The Handmaid's Tale (Contemporary classics)

A decent read, though I still maintain it is a feminist mirror of 1984.

A future over-zeolously religous dystopian government (set in or in part of the US) force 'Offred' into a life of being a breeder. Wouldn't be much of a story if she didn't rebel. (which she does, a bit at least). This book falls somewhere between 1984 and Brave new world, and yet seems to echo a lot of stuff I hear coming out of Iran these days, (especially with regard to treatment of women's...more

A future over-zeolously religous dystopian government (set in or in part of the US) force 'Offred' into a life of being a breeder. Wouldn't be much of a story if she didn't rebel. (which she does, a bit at least). This book falls somewhere between 1984 and Brave new world, and yet seems to echo a lot of stuff I hear coming out of Iran these days, (especially with regard to treatment of women's rights) so it is probably even more frighteningly relevent then it should be.   hide

Very readable and an absolute page-turner, though at times it focused on desire more than I would have preferred, rather than on escape attempts etc. But overall a must-read!

The women in The Handmaid's Tale had their freedom removed when their payment cards were "switched off". As the years pass, I can see more and more how easy it would be to remove a person's financial freedom. We are ever more reliant on cards to make payment. When did you last pay in the supermarket by cash or cheque? This is a compelling book and raises lots of questions.

Thanks Sam, I love it, of course.

Because it made me a feminist.

This is a work of fiction. May it remain so. The future depicted in these pages is absolutely terrifying, but not altogether impossible. The atmosphere of absolute loneliness and want is very heavy and difficult to read, yet the story is so gripping that I finished this book in a matter of days.

This is an excellent novel. Compelling, engaging, story-telling, challenging - it drew me in and aws very hard to put down. It is a dystopia story, set in a future society (in this case the US - renamed as the Republic of Gilead)under totalitarian rule...possibly a theocracy. Mostly it is about the subjugation of women to conservative and ultra-feminine roles, apparently for the preservation of...more

This is an excellent novel. Compelling, engaging, story-telling, challenging - it drew me in and aws very hard to put down. It is a dystopia story, set in a future society (in this case the US - renamed as the Republic of Gilead)under totalitarian rule...possibly a theocracy. Mostly it is about the subjugation of women to conservative and ultra-feminine roles, apparently for the preservation of the society. The roles for women are stereotypes named: Wives, Marthas, Handmaids, Aunts, Econowives and Unwomen. The "unwomen" are in a sense the illegitimate female members of society living outside the mainstream - "slaves" in the "colonies"...destined to be worked to death. The handmaids job is to provide babies for the sterile wives who are literally the wives of the elite men. The story is disturbing on several levels - the religious/conservative domination of society, the gender stereotyping - it is not so long ago that much of it was normal and in some places still is, the ideas of total enslavement of part of society (in this case women, but not so long ago total races), that some men might accept this as a good idea ever(!), the loneliness, defacing and dehumanising that occurs in our world when people are subjected to the domination, power, control of others. Prophetic visions like this are important. They warn, they remind and they repel.   hide

Gets a little confusing as it flips back and forth between various events in different times...and its hard to know what is real as the narrator uses a lot of imagination. Quite a haunting tale which makes you hope this never occurs in our world. Watched the film which seems to use all the more juicy bits, although makes up a few events which never happened.