book review for the handmaid's tale

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

For Parents
For Educators
Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

How to Help Kids Build Character Strengths with Quality Media

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

The handmaid's tale.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 8 Reviews
Kids Say 17 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Gripping dystopian novel of religious state against women.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 16+?

Nonreproductive sex is prohibited in Gilead, punishable by exile or even death.

Profanity is prohibited in Gilead, but swear words cannot be completely eradicat

The threat of corporal punishiment hangs over all the characters in The Handmaid

Drinking, recreational drugs, and smoking are all prohibited in Gilead. Offred e

Any Positive Content?

The Handmai'd Tale is a highly regarded example of dystopian fiction, a piece of

Like most dystopian novels, The Handmaid's Tale instructs by negative example. G

The narrator, known as "Offred," has the courage to question her captivity and h

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Nonreproductive sex is prohibited in Gilead, punishable by exile or even death. As a handmaid, Offred must participate in the Ceremony, in which she lies between the legs of the Commander's Wife and then has sex with the Commander. (This is the novel's most sexually explicit scene.) Later, Offred spends time at a brothel as a guest of the Commander and even develops a sexual relationship with another character.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Profanity is prohibited in Gilead, but swear words cannot be completely eradicated. "S--t" is used relatively frequently, as both an explitative and as a reference to feces. "Bitch," "tits," "damn" and "goddamn" are employed once or twice each. "F--k" and variations of it are used in the Ceremony scene.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

The threat of corporal punishiment hangs over all the characters in The Handmaid's Tale. The corpses of dissidents are hung in public as grim reminders of the cost of rebellion. Offred does not witness much violence firsthand, but she learns of handmaids who have committed suicide by hanging. The most violent scene in the novel involves a Salvaging, a public ceremony where the women are whipped into a frenzy and then allowed to beat an accused prisoner to death.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Drinking, recreational drugs, and smoking are all prohibited in Gilead. Offred eventually learns, however, that alcohol and tobacco are available to the most powerful men. Scenes late in the novel are set in a brothel where drinking and smoking occur.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Educational Value

The Handmai'd Tale is a highly regarded example of dystopian fiction, a piece of satire specific to its date of origin and still relevant many years later and in many other cultures. Nominated for the Booker Prize and a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, it is frequently required reading in school and is often the target of censorship campaigns. It can serve as a springboard for discussions about religion, law, feminism, and many other topics.

Positive Messages

Like most dystopian novels, The Handmaid's Tale instructs by negative example. Gilead is shown to be a hierarchical, monotheocratic patriarchy. Women have no autonomy, no control over finances, their bodies, or their intellectual pursuits. Author Margaret Atwood is most harsh in her depiction of fundamentalism of any kind, rather than any particular form of religion or government.

Positive Role Models

The narrator, known as "Offred," has the courage to question her captivity and hope for a day of freedom. Over the course of the novel, she begins to rebel in subtle ways.

Parents need to know that The Handmaid's Tale is a powerful, potentially disturbing dystopian satire set in a future America where women have been stripped of all their civil rights. It features strong language, emotional and physical violence, and a couple of graphic sex scenes. The corpses of dissidents are hung in public as grim reminders of the cost of rebellion. There is mention of handmaids who have committed suicide by hanging. The most violent scene in the novel involves a public ceremony where women are whipped into a frenzy and then allowed to beat an accused person to death. The novel was adapted for the award-wining television series of the same name that premiered in 2017.

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

Parents say (8)
Kids say (17)

Based on 8 parent reviews

Blessed Be!

What's the story.

The narrator of THE HANDMAID'S TALE, known only as "Offred," tells of her life in the monotheocracy of Gilead, in what used to be the United States, sometime in the near future. She is a handmaid, kept to breed with "the Commander" and provide an heir at a time when the human birthrate is dangerously low. As she remembers the years before her captivity and begins to dream of an end to her captivity, Offred develops new relationships with the Commander, his Wife and their driver. But can she trust any of them?

Is It Any Good?

Details matter to Margaret Atwood, and Offred's tale is related with precision and deep compassion. The Handmaid's Tale is one of the most acclaimed dystopian novels of the 20th century. An uncompromising portrait of a totalitarianism and institutional misogyny, it critiques fundamentalism in all its forms.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about why dystopian novels -- like The Handmaid's Tale (1985) and The Hunger Games (2008) -- continue to be such a popular genre.

