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The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)

Margaret Atwood

Start date: March 1, 2017

Finish date: March 25, 2017

Discussion: Book Discussions

Discussion leader: RJ - Slayer of Trolls

Why we're reading this: Group Classic Novel discussion March 2017
#22 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://…more
[close] Group Classic Novel discussion March 2017
#22 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#38 on Locus Magazines Best SciFi novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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What Members Thought

Jan 20, 2011 Andrew rated it really liked it

Ok where to start with this book - well first of all there are far better reviews than anything I could post. The book is as the cover rightly says, is a modern classic and I will not challenge that.

The book has undergone many reprints, has been turned in to a film and there are several literary dissertations on it (and that is all that I am aware of I am sure there are more)

But what of the book itself - it is chillingly believable - even more so with the state of the world. On one had you see ...more

31 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2012 Carrie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mgr, science-fiction, 4-and-a-half-to-5-stars, own, classics, dystopia, feminism, alternative-history

This is a book that you like as it is written very well, and it is fascinating but you also hate it because the events are horrifying. I almost threw my copy, I wanted to trow it at the wall out of anger. Not because Margaret Atwood wrote a bad novel but because she wrote a believable novel, and that's scary. As a woman the idea of living this is terrifying and sickening. I applaud Ms. Atwood for being able to make me feel and picture this world so clearly. This is my second novel by this author ...more

23 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2014 mina rated it liked it

An intensely scary book about a theocratic regime in its extreme. I wish the protagonist acted more, though. Maybe Atwood wanted to show what common people would do in this situation: resigned themselves to the fate determined for them. I am also a bit disappointed of the unexplained ending of Gilead regime.

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Mar 05, 2009 Mandy rated it really liked it

This is a very interesting and thought provoking story. There is some language in it. It is futuristic, and yet, some of it doesn't seem to far off. Very interesting though.

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Sep 11, 2007 Tani rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, women, 1001-books-you-must-read, female-author

I found this book simultaneously chilling and darkly fascinating. Like 1984, The Handmaid's Tale's strength lies in the parallels that can be drawn between today's society and the events in the book. It was a frightening and sobering experience to read this book, and it really made me think about my own life. ...more

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