Rating: 
Summary: Great read
Review: This book was so different than any other book I have read. I read it, and found myself intrigued and simultaneously repulsed by this dystopian society, and the way that these women were treated. The whole book changes in the end, and gives you a very different view than you had while reading the text--Overall a wonderful and very important book to read. This prompted me to buy all of Atwood's other books!
Rating: 
Summary: A Really Good Book
Review: The Handmaid's Tale was an awesome book from my perspective. I love books that deal with the future and books that deal with the changing of society. This book takes a look at a future where fundamentalist conservatives take over. I loved it because it is a satire of the religious right so to speak. It is a what if type of book. For me, what is great about it is that something similar is very possible. Don't get me wrong. It is a little extreme but it is plausible in so many ways. For example, with the push from conservatives to overturn Roe v. Wade. Or with Bush in office pushing the views of the ultra conservative right. This book puts me in mind of other books like 1984, or It Could Happen Here, or Darkness at Noon. I loved it and wish I could find more books like it. This was my first introduction to Margaret Atwood. I really liked the way it ended but I don't want to give it away. Read it and read it closely. Read it and think about the world today. It will definately make you think.
Rating: 
Summary: Stilted Polemic
Review: When observing the puppet-characters of this novel, the strings are always visible, for they have but one reason for existing - to implant the attitudes of the author in a new generation. The far-fetched setting also has one reason for its creation - the same. Wherever the reader looks in this novel, he or she sees the uneffaced hand of the author, for this entire polemic exists exclusively as a pulpit for Margaret Atwood to pound out her bigotry against religious people. The Handmaid's Tale is the literary equivalent of Ayn Rand - but with hate instead of philosophy. As a piece of literature, it is stilted.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: If you are a reader or a thinker and you haven't read this book, read it! The Handmaid's Tale is definitely a classic, it has a dramatic impact on most readers. Atwood tells the tale of how the United States became the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocratic government and the resulting society, from Offred, the handmaid's point of view. Offred has been assigned to a class: a reproductive handmaid. In this society of declining births, the handmaids are valued only if they are able to become pregnant by the men they are assigned to. And, if a child is born, the child will be turned over to the "morally fit" Wives. Offred recalls the past throughout this horrible present and tells how this society came to be. This book gives the reader interesting insight into societal standards, feminism, and right wing paradigms of thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Tiresome
Review: I am not a fan of dystopia genre so that may be one of the reasons I disliked this book. Atwood writes with a conscious attempt to place this book neatly into the genre. Her language is overdone, her plot completely tiresome, the characters only create a mirage of being real characters. Atwood's book is a representation of ideas rather than a novel. She writes consciously with not enough innovative ideas. She doesn't let the novel create itself, it is as controlled as the style.
Rating:
Summary: one of the most important books of the last centry
Review: Sorry if this one comes out twice, I tried to post over a week ago and it never appeared. This is one of the most important novels of the 20th century. Atwood has captured what happens when people of good conscience and liberal views do not safeguard or battle for their positions. Zealotry wins in such cases. There are many novels that talk about the price of freedom being eternal vigilance. This novel graphically and frighteningly shows us the result of not heeding this simple message. It is not a very far step from the current practices of many countries to the society of Gilead, and unfortunately there are many people who would regard the society described as a utopia, not a dystopia.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read
Review: The Handmaid's Tale is fashioned as a dystopia, with an emphasis on feminism. The novel takes place in the late twentieth-century Republic of Gilead after an extremist right-wing group takes contol of what was formerly known as the United States. The main character is Offred, a Handmaid whose sole task in society is based on her biological function to produce children. Due to environmental pollution, a scourge of declining birthrates has befallen the nation. The Gileadean solution, essentially what critic Karen Stein calls "state-sanctioned rape," is a monthly fertilization ritual of the handmaids by the Commander of the Faith appropriated to them by the government. Thus originates Offred's name, literally denoting her status as a possession of Fred. Under the guise of religious salvation, the Gileadean regime builds a social structure that is rigid, oppressive, and above all, misogynistic. Women in Gilead, "two-legged wombs [...] sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices," are valued solely for their fertility. As complacency replaces the strong wills of the independent woman around Offred, her hope diminishes as well. In her horrifying tale, Margaret Atwood emphasizes the idea that the oppression on women in a totalitarian state is powerful enough to destroy the human will. By exaggerating some existing misogynistic attitudes and intertwining them with an affecting plot and characters, Atwood finds similar success in her endeavors to shed light upon and caution against a horrific societal treatment of women. Although it's just as depressing as fellow dystopias 1984 and Brave New World, it's more beautifully written. Like the two other novels, however, it's frighteningly plausible and in some places feels all too familiar. I highly recommend this book to men and women. Read it even if you don't think it's "your type." This fascinating story is creative and in depth- it is not to be missed.
Rating: 
Summary: cliched and self conscious
Review: This book was a terrible disappointment. It is filled with one cliche such as looking/gazing as a form of power to more cliches such as the wall where executed dissidents are hung. Plotwise, the book chronicles a birthgiver in a fabled but familiar society where birthrates cannot replenish the population. Women in this society are second rate citizens who have very formal and subordinate roles. Sex and romance are prohibited and men are the powerholders. Her imagery is interesting at times and so is her use of color but I find her writing very self conscious. Moreover, the interesting elements of her book, the fable structure and color imagery disappear in the second half of the book and is replaced by rather tired episodes of underground bars, etc. If someone can explain to me how this is a great book worthy of study, please let me know. Otherwise, those looking for more allegorical, visual, and mythlike structures, read Borges, Calvino, Marquez, etc.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever written.
Review: This book should be required reading for every woman in America. Period. Brilliant, haunting, genius. I've read it a million times and never tire of it. One of the modern classics.
Rating:
Summary: Remember your history
Review: This book is a modern masterpiece, no doubt about it. What puzzles me are the reviews by other readers who wonder about the meaning of the last chapter. Here's a clue: December 25, 1989. While the book was not written about that specific incident, it was clearly motivated by the preceeding events in that Eastern European country (here's a Jeopardy-type clue--Ceaucescu adopted this style of government).
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