Why do you think author Margaret Atwood appends "Historical Notes" to the main narrative of the novel?

Do you think women's rights are in jeopardy today? Where and how?

In what ways can religion can shape government -- and vice versa?

Book Details

Author : Margaret Atwood
Genre : Literary Fiction
Book type : Fiction
Publisher : Anchor Books
Publication date : September 13, 1985
Publisher's recommended age(s) : 16 - 17
Number of pages : 311
Last updated : February 4, 2020

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Animal Farm

Brave New World

Science Fiction Books

Books like the hunger games.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

The Handmaid’s Tale

By margaret atwood.

'The Handmaid’s Tale' has never been more popular than it is today. The novel was published in 1985 in Canada, but over the last several years, it has had a massive resurgence in popularity.

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

This is primarily due to the fact that it was made into a Hulu Television series, prompting women, as well as men, from around the world to repurpose the symbols of oppression in the novel as ways of protest.

The Handmaid’s Tale as a Dystopian Novel

Aside from its popularity with contemporary readers and television audiences, The Handmaid’s Tale is one of the best dystopian/speculative fiction novels ever written. It ranks among the likes of 1984 , We, and A Clockwork Orange. These novels all seek to convey something about human nature, something dark and twisted that overtakes the humanity’s better nature and leaves the world in a state of desperation whether that is a society’s need to feel safe, no matter the consequences for freedom or an overwhelming greed and anger that leads to personal destruction.

But more importantly, what these novels, and others, have in common with The Handmaid’s Tale is a hope. That is, a hope that things could be different, that life might get better, or that someone, somewhere, will be willing to show kindness or mercy. Offred’s hope mostly comes from within, but also from her brief meetings with Ofglen, a member of the resistance group Mayday, and from her moments of peace with Nick. Her life as a Handmaid in Gilead is a twisted knot of fear mixed with a desperate desire to see her daughter again.

Ceremony in The Handmaid’s Tale

One of Atwood’s most powerful storytelling techniques is her ability to craft very real-seeming events and policies that outline this world’s structure. In order for a dystopian, futurist novel to work, readers must be convinced, at least to a point, that everything occurring is possible. Atwood understands this and looked to history, and specifically religion, to inform her choices.

It’s clear from the start of the novel that Gilead’s foundational principles come from a reading of the Old Testament . There are numerous references to stories from the Bible, characters, and practices. Atwood allowed in the history of female prosecution , specifically the Salem Witch Trials, to make the treatment of these women far more likely.

But, what the novel depends on more than anything else is the reader’s understanding of the inherently sexist nature of our society. Those who dismiss the novel or the television show that followed it as impossible are likely not as tuned into the realities of the home, workplace, and the broader world for women as are those who see how possible it truly is.

There are countries around the world today where the practices of sexual slavery and the broader domination of women would seem commonplace. While at the same time , there are those in which politicians and religious leaders are seeking to implement policies that would erode women’s rights for generations. The Handmaid’s Tale , just like 1984 and A Brave New World, is a warning.

The Past and Present in The Handmaid’s Tale

The novel is structured in two vaguely defined sections . One, which is commonly known as the “night” section, focuses on Offred and how she is, as an individual, handling her life as a Handmaid. The other section is broader. It taps into the wider world of Gilead and the struggles of all the Handmaids in Offred’s circle. In both of these sections of Offred’s story, she jumps around in time. Through a series of remarkably poignant flashbacks, she tells her story.

Atwood made a choice to provide these as a series of scenes rather than as a cohesive look at who Offred used to be. But, even at the end of the novel, there is still so much that’s a mystery. While in some novels this might leave the reader disappointed, in the case of The Handmaid’s Tale, readers, or at least this reader, was left wondering, thinking for days after about who Offred was and the lives of the other Handmaid’s used to live.

