The Handmaid's Tale

Mai mult un 3.5/5

Nu pot spune ca imi este usor sa citesc scenarii de genul, deoarece pot sa devina foarte inconfortabile, dar imi place stilul lui Margaret Atwood. Cu siguranta o sa mai incerc povestioare de la ea ;)

Read for Bookoplathon 2021 - 48 hour round

This book honestly did nothing wrong. I just started it for school back in November and my teacher made everything hella confusing. We never finished it, so it literally took 4 months to finish which also made me not like it as much as I should have. The concept was amazing despite all of that, and hopefully I'll reread it in a couple of years when I'm more distant from the traumatic experience that was AP Lit.

5/10

Avevo questo libro sugli scaffali (virtuali) ormai da moltissimo tempo. La lettura era stata sempre rimandata sebbene la fantascienza mi abbia sempre appassionato, è stato uno dei primi amori insieme al fantasy e mi ricordo intere giornate a leggere Asimov o Tolkien. Con il passare del tempo sono cambiato io, sono cambiati i miei gusti di lettura, ma ogni tanto vado alla ricerca di qualche titolo che mi era sfuggito nelle mie letture giovanili.

L'occasione in questo caso è stato l'aver visto arrivare su Prime Video la serie tv che ha avuto un enorme successo e siccome per mia idiosincrasia non posso vedere serie tv tratte da libri, prima che li abbia letti, ho preso l'ancella al balzo.

In verità ho finito di leggere questo libro già da una settimana e se ne scrivo la mia recensione solo ora già vuol dire qualcosa... che questo libro mi è rimasto un po' qua sul gozzo, cioè non ho avuto quella spinta entusiasmante di venire qui a gridare ai quattro vento “leggetelo tutti!”; ho visto anche il primo episodio della serie... questo è sceso fin quasi alla bocca dello stomaco, insomma tutti e due mi sono ancora un po' indigesti al momento. A dire il vero ora sto leggendo “Furore” e sto guardando “The Americans”, con molto appetito questa volta.

Non so bene come spiegare questo senso di “incomprensione”: la storia si fa anche leggere, i personaggi sono anche ben delineati, il finale se vogliamo è pure carino (ino, ino). Secondo me in tutto manca qualcosa, forse manca proprio la fantascienza per come io la intendo, credo soprattutto che sia stata usata unicamente per far passare dei messaggi sul mondo delle donne (per carità con tutto rispetto), ma appunto la fantascienza è stato il veicolo, più che il contesto. Poi sta di fatto che io personalmente odio le imposizioni, ancor più se hanno una connotazione religiosa, di qualunque tipo sia e queste donne così piegate, sottomesse, mi hanno proprio fatto girare le scatole. A me piacciono i personaggi femminili forti, come sanno essere le donne molto più degli uomini e leggere di un mondo dove tutte quante sono relegate a grembi di bambini e basta, mi ha disturbato parecchio.

Non so forse alla fine mi sono sentito un po' ingannato e per questo il libro non mi è piaciuto molto. Mi è rimasto un po' qui e non riesce ne a scendere ne a venire fuori. Per cui mi sarebbe piaciuto tantissimo scrivere di un bellissimo libro di fantascienza o stare qui a gridare il mio scandalo su tutte queste donne così deturpate nell'animo e schiacciate, ma che ne so non mi viene nulla e ho lì “Furore” sul comodino e “The Americans” sulla tv e così... giro l'angolo e spero in una viaggio migliore.

une dystopie poignante vachement bien pensé !
Les points forts de ce roman ?
Tout d'abord son univers !
-> on plonge ici dans un monde unique avec ses codes et ses règles (effrayantes)
Au début c'est l'incompréhension, comment on a pu en arriver là ? Et puis plus l'histoire avance plus l'horreur s'installe. On comprend comment tout a commencé, comment la dictature s'est lentement installée puis on comprend le fonctionnement de ce nouveau monde étrange mais qui pourtant fait écho au notre.
Ensuite son réalisme !
-> comme je le disais au dessus, ce monde fait écho au notre, il est criant de vérité. A tel point qu'on s'y croirait. Bien sûre on est ici dans une dystopie non dans la réalité mais on trouve de nombreuses similitudes de pensées et actes entre ces deux mondes, le notre, réel, et celui de Margaret Atwood peut être pas si irréel que ça.
Et enfin le message transmis !
-> on ne peut évidemment pas passer à côté du message fort qui transpire dans toutes les pages de ce roman culte. Un message fort, féministe sur la condition de la femme, l'instrumentalisation de son corps mais aussi sur sa liberté à penser, aimer, être et procréer ou non selon son bon vouloir et avec la personne de son choix.
Je recommande vivement cette lecture qui saura vous retourner le cerveau comme il faut !
Ma note :

