a book

The Handmaid's Tale

Name: The Handmaid's Tale
Rating: 5 (12 reviews)
Author: Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 9781328879943

Margaret Atwood · 1998 · 311 pages

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The Handmaid's Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment's calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid's Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.

recommended by 12 people

sourced from public statements

Emma Watson
“Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale over 30 years ago now, but it is a book that has never stopped fascinating readers because it articulates so vividly what it feels like for a woman to lose power over her own body.”↗
Gloria Steinem
“We’ve learned that Atwood’s novel should be read…as a warning about patriarchy and its control of reproduction as the underpinning of everything undemocratic.”↗
Lois Lowry
“This dystopian novel was set in Cambridge, Massachusetts — or what Cambridge had become after a revolution and under a new Christian-based government — and having lived myself in Cambridge there was a particular fascination for me. Again, the theme of women’s roles was an important one for me at that time in my life. I was in my 40s when I read this and my own life was shifting.”↗
All 32 of Emma Watson
“Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale over thirty years ago now, but it is a book that has never stopped fascinating readers because it articulates so vividly what it feels like for a woman to lose power over her own body. Like George Orwell’s 1984 (a novel that Atwood was inspired by) its title alone summons up a whole set of ideas, even for those who haven’t read it…Atwood has called it ‘speculative fiction’, but also says that all the practises described in the novel are ‘drawn from the historical record’ – i.e. are things that have actually taken place in the past. Could any of Atwood’s speculations take place again, or are some of them taking place already? Are the women in the book powerless in their oppression or could they be doing more to fight it?”↗
Tegan and Sara
“My grandmother was obsessed with Margaret Atwood. She loved, loved her books. I remember reading The Handmaid’s Tale and not understanding why my grandmother was so compelled by the writing. She always seemed so buttoned up, conservative and conventional. Now as an adult, I can see that she was using books and reading as a way to escape the life that she was supposed to live, which is sort of heartening to me now.”↗
Daniel Pink
Guy Kawasaki
Emma Stone
Anna Kendrick
Jenn Im
Catherine Mayer
Samantha Wong