Rating: 
Summary: This book was spellbinding.
Review: The Handmaid's Tale was a maddening book. The injustice to women made my blood boil. Still when you sit and think about it you realize how possible it really is. That's the frightening part. I was hypnotized reading this. I kept asking myself how could anyone let this happen? Overall I thought it was a great book. Margaret Atwood really gets into the character to make it realistic. The emotion put into the book are so strong they jump off of every page.
Rating: 
Summary: "It couldn't happen in the 20thcen!" Ha. This is Iran, kids
Review: The end had to be the way it was. Its ambiguity kept it from being cheesy (a 'happy' ending) or completely fatalistic/pessimistic (like Orwell did), and so avoided, albeit in a small way, a typical trap of utopic/dystopic literature: being all one way or the other. Its loose ends gave it the further distance of 'History', which always has loose ends. Of course, setting it in History gave the novel another dimension perhaps not completely warranted by the book, but did extend its overall quality of haziness, a limitation of view that echoes and furthers the theme of the narrator's own limited view. Which reminds me: this book should not be dismissed as boring. The pace was meant to be slow, sluggish, sleepy, in step with the narrator's own sluggish, always waiting life. The style reinforces her actual lifestyle (in beautiful language). Those bored with trying to understand Gilead from behind the high wings of a bonnet should take steps that this life never happens to them. (Orwell hated the control of humans by opressive governmental use of technology, Atwood the control of humans by oppressive governmental use of theocratic views of gender (generalization). Both showed the dangers of their respective anathemi (?) in their works. One cannot dismiss either of their concerns, for each is a legitimate (and extreme) danger. Neither book can really replace the other.) I was especially struck by the cultural/historial relativism's dismissal of the suffering in Gilead (in the His. Notes); it makes one a bit more wary towards the postmodern view.
Rating:
Summary: Great start but loses it at the end
Review: This is a great summer beach read because it isn't very challenging and definately holds your interest, but if you're looking for something more profound, this isn't your read. Atwood has some incredible ideas and keeps you engaged throughout the entire novel, but fails to produce in the end. However, I would definately recommend this book for its thought-provoking ideas and potential realism.
Rating:
Summary: The best book ever.
Review: This book is absolutely the best book ever written. It's intriguing to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Classic together with 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World
Review: An incredible novel that explores the possible near future. Frightening in a word. I would consider Atwood (in this novel) a writer in the same level as Orwell, Huxley and Bradbury. But the ending could be a bit better. A MUST READ !
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent plot reduced to womens lib propaganda
Review: Upon reading the synopsis of this book, one felt captivated immediatly. On preparing myself for the acclaimed 1984ish style and structure, I expected a nightmare which truely provoked raw emotion. How wrong I was. True, it would be unfair to say the book was crap, as it is clearly written with careful attention so as to create maximum thought and impact. The plot too holds a lot of promise but never delivers the Orwellian dread that could have been. Margaret Atwood is a woman with a lot to say, but unfortunatly does not possess the skill to put all this into a single coverbound dissertation. As a poet, metaphor is second nature to Atwood, a fact which becomes increasingly obvious as the novel progresses. Atwood's major error in writing this book is that she assumed that everybody would be captivated by her style and hold on until the very end of the book (Historical Notes) when all is revealed and the final piece of the puzzle slots neatly into place. As a feminist who clearly targets females as her audience, Atwood forgot that to ever be a literary classic, the book must be readable by all. A study of other reviews in this section will show that feminine readers will award excellent marks and the masculine minded will denounce the book as boring crap. Love it or hate it, the book is a good one so long as it is viewed through a womens eyes. Much of the "horror" is aimed at women and provoking them into thinking that this could happen. As a male reader, I found this complete bunk and much of the tension was lost on me. Proclaiming this text suitable for academic study may be a mistake. To assess the text well enough to get an "A", one must read between the lines and think as a woman. This is neither an easy or comfortable way of studying a novel and I'm using this review to point it out. Final Word: Be Germaine Greer in the exam hall. Any deviation from the Atwood view wiil reduce one to a "C" at best.
Rating:
Summary: A dull, unremarkable look at the future
Review: A very boring book that has some interesting ideas but unfortunately fails miserably in bringing those ideas together. Atwood may be a good writer but her writing talents are spent here. In Offred, she creates a very pathetic character that is too uninteresting for the readers to care about what happens to her. I could not wait for this book to end, although I applaud Atwood for her creativity. This book belongs in the 70s when the feminist movement was taking shape. In the 90s, it is outdated. If anything, this book is NOT timeless. "The Handmaid's Tale" is a waste of paper that should have been written by a better writer or as a better story.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking!
Review: I have read this book several times, both for college classes and for my own pleasure, and every time I find something new and different about it. I am struck by her ability to take modern things that we take for granted and make them seem horrific in the setting she creates. As an Enlish teacher, I enjoy teaching this novel in conjunction with 1984, Animal Farm, and The Giver. My students appreciate a modern point of view, and it allows me to bring in a woman writer. If you liked Atwood's novel, try the others.
Rating:
Summary: an eerily realistic novel
Review: What will the future hold for women, more empowerment and equality one would hope...Margaret Atwood begs to differ. This novel gave me the shivers...women having nothing o' their own, being denied the right to read, have jobs, bank accounts, and being assessed based upon fertility. I would hope that fate does not await us...however, the way Atwood depicts the future, it seems frighteningly realistic.
Rating:
Summary: a great read that makes you think
Review: this book was excellent. the scary part is, i can see something similar happening in real life.
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