MARGARET WHY WOULD YOU END IT LIKE THAT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME WHY

Hard to imagine a world in which the religious right have taken away female autonomy, right? < /sarcasm>

Maybe I'm a little biased because of when I read it (few months into The Pandemic), but I loved this book. I wish there was more detail to Offred's story because I feel like it was incomplete. I guess that's part of what makes it work though.

While I was reading this book, I was immersed in the story. Great writers, I think, craft so great that they completely hide their craftsmanship, allowing us to see the creation only. They don't show off how intelligent they are.

Now after finishing it, after letting all of it sink in my mind, I can see what a great writer she is. She has a profound knowledge of dystopian society. What sort of situation gives birth to a dystopia, how they control, manipulate, kill, invoke obedience and above all manufacturer mass consent for all of their actions.

This book is also important because of its authentic feminine voice, feminist nature.

4.5 NOTE: I did not watch the HBO show.
This is one great book. First of all - great storytelling. Really how the author managed to make it both thrilling, personal, show the world around and also give perspective to it is quite amazing. Most of the opinions I heard about it is how feminist it is. I actually see it more of a humanist manifesto. The fact that it is told from a woman's perspective makes us see the flaws of the current state of the world in a stronger light, but it does not focus only on that, showing how fanaticism, fundamentalism and totalitarianisms enslave societies and especially the weaker ones (take a look at the current, as of writing this review, BLM protests).
This is a story of a rotten, distopian world ruled by fear and fringe ideologies. The fact that it's really improbable for a revolution leading to such state to occur does not make the story any less ‘real'. It deals with a lot of dillemas similar to what prisoners of gulags or concentration camps had to go through to survive (e.g. A World Apart by Gustaw Herling-Grudziński).
I really enjoyed the whole book and will definitely re-read it some day.

I don't really know what to say. A very well written novel that touches the realities of the world in the most unfathomable way. Classics always stand out. You're left wanting more.

Grim and Shocking Tale!!

A grim tale of possible future that makes you think should we raise voice against the totalitarian regimes when they start making disastrous changes or just act ignorant and think it will not impact us. The main character had the same thinking and very well conveys it by saying “we are the people who live in the white spaces of newspapers always thinking that actions by government will never impact us.”

On the other note, the book is slightly difficult to read but you slowly get hooked to the story of Offred and how world came to a dark future like this.

I'll admit, I saw a television program about this book and wanted to read to know what it was about. Here's my honest opinion. It was like a trashy romance, only set in a fictional (?) time when men take over the world. HA HA HA HA It's like a funny cartoon, only supposed to be serious. Sex is only for making babies, and the handmaid is cuddled with the wife, while the husband performs his duty. Oh, come on. Men ruling the world would not make sex a duty. Of course, this book was written by a woman. Also, this is supposed to be set in the future, but woman have been fighting for years to be more powerful. Do you think this could ever happen in the future. NOPE. There were a couple things in the way the story was written that made me give it two stars, but I won't recommend this book to anyone.

A spectacular piece of fiction that has my entire mind, body, and soul. Margaret Atwood's novel is a testament to the struggles of conformity, identity, while simultaneously addressing core issues of society such as the patriarchy, climate change, radical feminism, and extreme polarization.

The story is quite simple - a woman named Offred is a sex slave to her Commander (essentially an owner) in a world of declining birth rates. Throughout the novel, the speaker leads the audience through her journey as a Handmaid and revealing bits of her inner psyche.

Often, Offred doesn't seem to be a reliable author and the surrealism of the setting really makes you question your political stances/safety. There are a lot of pop culture references (early 80s to late 90s, I'd say) so keep an eye out for those because they really deepen the meaning and provide complexity to your analysis.

