College Students! discussion

Please use this thread to talk about the book as a whole after you have finished.

Did you like or dislike the book? Did you like the ending? Any interesting themes? Favorite characters? Favorite quotes? Did you like the author's style? Were you confused by anything in the book? etc.

I really liked the theme and idea for the book. I thought she did a great job of making a (semi-believable) distopia. I wasn't really a big fan of her writing style at all. for some reason I felt like I had to trudge through the book, and that almost made it not worth it to me. And I don't really know what to think about the ending. I'm not sure it was the best. The whole book was pretty strange, but definitely worth reading once.

I also liked the concept of the whole thing. I didn't mind the style.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. Most of the other distopia books that I have read don't have "happy endings" because they are meant to be a warning. I think I was expecting either that or for everything to resolve but I felt like I was left hanging. I would have liked it less if she hadn't added that last section with the seminar held in the future about The Handmaid's Tale. At least it felt like the book had an ending, instead of stopping at the climax.

Also, I'm glad she threw Nick in there. The story needed a male character that didn't hate women.

I really liked the book, and actually just finished another one of her dystopia books, the end was a little weird for me though. This author likes to leave ya hanging, like old American lit.

I really like this book. I think it took some getting used to for me, but I think it's really interesting. And like Emily said, it's worth reading at least once! The out of order was a little confusing for me, but I think it worked really well. I would have liked to have more answers though!

Has anyone seen the movie? How does it compare to the book?

I got a little confused by the out of order stuff too. I really liked her friend, what was her name again? The one that escaped? I'm terrible with names.

I'd almost forgotten that they'd made a movie of it. I wonder how they pulled that off, with all the weird sex scenes and such.

Leslie: Which of her other dystopian books have you read? Was it any good? I've been meaning to give her another try after reading this one, but I couldn't figure out which book to choose.

i read this book last winter, and i really enjoyed it. i forget lots of the little details, but one part i thought was cool was how she implied that the brick buildings/complex where it took place at has harvard. i went to school in boston, and went to lots of harvard parties, so i could picture it really well! also, i thought that said a lot about how drastically society had changed. how ironic to take place at an ivy league school!

wow i missed!!! How do we know it's harvard??? That adds a lot to the story! I can't believe i missed that!

I actually read this for my Contemporary Lit class this semester and wrote a 7 page paper about it today about the new forms of choice and freedom. I absolutely adored this book and I was thrilled to have it as an assignment. It was way too enjoyable for me to feel like it was required. To me, it was like reading poetry. I could go on about it all day. One of my top favorite books of all time, for sure.

I actually guessed that it was Harvard by the descriptions of the buildings and the layout. I've been to the school tons, and while I was reading through the book something in my brain just clicked. Then I checked on Wikipedia to verify :)

I just finished the book tonight! I loved the themes used, and found a ton of quotes/excerpts which I loved. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending because she left you hanging, but it was good book regardless. I guess that's just human nature, we always want to know :)

Okay I just finished to book this past week. I loved the story line of the book. I was hooked right away. I have read one other book by Atwood Oryx and Crake which ended the same way this book did. I thought that the ending for Oryx and Crake really fit the book leaving you to decided what happens, does he stay or leave. But I was really disappointed with Handmaids Tale ending. I was hoping for a concrete ending. Wanting to know what happened to her, luke, Nick, the comander and such. This book also left you to make up an ending after she got into the van, i was mad.

I think I was really looking for a happy ending with this book and i thought that there would be more fighting back against society with some of the main characters. It would have made the book alot longer but i think that it would have helped the book.

I had no idea what it was Harvard that does add to the story though, with the lack of reading and knowledge of women and it centered at harvard.

I have not seen the movie, I think that i am going to try and find it at the library on base. They dont have a good selection so we'll see.