The Handmaid's Tale

I love the TV series, and I love what this book has to say. But lord do I hate how she said it. The writing style got in the way of the story for me; I found it overly simplistic, stilted, and allowed little room for further speculation. I lost interest in reading beyond the first book in the series.

By telling you anything at all, I'm at least believing in you, I believe you're there, I believe you into being. Because I'm telling this story, I will your existence. I tell, therefore you are.

Usually, when I rate a book 1 star, it is because it is a shame to call the incompetent who wrote it an author to begin with but this isn't the case here. Margaret can write, there is no doubt about that. She has earned the title of a writer. That is not my qualm with this book.

Sometimes, we put too much weight on books being award winning that we, unconsciously, accept from them what we wouldn't accept from any other book or any form of entertainment for that matter. It is inexcusable that the premise of the book was first introduced at 55% of the book. Driving confusion for more than half of the book is inexcusable and none of us would let it pass for any other book, or movie, or video. That is without talking about all the back and forth even at the end of the book, even in the middle of active scenes involving other people.

SPOILERS AHEAD AS WELL AS A HUGE TRIGGER WARNING

I am not entitled to want a perfect victim or a perfect character. Most of us who have been reading for years are well aware and well comfortable with morally gray characters.
This character was not morally gray. Even before sh*t went down, she was passive. She was critical of her best friend and her mother for caring about women's rights. She had a relation with a married man. She was passive and later complicit. What is worse, is her being inconsistent. Picking and choosing what to be involved in.
But it doesn't stop there, she puts insane expectations on other people to free her while doing nothing to help those around her. Just read this excerpt of her conversation with her best friend after the new order was established.
I don't want her to be like me. Give in, go along, save her skin. That is what it comes down to. I want gallantry from her, swashbuckling, heroism, single-handed combat.
The god damned ENTITLEMENT.

Listen, it is fine to protect oneself. But expect someone else to sacrifice themselves for you to have a better life is just rude. What is worse, is her rationalizing rape so she can convince herself she isn't raped.
The rape scene, even though it came out of nowhere, was not the problem, I've read the premise of the book anyway. It is her thoughts about it that are super triggering.
“What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven't signed up for. There wasn't a lot of choice but there was some, and this is what I chose. Therefore, I lie still and picture the unseen canopy over my head [...] I wish he would hurry up. Maybe I'm crazy and this is some new kind of therapy.”
Later:

- What does he want? kinky sex?
It would be hard to explain to her what he does want, because I still have no name for it (They were playing scrabble, that is it). How can I describe what really goes on between us? she would laugh, for one thing. It's easier for me to say “in a way”. That at least has the dignity of coercion .

That is inexcusable. I am convinced this was done for shock effect, without actual thought into what it actually means.


What really irks me is that two pages after the rape scene, the handmaid she walks with tells her about a resistance group and she gets excited. Just barely afterwards. And she wants to talk about it and know more but doesn't actually eventually do anything, just hears these words. At the end, when they are executing that guy convicted of rape (which she KNEW was not a true accusation since it is a government built on rape), she is suddenly active, suddenly full of rage after 300 pages of apathy and wants to attack the guy. Morally gray is an understatement.
She even stops caring about the resistance she claimed to be excited about when she starts having sex with a guy. She doesn't want to hear about it and she says she doesn't care. She also says she is relieved her walking buddy stops talking about it 2 weeks after starting to have sex with that guy. It wasn't even a relationship. TWO WEEKS.

And at the end, that is what happens, someone else saves her ass while she does nothing.
Apathy does not encompass her. Apathy is consistent. This is a disaster of a character with no planning.

The only criticism I have of the style of writing is that some metaphors did not make sense.
“verbal semaphore” just say CODE, that makes NO SENSE.
“his voice is metal-colored, horn-shaped”
“the three bodies hang there, even with the white sacks over their heads looking curiously stretched, like chickens strung up by the necks in a meatshop window; like birds with their wings clipped, like flightless birds, wrecked angels.” That is just redundant and unnecessary. Not everything should be compared.
that is a salad of words, loves.

Anyway, what do you all think?

read this at work across 2 weeks.
thought about it a fair bit after i finished.
excellent classic dystopian story.

I've never read quite anything like this, and it was sad, in a depressing sort of way. I'm not sure exactly how to rate it honestly, but I think that it was fascinating. I would read it again, the writing style was incredible and I loved the way that the writer shifted between the past and the present, and the emotions loaded behind every scene and situation.

traumatising ass book.
loved it but hope to never read it again

A scary and staggering achievement.

