Rating: 
Summary: Surely there are cheaper ways to get kindling?
Review: I am another of those poor souls forced to pay for this junk and read it for college. There is nothing quite as vulgar to me as a novelist carrying an overt political prejudice into their work deliberately. It seems unfaithful to the craft of writing, dishonest and trashy. As others have said, this does not hold a candle to Orwell, though it tries shamelessly. Here's a possible reason why it stinks: Orwell was batting for the team: human kind. Not woman-left-wing-zealot kind.
Orwell's work is far more complete for many reasons, one of which is the transition from our age to a brutal totalitarian age is explained in full, in Orwell's work (it's called 'back-story' and it's handy in books.) The totalitarian state in 1984 doesn't magically 'happen' and have the processes of power hinted at by vague sweeping references to politically correct causes; the power shift is explained in plausible detail by an author who knows history, which is what makes 1984 powerful. This by contrast was a serve of the sullen feminist bitterness that, if propagated and revered, will marr the reception of all women's writing. That aside, by God it gets tiresome. Get over yourself, Ms Atwood.
Rating: 
Summary: A quest for personal freedom in the face of degradation
Review: Atwood's work is enjoyable on a number of levels. The first of these is in her talent as a storyteller. Her narrative constructs are rich in multiple layers that move through time with abandon, employing the use of flashbacks, dreams and distorted memory to go in and out of the story to re-examine the clues that are being left for us. Her work always has strong ties to the detective/mystery genre, even if the surface level would suggest otherwise. Here the story begins in a manner akin to film-noir, as we are thrown into a setting that we do not understand, whilst a myriad of stark and constantly free-flowing evocations are thrown at us in an attempt to leave us as bewildered and disturbed as the central character. It works. This subjective opening vignette was enough to persuade me to initially give up on the book as I waded into the unknown. Too ambiguous I though... too directionless. I stuck with it though, and gave the book my full concentration, so that by the time I'd reached the end of chapter two I really couldn't stop. I was engrossed.
The story is pretty much non-existent... in the same way that the story to such classics as the Bell Jar and the Lord of the Flies was an excuse by their author's for an emotional journey, so too is this. Our focus for attention is a mysterious woman known as Offred, who becomes our guide to this alien world, as we become her confidant. In the same way that Alex shares with us his exploits in A Clockwork Orange, so to does Offred, who shares with us her pain, her fragmented memories and her desire for some kind of escape. The central enigma is the discovery of her name before the construction of the colonies and the disintegration of society. This ties in with Atwood's other great talent, that being her fierce knowledge of social and political history. This gives her work an even starker emotional relevance that makes the usually far-fetched confines of science fiction seem almost like documented history. Her attention to detail in creating the world in which these characters inhabit is completely mind-blowing, being both an original, imaginative construct but also a horrifying reflection of our own world.
The book was first published in the mid-nineteen-eighties and we can clearly see the shadow of AIDS hanging like the sword of Damocles above the central social ideology and the aggressive treatment of sex and sensuality. There are also many allusions to the treatment of the Jews during the holocaust, the civil rights movement and unified segregation... all shot through with the many pretensions of that particular decade and it's "now" generation. The story builds slowly but we never feel bored by what is happening. Through the use of the slow-burning detective lay out, Atwood is able to get the reader interested in these characters and ask ourselves questions throughout the book... so, by the half way point I was demanding answers, moving through the book faster than any other I've ever read but at the same time trying to savour every last evocative detail. By the time I'd reached the closing chapters I was completely in love with the character of Offred... Atwood is able to embody this woman with a "real" spirit that makes us care about her like no other literary figure before (...a slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean!).
The dénouement of the book is a stunning example of Atwood creative use of storytelling. Not wanting to give anything away, I'll just say it's one of those endings that places an entirely new light on the proceeding work and leaves you desperate to go back to the beginning and start all over again. The whole book is tied together by Atwood's stunning use of language... honestly, if you ever get the chance to experience her poetry do so. The use of description here creates a kind of atmosphere that few books can equate, carefully setting up a level of mechanical degradation during the scenes within the colonies, whilst simultaneously giving the memories of Offred and her moments of tranquillity a down to earth beauty that is still totally real. This book moved and gripped me like no other, taking me on an intelligent and deeply compelling journey into the soul of one of the most significant tortured heroines ever created. To dismiss it as a copy of 1984 and Brave New World is a great injustice... as this book has an underlining degree of beauty that those works could only dream of.