Atwood's incredibly stylistic writing paired with the real issues the book addresses is what really makes it such a wonderful novel. And when I say stylistic, I really mean it. Keep an eye out for odd phrases/metaphors because they are worth analyzing!

If you are reading this for school:

Keep an open mind - this isn't as bad as the usual books students are forced to read.
Annotate as you read - it will really help you in the long run, especially when you're writing essays and papers and require evidence.
Keep an eye out for figurative language! This book is teeming with it - puns, metaphors, symbolism, allusions, alliteration, EVERYTHING! It's what makes it such a great novel!!!
Read with a particular lens in the back burner of your mind: gender, psychological, political, etc because they will ALL work. It's important that you understand how everything connects, though.

If you need any notes or anything, dm me! I'll be glad to share any material I have :)

But if you are someone that enjoys: dystopian fiction, feminist novel, politically motivated novels, or classic literary fiction, this is this book for you. Some novels similar to this include (IMO): Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, 1984, and Animal Farm.

One of the best dystopian novels I've read so far. I love how Atwood didn't really explain anything, instead it was shown merely by the protagonist's experiences. And it worked so well that way!

I don't agree with many of Atwood's political opinions (and therefore I, for my part, was reluctant to read this book worrying about it being too feminist), but The Handmaid's Tale turned out to be very differentiated and surprisingly unbiased – which makes me recommend it even to people who might not be so fond of feminism. ⚖️

This was a tough book to rate for me. Overall I really thought the story was compelling and the premise was really interesting. Atwood is a great writer and the descriptions and prose where amazing.

The issue I had is her writing and prose did not fit the story. This was a “found diary” from Offerd. Unless Offerd was a literary writer, no one would write or speak like this in a diary.

Difficult to read and confusing at times. It gets better as the pages run by.

When the #metoo movement hit big in October 2017, there was a call for people to speak out about their experiences as victims of sexual violence. There were men, men like myself, who joined in the chorus and were promptly shut down. “This isn't for you,” was the general response. You don't belong here. And so, I was a good little victim still playing the role: I tucked my tail between my legs, turned my head down, and kept my mouth shut.

For some time I've been curious about The Handmaid's Tale, but I've been dragging my feet. The only reason I'm finally giving in is because The Testaments was placed on this year's Booker Prize list, and I figured I should probably read these books in their proper order. It was as I began reading on page one that I realized why I'd been hesitant all this time. I heard that voice saying this isn't for you.

I've been told about The Handmaid's Tale. I've heard the highest praise and the greatest criticism, primarily from women, who love it or hate it. Some readers have called it powerful, affecting, a rally to rise up against the patriarchy. In the same room, other readers called it depressing, distasteful, man-hating. Going into this book, I expected Margaret Atwood herself, along with every character, reaching out of the pages to point their finger at me and say, “You see, you are the problem.” But that wasn't the case.

Sure, feminist themes feature heavily in The Handmaid's Tale. It is told from a female perspective after all. But this novel really does take on more of a humanist approach to things. This is a warning against extremism. Some readers have called Gilead “a society ruled by men,” separating individuals into camps of good and evil based entirely on gender; yet, they've somehow ignored the fact that the majority of men we see in this story are victims of executions, hunters and hunted, or at the very best, subjugated to a life of servitude. (Oh, what a life!) Those who wield the power are men, but in this complete cast of characters, how many of these powerful men are there?

So some readers may be hesitant to pick up this novel. They may think this story isn't theirs for whatever reason. Someone may have even told them “this isn't for you.” Yes, The Handmaid's Tale shows the extremes of sexism and religion on a society, but it is not misandrist or anti-religious. This is a story of what happens when you abuse these roles. These are issues that affect so many of us. This is a world that should be terrifying for us all.

The Handmaid's Tale is a story for all of us.

I'll briefly go into my thoughts about the novel itself before I close. Atwood really does craft a well-drawn world in Gilead. Sure, she borrows quite a bit from historical images and events, but she brings them all together in a way that is incredibly eerie and startling. I think Atwood's choice to make “Offred” somewhat complacent was a good one. Taking a very radical approach wouldn't have given the reader the same idea of what life was like for a handmaid. The story was well formulated. I've heard some people hold it up as “the feminist 1984,” and while I understand the sentiment behind the comparison, the biggest difference is that this story is a well-written piece of fiction. The Handmaid's Tale is far more daring and brave in its composition and telling.