3/5

This crap is scary! Especially given things happening today and in our current political environment. It really makes one stop and think!

Absolutely loved the writing. The story was very unique and intriguing. There is some swearing and one sex scene. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book.

Dystopian, feminist, the ending???

100/10

Un livre passé en compagnie d'une personne normale dans un monde cruel et si lointain du nôtre. J'ai trouvé intéressant de me plonger dans un monde où la liberté n'est plus qu'un souvenir. Des moments très forts tout au long du livre.

This story enters the horrifying and terrifying category of books where enjoyment while reading it cannot be applied.

“We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.”

The book describes a totalitarian regime where women lost her rights, free will and individualism. They are not allowed to read, write, work, love, own property, have enjoyments, pleasures, or hobbies. All women wear variations of the same outfits, covering the whole body, and are treated as objects for their utility in the society:
- Red for the Handmaids: fertile women used to produce offspring. They have no names and are considered property of the Commanders they are assigned to
- Blue for the Wives: higher ranking women on society that are married to the Commanders
- Green for the Marthas: household servants
- Brown for the Aunts: responsible for the training of the Handmaids

The scariest part of the story is that all of these happens in a world that was just like ours in the recent past. All these women use to have normal lives and had to adjust to this new reality where they are men's property. It feels terrifyingly possible which is scary as hell.

What I “liked”:
- It is well written and feels dreadfully real.

What I think it could have been done better:
- The timeline is intentionally vague but the story only functions if Gilead was implemented in a short time frame. However, most women behaviour on the book would require severe unsatisfaction with her lives and their world, or unimaginable amounts of coercion, brain washing and torture. I think more details would made their apparent state of acceptance over their condition more believable.
- There's a lack of details about how Gilead happens. We learn it started with a military coup in which the president and most members of Congress were killed but the remaining details remain quite vague. I wanted to know more, not only to understand how something like this could happen, but also so I could feel more reassured that we are not there (yet?)
- The bit including the handmaids sharing child labour pains and leaking milk was a complete non-sense.

This is a very important reading.

4.5⭐
This was such an immaculate story.
I myself had seen the first 1.5 seasons of the show and still the story was as gripping as it would be if I hadn't

“Por supuesto, en los periódicos aparecían noticias: cadáveres en las zanjas o en el bosque, mujeres asesinadas a palos o mutiladas, mancilladas solían decir; pero eran noticias sobre otras mujeres, y los hombres que hacían semejantes cosas eran otros hombres. Ninguno de ellos era conocido de nosotras. Las noticias de los periódicos nos parecían sueños, pesadillas soñadas por otros.”

good book, characters somewhat flat and meant to represent a type of reaction to society rather than be full fledged characters, which is pretty common in dystopia and works well here. i personally loved the writing style but if you need everything to be linear and make sense it might not be for you.

3.5

A very detailed, yet white-washed analysis on a dystopian (yet realistic) look at a future where women (specifically fertile ones) are made property (again). This was very well-written and the premise was very interesting, but I found myself losing interest in some parts.

Some moments were repetitive. But literally who cares?? It was great

I loved this book. I think that the use of Gilad to describe the snowball effect of the united states patriarchy and deep-rooted misogyny was perfectly executed. In this world, women have lost all individuality, and license to choose. I think the use of offered voice, story, and experiences lent itself to the novel greatly. The book doesn't sensationalize or romanticize violence and shows the deep-rooted breakdown of a person because of the system they are kept in. The moment that kept me thinking the most is the last moment Offred had with Ofglen. When Ofglen kept pushing offred to find more and don't she want to fight. But at that point offred is too tired to fight, she is no one's hero. I think this is a really realistic way to look at the oppression of women. For most of history, not every woman was a hero or the main character of a story. Offred represents all women in her recollection and experience of Giliad.

I'd been looking forward to reading this for some time and it didn't disappoint. A thought provoking and downright scary speculation on the near future, it highlights how fragile and precious are the freedoms that have been fought for over generations and that we take so much for granted.

The underground female railroad

The narrator's account of what has happened to her seems to be woven with great care from many different pieces of our own history. It's appalling how many of the things in the book remind me of the various events that took place in the past decade, especially in the US.

Thinking back on the ending, I especially like it because it avoids being both a clichéd happy-end and its polar opposite. It's both bleak and hopeful, but also quite sudden; a story suddenly cut off. This reinforces its “found diary” quality.

Puntuación: 4.5 ⭐️ Me gustó la idea, pero la ejecución no mucho. El final fue la mejor parte de todo el libro. Vale la pena seguir leyendo solo por esas últimas páginas.