Rating: 
Summary: Scary as hell, because it's almost real
Review: Do NOT read this book on a cold, grey day. Read it when all is right with the world, and you just feel the need for some sober enlightenment. It'll shock, depress, and scare the life out of you.This tells the story of Offred ('of fred') who works as a 'handmaid' for a wealthy family. This is a time when most women are barren, and the few who might possibly reproduce are forced to be handmaids, women who bear children for powerful families. Offred calmly, almost coldly narrates the horrifying tale of a society that has stripped her of her family, her freedom, and her position as a citizen. She's literally a walking pair of ovaries. We watch Offred do her 'work', dream of the past, and possibly become involved in an underground freedom movement called Mayday, people who will either free her or destroy her. What's really frightening here is that this situation is almost happening now. While it's set in the near future, Atwood brilliantly shows us a moment where Japanese tourists, outfitted in modern, stylish clothing, gawk at the peculiar habits of the veiled American women. Switch a few things around here, and we've got a scene that could've taken place on any street in a Middle Eastern country. Women who exist basically to procreate running around behind heavy veils, being stared at by American tourists. It's something that has happened many times before. Things may be changing now, but there was a time when Atwood's description of the situation was almost flawless. We live in this world. Atwood just changed names and dates. As I said before, don't read this if you're depressed in the slightest. You won't want to get out of bed for a week. The world created here will frighten you, and when you realize that the goings on are practically a reality for many people, it will upset you even more.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Good Enough
Review: I have not read any other book by Margaret Atwood so this review is solely based on the writing in this book and what I got out of it, which was not much.
The first chapters are particularly innundated with incomplete sentences which usually give a sense of urgency to the reader. In this case, it just made the reading tedious. You do not want to read this book out loud because it will make you sound very annoying.
Even though I'm all for criticizing religious extremists, a better book could have made the point without insulting people's intelligence.
On the story itself, I just didn't buy it from the beginning so it was difficult for me to get into it at all. Here's why:
- The changes that must have occurred in this society are supposed to have happened within 10 years. This is too far-fetched, as it has been mentioned before. Anyone who has taken any type of sociology/anthropology/economics/politics class is being asked to forget all they have ever learned and just go with the flow. No society where everyone living under it(including top officials)is unhappy and breaking their own rules is going to be sustainable for long and much less enforceable for long. Drugs are too easy an answer.
- The main character is not really defined. In fact, for someone who was supposed to be a college grad, she's pretty stupid. She thinks of herself as timid and complacent and yet every now and then she would have an outburst of assertiveness. Like her sudden awareness of her sex appeal and manipulation of it toward the Commander in those secret meetings. She wasn't smart and that was a big turn off.
- There were so many opportunities missed from the very beginning of better story lines that never took off. Ex. Ofglen, her partner in shopping, was aware of some underground movement and yet Offred never asked anymore questions on the subject. Similarly, other handmaids during the 'birth day' had information that our hero never bothered to pursue. Maybe she liked being a victim and the life she led. Again, not a very smart or functional main character.
Although I didn't like the character of Moria (come to think of it, I didn't like any of the characters), I think I would have liked the book to be about her and her adventures better than Offred's. She got a better perspective of what was going on and she was not afraid to explore the possibilities.
I do not recommend this book. It asks it's readers to conform to a mediocre story just like Offred is being asked to conform to a mediocre life with no real justification.
Rating:
Summary: A Prescient Vision of the Near-Future
Review: I highly recommend this book to everyone out there in the ether. Read it closely-- this is what happens when the religious right wins. I am amazed that Atwood was able to see our future so clearly when she wrote this book in the early 1980s.
In "The Handmaid's Tale," the Bible Thumpers have overtaken our government, demolished the church-state barrier, and installed their own vile brand of theocratic fascism in the Republic of Gilead. (Take note: they rise to power by citing a constant threat of unnamed terrorists, necessitating police state measures.)