There were a few points that distanced me as a reader, the most notable were 1) the disconnect that exists between the contemporary setting and the pre-Gilead existence—the two events seem much too close in time for individuals and society as a whole to have so easily misplaced their memories of former years; 2) “Offred” seems to step out of believability by being so trusting—if your oppressor tells you reading is illegal, then invites you in for a game of Scrabble, the correct response (assuming you want to live) should be along the lines of “Gee, I'd like to, but there's this little problem and I seem to have forgotten my letters.” If she really were that fearful, she should've at least shown considerable hesitation. I don't know, perhaps I missed something. She just didn't always seem to give the most authentic response given her situation.

I'm glad I finally had reason to read this novel. It may have parts that are slightly dated, and it may have been emulated a hundred times in the last three decades, but it really does stand up well in 2019—perhaps even more so.

Can't say love or hate this book. it's mixed.
I hate the way Atwood told the story but the plot is quite nice.

So maybe I have to finish the sequel as well. :)

“Todas las noches, cuando me voy a dormir, pienso: Mañana por la mañana me despertaré en mi propia casa y las cosas volverán a ser como eran. Esta mañana tampoco ha ocurrido...”

Amazing

• Realistic dystopia when it comes to physical world of Gilead. No futuristic weapons, aliens, natural disasters, mutants, etc. None of that baloney, thank GOD!
  
  + Questions asked and problems described by Atwood are crucial. Book can greatly serve as a starting point for such a discussion regardless of your gender, religious belief or current year.
  
  + Masochistic (that itch was scratched well).
  
  - Narrative style is really incoherent ( anyone else? just me?). It's a pity because the story had a huge potential.
  
  - I wish I've read this earlier before TV series was a thing (didn't watch it though). Maybe my expectations were too high because of all the hype. I tend to avoid such a hot novels. Now I remembered why.
  
  I feel as I should give this another try later on.

3.5

Set in a dystopian world, in the not so distant future, where due to the advancements in technology, and the frequent disposal of radioactive waste, infertility rates have skyrocketed.
The government decides to take the matters into their own hands to secure the future of the country by making sure, they get a next generation, from viable “resources”

A scary premise, and well executed.
Reading this was a true pain till about one forth of the book, did not know what was going on that much, until Offred talks about the ceremony : the purpose of a handmaid is revealed, oh what horrors follow!
Shocking how just a few lines from an old teachings of a religion could be used to write down new laws, regressive, but laws nonetheless, to make citizens obey.
Even if they disregard the law, they surely won't disrespect God. And if that doesn't help, there's nothing regular tasering can't fix eh?

A society where, if a woman cannot produce children after trying repeatedly, there must be something wrong with the woman, the man can do no wrong.

There's a sequel to this and it comes out in 2019. Cannot WAIT.

P.S.
This isn't a page turner. The prose takes time to grow on you. Had hard time imagining the red center and the salvaging.
HULU's adaptation of Handmaid's tale is riveting and every bit as scarring, has some well deserved Emmy winning performances, a must watch.

A well known dystopian speculative fiction novel, set in the USA, by Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood. I avoided the (fairly) recent television mini-series, knowing that I should have read this book before now - and I understand a sequel is due late 2019 now.

The things most evident from this book:
- It has aged very well - first published 1985 - it still reads as contemporary, which surprised me.
- A large part of the success of this book is how plausible the storyline is - the poisoning of our planet leading to sterility and birth defects, a plummeting birth rate, and ‘steps being taken'. The powerful 1% taking control and the remainder of people performing a service role - soldiers, police, educators, breeders, and servants.
- The story is told in an interesting manner - as often what is not told to us is as important as what is told. We are left to draw conclusions and fill in gaps (although we are often corrected or affirmed later).
- The story holds suspense in a way that makes you want to read on, or pick up the book again.

Much better places to look for plot outlines than here, so I will move on quickly.

4 stars.

A modern classic that is 100% worth your time