3/5

Al principio se me hizo especialmente pesado, una buena parte del libro es monótona e descripciones del sistema en que viven y mi principal problema es que no hay una trama en la historia durante esta parte, no hay un hilo conductor, un desarrollo, no hay un por qué guiando la historia, parece un día de la marmota. Ni siquiera las acciones y pensamientos de la protagonista parecen tener suficiente fuerza al respecto, nunca queda claro si quiere escapar de su situación, aunque en algún momento considera esa posibilidad y se muestra que es posible. Todo esto se extiende (con breves y no suficientemente explicativas pausas para hablar del contexto y como llegamos ahí) hasta cerca del 50% del libro, cuando la rutina cambia y con cambiar, me refiero a que integra un nuevo elemento y presencia de personajes que tienen el potencial de cambiar la historia, esto sí le otorga desarrollo al personaje pero sigue todo en una nebulosa donde no sabemos hacia dónde se dirige la protagonista, como dije, parece no tener objetivo salvo sobrevivir y hasta eso se pone en duda. Luego se siente arrastrada por los hechos, pero al menos la trama se mueve hacia alguna parte, aunque no sabemos hacia dónde. Todo esto termina en un clickbait literario magistral que realmente te deja preguntándote qué pasó, casi me dan ganas de leer el siguiente libro, casi.
Pero antes, revisemos una de las principales falencias de este libro, la enorme cantidad de preguntas que deja sin respuestas y que debes asumir para leerlo.
Sobre este punto, una de las principales preocupaciones es el poco desarrollo que se da a la historia de cómo llegamos a la sociedad donde la prota se desenvuelve, porque en algún punto se cuenta esta historia y parece que sucedió todo muy rápido, se realiza un golpe de estado con una especie de ejercito paralelo al del país y de la nada tiene implementación militar, armas y todo lo necesario. Lo que claramente es un acto de terrorismo con una organización paramilitar no es perseguido por el ejercito real, ninguna institución protege a su gente y esta no protesta ni resiste cuando claramente los superan en número, creo que se menciona una marcha y sería. Ni hablar de organizaciones supranacionales, la no injerencia en asuntos internos nunca se había respetado tanto. Cuando te narran ese pasaje, la historia va convenientemente desde el momento 0 en que se produce este cambio, hasta el momento actual en que vivimos los efectos de un cambio en la sociedad que toma tiempo y donde seguro hay hitos, que acá se ignoran, todo eso hace que no podamos entender el nivel de cambio que esto representa y por consecuencia le quita peso a lo que sucede después. Este punto me hizo pensar en cómo fueron tratados estos puntos en las distopias más famosas y exitosas, quizás mejor, quizás yo no era tan buen lector cuando las leí y no me di cuenta de esa falencia, quizás las re-lea para quitarme esa duda.

En general, no disfruté mucho el libro, a ratos de verdad hice un esfuerzo para avanzar porque no sentía justo dejarlo de lado y luego decir que no me parecía tan bueno como dicen.

Sobre lo que viene luego: Al terminar el libro casi me dan ganas de comenzar la secuela, porque leí que respondía las preguntas que primero no (parece que las críticas no fueron pocas y llegaron a oídos de la autora) pero al instante siguiente pensé en que si estaba escrito como el anterior, prefería no hacerlo. De hecho, leer la secuela buscando las respuestas que deberían haber estado en el primer libro, sería u premio que no se ganó la autora, no tiene sentido. Como alguien dijo por ahí, los agujeros de guión no son misteriosos o inteligentes, son sólo agujeros de guión. El punto es que hacer una secuela para tapar las falencias del primer libro no me parece la forma correcta de armar una saga, a menos que hagas una precuela pero no es el caso.

this is impressive writing but not my kind of book at all. it was a nightmare to get through. the “romance” - if you can even call if that - was the only bearable part of the book. it definitely made me more aware about the dystopian genre and about dystopias and sexism itself, but just not my type of read.

Aunque la autora escribió el libro, con la intención de que no se convirtiera en una realidad, cada vez que avanzaba con un capítulo veía reflejada sociedades y mujeres en todo el mundo a lo largo de la historia de la humanidad.
Es muy preocupante que cosas así sucedan, aún en la actualidad.
El único punto negativo que le veo a la historia, son los continuos saltos en el tiempo y que no tienen delimitación entre ellos.
Lo otro es el final, con el cual tengo una mezcla de alegría y tristeza.
Pero, a pesar de ello, una muy buena lectura para reflexionar.