In Gilead, everyone is segregated into a strict caste hierarchy. Men may be the Commanders, who are in charge, the Eyes, who are the agents of the Panopticon who whisk away any deviants, the Angels who wage the faraway wars, etc. Women's options are more strictly delimited: they may be the Wives of the Commanders, Econowives of the lower ranks, the Aunts who dominate and control women of the lower ranks, the Marthas who do menial household chores, the prostitute Jezebels, and the Maids like the narrator Offred.
As a Maid, Offred's sole purpose in life is to breed with her Commander. The manner in which Commander Fred attempts to "fertilize" Offred simply must be read to be believed. Interestingly, the Gileadans cite Biblical precedent to support this bizarre method of surrogate conception. Maids are terminated if they prove unable to conceive.
Since Offred's life options are so severely restricted, most of the novel takes place in her head. She reminisces about the time before, when she was able to marry, own property, and have her own children, the gradual increase in restrictions, and her failed attempt at escape. The novel is crushing in its illustration of a life thwarted, stunted, and defeated, and a woman made into an empty childbearing vessel. Reading the book, I was reminded of prison memoirs-- Offred has no chance of an external life, and is trapped in a life of solitude and regret.
Some people might say that such a future is unthinkable in our democratic society. I would recommend that you speak to any member of the extreme evangelical ministries, which view Jefferson's separation of church and state as a lie and an illusion to be abolished, and believe in the literal, inerrant truth of the Bible. I would also recommend that you read V.S. Naipaul's "Among the Believers," concerning the Islamic revolutions in Iran and Pakistan. Gilead's corporal punishments for heresy, dismantling of all democratic institutions like the press, and mandatory "Prayvaganzas" closely track what happened in Iran after the Ayatollahs overthrew the Shah.
I would place this excellent book on par with "1984" and "Brave New World." "The Handmaid's Tale" is necessary reading in this day and age.
Rating:
Summary: If the Christian right became the U.S.' Taliban...
Review: I recently picked up this book again, which I hadn't read since the '80's. I expected it not to hold up well, but was surprised instead to find it more timely and moving than ever. When something like the takeover of the Taliban in Afghanistan, or the Nazi takeover of Germany happens, we sit there and wonder how it could happen and how the victims couldn't see it coming. Margaret Atwood's miracle here is that she shows you how it might come and you understand how people got caught up in it. She also persuades you that it could happen here. This is a sad and scary book, but one that is incredibly compelling and believable. The book deals quite a bit with the pressing concerns of religion in America in the '80's, but they are problems that haven't left us today and, in some respects, are more prominent than when Atwood wrote her book -- a declining birth rate, increasing birth defects, a fundamental split in how the left and the right view abortion, clinic bombings, a movement to keep women at home, etc., and by the time the book starts, a far-right splinter group has taken power and stripped almost everyone in society, especially women, of their power and freedom. Atwood looks at how such a society would function and how it would affect its various members, from the wealthy and powerful men who run it, to their barren and houseridden wives, to the servants (men in the military, women in the house) to the handmaids, the fertile women possibily capable in a society not reproducing quickly enough of becoming surrogate mothers for the wealthy and powerful whose wives cannot provide healthy children. This is the ultimate tale of what happens when a society takes away women's rights, especially the right of a woman to control what happens to her body. As the "Aunts" who train the new handmaids to their job would say, there is "freedom to" and "freedom from," and while women are free from rape, they are not free to do anything, include use their real names, their only designation being by to whom they belong at any given moment -- Offred, Ofwarren, etc. The Aunts are meant to conjure up the Jewish capos in the Nazi death camps -- affected people who accept positions of power from their oppressors and use it to help further the oppression. Although Atwood's book is awfully quiet on the subject of race, she does draw from the experiences of American slaves and their status in society, including those who risked their lives to get them to safety. The book is written as the after-the-fact diary of Offred, whose fate is refreshingly ambiguous. I've always disliked the ending, the tacked on "presentation" of a paper on the society in which Offred lived and which examines her diary to determine whether it is real. While it fills in some nice gaps (and lets us know the society it describes ultimately fails), it feels uneccessary and doesn't have the impact of the rest of the book, which is a back and forth between Offred's memories of her husband, child, best friend, and mother and the life she led before, and her current life, which involves a lot of waiting and doing nothing, of watching one's behavior very carefully, and of being afraid to develop friendships and afraid to offend. And of offering your body as a surrogate for a wife who despises you and only wants the child that you hopefully have to offer if you want a guaranteed life away from the relocation camps cleaning up toxic waste and not hanging on the death wall for some transgression against society. A moving account of a repressive Christian society, this book made me grateful for what I have, fears and all.