One of the most noteworthy details that’s left out of the novel is the protagonist’s true name. Offred is a disturbing combination of the word “Of” and her commander’s first name, “Fred.” This is just one of the many creatively terrifying ways that Atwood confirms for the reader the Handmaid’s (almost) total domination by the men in Gilead. Each woman around Offred shares a different part of herself for the story. Some do share their names, others share their fears, and one Handmaid, in particular, shares her determination to do something about their situation. Offred goes back and forth between wanting to risk her life to destroy Gilead while at the same time wanting to do everything she can just to find her daughter.

The Future in The Handmaid’s Tale

Offred’s future is one of the most curious parts of the novel. Atwood concludes the story by whisking Offred off in a car with either members of the residence or Eyes or have come to execute and/or torture her. This is just anther part of OFfred’s story that’s up to the reader to interpret. Does The Handmaid’s Tale have a happy ending? Was Offred affection and trust of Nick completely misplaced?

One of the most curious and somewhat disconcerting sections of The Handmaid’s Tale comes at the end of Offred’s story after what seems like the end of the novel. Atwood jumps into the future while at the same time revealing that Gilead does eventually collapse. The readers find themselves in a classroom, listening to a lecture on Offred’s life and Gilead from a Professor named Piexito. But, what quickly becomes clear is that not everything has changed. Gilead might’ve collapsed, but the opinions that allowed it to exist in the first place are still around. This is a thoughtful conclusion to the book, although one that takes away, at least on a first reading, from the powerful mystery of Offred’s escape or capture.

The Handmaid's Tale Book Review: Atwood's Dystopian Masterpiece

Book Title: The Handmaid's Tale

Book Description: The Handmaid's Tale is Margaret Atwood's best-known novel. In it, readers find themselves in Gilead, a totalitarian theocracy that abuses women in order to bestow healthy babies on wealthy couples.

Book Author: Margaret Atwood

Book Edition: First US Edition

Book Format: Hardcover

Publisher - Organization: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Date published: October 15, 1985

ISBN: 0-395-34534-3

Number Of Pages: 311

Writing Style
Lasting Effect on Reader

The Handmaid's Tale Review

The Handmaid’s Tale is a classic of the dystopian and speculative fiction genres. It is generally considered to be Margaret Atwood’s masterpiece, one that has resonated throughout the decades since it was written. Readers come away from The Handmaid’s Tale, chilled by the depictions of violence and abuse within Atwood’s fictional world, Gilead. But, the novel also leaves readers with the hope that things are going to change for the main character and the broader world, she is forced to inhabit.

Terrifyingly realistic depiction of a totalitarian theocracy
Creative and impactful writing style and use of flashbacks.
The right balance of mystery and certainty.
Undefined conclusion that leaves readers unsure of what happens to the main character.
Lack of description in regards to what’s happening in other parts of the United States.
Readers who are sensitive to subjects like mental and physical abuse may have trouble reading the novel.

Join Our Community for Free!

Exclusive to Members

Create Your Personal Profile

Engage in Forums

Join or Create Groups

Save your favorites, beta access.

About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

About the Book

Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood has written numerous novels, essays, collections of poetry, and even graphic novels. She is considered to be one of Canada’s best and most popular writers.

Atwood Facts

Explore ten of the most interesting facts about Atwood's life, habits, and passions.

Atwood's Best Books

Explore the ten best books Atwood wrote.

Atwood, the Feminist and Enviromentalist

When you say the name “Margaret Atwood,” it is likely that images of women in red gowns and white bonnets and the near future come to mind.

The canoe glides, carrying the two of us, around past the leaning trees . . . The direction is clear, I see I’ve been planning this, for how long I can’t tell. Margaret Atwood

Discover literature, enjoy exclusive perks, and connect with others just like yourself!

Start the Conversation. Join the Chat.

There was a problem reporting this post.

Block Member?

Please confirm you want to block this member.

You will no longer be able to:

See blocked member's posts
Mention this member in posts
Invite this member to groups

Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.

ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

THE HANDMAID'S TALE

by Margaret Atwood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 17, 1985

Tinny perhaps, but still a minutely rendered and impressively steady feminist vision of apocalypse.

The time is the not-so-distant future, when the US's spiraling social freedoms have finally called down a reaction, an Iranian-style repressive "monotheocracy" calling itself the Republic of Gilead—a Bible-thumping, racist, capital-punishing, and misogynistic rule that would do away with pleasure altogether were it not for one thing: that the Gileadan women, pure and true (as opposed to all the nonbelieving women, those who've ever been adulterous or married more than once), are found rarely fertile.

