, because The Handmaid's Tale is that fantastic.Read full review
There are only a small handful of books that have affected me in a REALLY personal way. In a way that I always try to put into words and always, ultimately, fail. I have read a lot of books over the years and I've liked many, disliked plenty too, loved and hated a smaller amount... but out of the thousands I've read, there's less than ten - maybe even less than five, now I think about it - that honestly hit me so hard that I would go so far as to say they changed me. The Handmaid's Tale is a book that changed my life. I know, I know, big dramatic statement to make. I hear you. And normally I wouldn't say that, even about books I give five glowing stars; but with this book it is nothing short of the truth. This book was the spark that turned me into a feminist. It was the spark that made me interested in gender politics and, through that, politics in general. One of my favourite teachers in the world gave me this book and said "I think you'll like this one." She was so wrong. I didn't like this book; I loved it. And I hated it. I lost sleep over it. I lived in it. I was so completely absorbed into this world, into this dark but oddly quiet dystopian reality. There is something about the tone of Atwood's novels that works like a knife to my heart. Quiet, rich, the drama just bubbling under the surface of the prose. Atwood doesn't waste words, she doesn't sugarcoat her stories with meaningless phrases, everything is subtle and everything is powerful. This dystopia is a well-told feminist nightmare. An horrific portrait of a future that seems far too reminiscent of aspects of our own society and its very real recent history. The best kind of dystopian fiction is, for me, that which convinces me this world might or could happen. Atwood's world-building may be sparse and built up gradually as the story unfolds, but she slowly paints a portrait of stifling oppression and injustice that had me hanging on her every word. For someone like me who was so caught up in Offred's experiences, this book was truly disturbing. In the best possible way. There are so many themes and possible interpretations that can be taken from this book - plenty of which I've literally written essays on - but I'll let new readers discover and interpret the book for themselves. I will issue you one warning, though: the ending is ambiguous and puts many people off the book. But, for me, it's one of the very few cases where an open ending has worked 100%. It made the story even more powerful, in my opinion, and guaranteed I would never be able to forget Offred and, indeed, this whole book. “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”Read full review
Verified purchase: No
The Handmaida Tale is a well told story that keeps the reader captivated. I am an author and love Margaret Atwood's writing style and ability to tell us about a futuristic world.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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