Rating:
Summary: The Handmaid's Review
Review: Jason Thibault Book Review 12-17
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. In the book the Handmaids Tale the main
character is Offred. A Handmaid that lives in Gilead. Offred who was a
Handmaid had the Commander as her man. His wife who was a gospel singer is named
Serena Joy. While Offred was having her monthly cycle she was to have sex with
the Commander while his wife Serena sits behind her holding her hands. There
are rules that the Handmaids need to follow. They are restricted to do things
that every other woman who wasn't a Handmaid could do. She cant leave the house
for normal foods shopping trips. The Gilead police kept a close eye on where
she was at all times. While the story is going on she really puts a little more
interest into the story she flashes back when things remind her of certain
things.
During these flashbacks there is the new world and the old world. In the old
world she had a affair with Luke who was divorced and married Offred and had one
child. Architects in Gilead took over completely, the military assassinated
the president and his followers of Congress and said they were taking over.
This age was where the woman were abused and used for prostitution. The Congress
decided that its time to tighten the rules for woman and having them not being
able to work or and have property. While this was occurring Offred lost her
husband and daughter through the mess.
Life while being the servant of the Commander was a lot different but always
the same. It was the kind of life that kept things the same and in the routine.
She sometimes takes trips with Ofglen to get some food. When she finally gets
away from the routine to go the doctor but it wasn't a good checkup he wants to
have sex with Offred to get her pregnant, but Offred refuses to have it because
if she is caught she could be send away. Then the Commander demands his gardener
Nick to go and see her. When he sees her he keeps going to see her on a regular
basis.
Ofglen who is Offred's friend tells her that she is a member of the "Mayday" a
group of people or organization trying to overthrow Gilead. She tries to find
the Ceremony that is different now that she knows the Commander. Then she
really is unhappy and she expresses her feelings to the Commander and he gets
mad and makes remarks that aren't very nice. Offred and the Commander had been
trying to have a baby for quite a long time and she really doesn't know what
else to do so Serena the Commanders wife tells her to go and have sex with Nick
his gardener. So when she has a baby with him she can say it was the Commander
when it really wasn't.
The novel ends by Professor Piexoto explaining that Gilead. Then he explains
how important Offred story but no on really knows what went on in the escape if
Nick helped or not and where did she go.
The Handmaids tale was a book that was a very good but book. But however it was
a little confusing for the average reader. When she jumped back and forth with
her flashbacks it was hard to follow if that just happened or if it was really a
flash back. I suggest this to any reader that tries or does read it because it
was a book that put the reader in the character's shoes more then other books.
It showed how terrible it was to be a woman
Rating:
Summary: "Nightmare world" painted by Margaret Atwood
Review: Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale is a dark and gloomy portrayal of the United States in the not-so-distant future, when a totalitarian government takes over all aspects of life. Atwood covers controversial issues including feminism, abortion, violence against women, pornography, environmental issues, bisexuality, ethics of cloning, racism, anti-feminism, militant nationalism, and religious differences.
The governmental structure of Gilead, including its state religion, is horrifyingly built around one goal: the control of reproduction. Controlling women's bodies can succeed only by controlling the women themselves, so Gilead's political order requires the subjugation of women. They strip women of the right to vote, the right to hold property or jobs, and the right to read. Women are a "national resource," Gilead likes to say, but they really mean that women's ovaries and wombs are national resources. Women cease to be treated as individuals, with independent selves, rather, they are seen potential mothers, leasing them to high-class families.
Biblical terminology is revealed when Gilead theocracy develops its own words to give the state control over the sentiments and ideas people can express. The vocabulary makes you think and relate religious features to characters and places in the novel. The people of Gilead must carry on conversations within the suffocating confines of officially sanctioned language. Saying the wrong thing can lead to a swift death, so people watch what they say, thereby subordinating their power of speech to the power of the state.
The main character, Offred, is exposed to the consequences of the reversal of women's rights. She craves happiness and freedom from the lock down society she now has to bow down to. The consistency of her sadness is painful and the reader is reminded of her dreadful lifestyle when compared to her past memories of normalcy. To escape her struggles with the corrupt government, she attempts to run away but gets caught. Previous handmaids have committed suicide to end their misery or to avoid getting caught having an affair with another man.
Its scary to even think of this could actually happen in America but we can relate some events that could lead to this state ruling. The extremes in the novel are a little hard to believe but it makes women now relieved and thankful that this is not how life is. The female is too strong willed and not a pushover; I do not see in the near future anything like this happening.
Rating:
Summary: A tale worth being told
Review: Rather than accomplish anything I spent a few hours last night and most of the afternoon reading Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale. In accordance with my previous policy of time-wastage, I thought I would write a review of said book.
Overall, A Handmaid's Tale is beautifully written. Atwood does not stay with a strictly temporal storyline: the main character Offred had flashbacks to her previous life. However, Atwood ensures that the narrative is not confusing by having fairly regular earmarks for each part of the story. The prose is not in a particularly high style, which I must admit is nice: rather than struggling through the sort of dense writing that characterizes most "classics," Handmaid's Tale is very readable.
Atwood tends to chose compelling subjects for her novels. I have only read one other book by her, Oryx and Crake, but both novels deal with epic changes in our society. Essentially, AHT addresses the idea of Biblical Literalism and how it would play out in a totalitarian government. The novel itself is a bit dated: it was written 1986, and I tend to find her scenario a bit hard to accept. However, this could simply be my own prejudice: Oryx and Crake dealt with bio-engineered life-forms and bio-terrorism, which I found much more believable.
Ultimately, AHT was interesting and not too difficult to read. I think Atwood addresses pertinent issues in our society, and I actually have an interest in what happens to the characters. (Note: I really hated The Great Gatsby and Tess of the Durbervilles because I had no concern for any character in the books). So yes, it is worth reading, which is more than I can say for most drivel printed.
Rating:
Summary: The Handmaid's Tale Reveiw
Review: Saverio Montecalvo
English 12, 2004
The Handmaid's Tale
Book Review
This story is about Dystopia. It is the author, Margaret Atwood's view of what her real world Dystopia would be like. The story is about what could happen if the government and the people lose control of what they have. It shows what could go wrong and what life would be without order. There are not that many details when reading the book, of why the world had been turned upside down so quickly. You have to make up your own ideas on what you think happened and why it happened. I believe that the author left it that way so the reader could be creative when reading this book. You begin to ask yourself question on why, would the world would turn into such a religious society, which was once so sane, and peaceful. This society slowly takes over and eventually they run everything, even sex. All the women are given the choice to either be sent to "the Colonies," or become a handmaid. The Handmaids wear red robes, white blinders, and do there own shopping. At this point of the book this does not seem to be a life or death situation for anyone. You try to keep your head and not let the society take control of you like they have done everyone else, however this will shortly change. The worst is yet to come. I will try not giving away all the major details in The Handmaid's Tale. In the new society, you are not allowed to see your previous kids, family, porn, or the other handmaids. One of the parts that I didn't like was all the flash backs that she was having during many of the parts of the book. I found them to be very confusing and hard to figure out, what was going on. I had to read some of the passages a couple of times, some times more than others. However I liked how the author used the past to create a background of the main character, Offred. You may think that the names are weird know, but once you read the book, in the later chapters you will find out what the Handmaid's names mean. I also like the great detail in which the author described in the book. It felt like you were in the room, you know where everything was; it was like you wanted to reach out and touch something.
The only thing that I would change was, I would give it a proper ending as it does not have one and it is frustrating not knowing what happens. You will know what I mean when you finish the book. I felt like there should have been another chapter, on what had happened to the main character Offred and to the rest of the Dystopia.
I would recommend it because it is so different and interesting from anything else.
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