Thus are drafted a whole class of "handmaids," whose function is to bear the children of the elite, to be fecund or else (else being certain death, sent out to be toxic-waste removers on outlying islands). The narrative frame for Atwood's dystopian vision is the hopeless private testimony of one of these surrogate mothers, Offred ("of" plus the name of her male protector). Lying cradled by the body of the barren wife, being meanwhile serviced by the husband, Offred's "ceremony" must be successful—if she does not want to join the ranks of the other disappeared (which include her mother, her husband—dead—and small daughter, all taken away during the years of revolt). One Of her only human conduits is a gradually developing affair with her master's chauffeur—something that's balanced more than offset, though, by the master's hypocritically un-Puritan use of her as a kind of B-girl at private parties held by the ruling men in a spirit of nostalgia and lust. This latter relationship, edging into real need (the master's), is very effectively done; it highlights the handmaid's (read Everywoman's) eternal exploitation, profane or sacred ("We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices"). Atwood, to her credit, creates a chillingly specific, imaginable night-mare. The book is short on characterization—this is Atwood, never a warm writer, at her steeliest—and long on cynicism—it's got none of the human credibility of a work such as Walker Percy's Love In The Ruins. But the scariness is visceral, a world that's like a dangerous and even fatal grid, an electrified fence.

Pub Date: Feb. 17, 1985

ISBN: 038549081X

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1985

LITERARY FICTION

Share your opinion of this book

More by Douglas Preston

BOOK REVIEW

edited by Margaret Atwood & Douglas Preston

by Margaret Atwood

More About This Book

Appreciations: Margaret Atwood’s Novel The Handmaid’s Tale Turns 30

PERSPECTIVES

Nan A. Talese, Legendary Publisher, Is Retiring

SEEN & HEARD

Teasers Drop for ‘Shadow and Bone,’ Other Films

BOOK TO SCREEN

THE SECRET HISTORY

by Donna Tartt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 1992

The Brat Pack meets The Bacchae in this precious, way-too-long, and utterly unsuspenseful town-and-gown murder tale. A bunch of ever-so-mandarin college kids in a small Vermont school are the eager epigones of an aloof classics professor, and in their exclusivity and snobbishness and eagerness to please their teacher, they are moved to try to enact Dionysian frenzies in the woods. During the only one that actually comes off, a local farmer happens upon them—and they kill him. But the death isn't ruled a murder—and might never have been if one of the gang—a cadging sybarite named Bunny Corcoran—hadn't shown signs of cracking under the secret's weight. And so he too is dispatched. The narrator, a blank-slate Californian named Richard Pepen chronicles the coverup. But if you're thinking remorse-drama, conscience masque, or even semi-trashy who'll-break-first? page-turner, forget it: This is a straight gee-whiz, first-to-have-ever-noticed college novel—"Hampden College, as a body, was always strangely prone to hysteria. Whether from isolation, malice, or simple boredom, people there were far more credulous and excitable than educated people are generally thought to be, and this hermetic, overheated atmosphere made it a thriving black petri dish of melodrama and distortion." First-novelist Tartt goes muzzy when she has to describe human confrontations (the murder, or sex, or even the ping-ponging of fear), and is much more comfortable in transcribing aimless dorm-room paranoia or the TV shows that the malefactors anesthetize themselves with as fate ticks down. By telegraphing the murders, Tartt wants us to be continually horrified at these kids—while inviting us to semi-enjoy their manneristic fetishes and refined tastes. This ersatz-Fitzgerald mix of moralizing and mirror-looking (Jay McInerney shook and poured the shaker first) is very 80's—and in Tartt's strenuous version already seems dated, formulaic. Les Nerds du Mal—and about as deep (if not nearly as involving) as a TV movie.

Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1992

ISBN: 1400031702

Page Count: 592

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1992

More by Donna Tartt

by Donna Tartt

ABSOLUTE POWER

by David Baldacci ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 18, 1996

The mother of all presidential cover-ups is the centerpiece gimmick in this far-fetched thriller from first-novelist Baldacci, a Washington-based attorney. In the dead of night, while burgling an exurban Virginia mansion, career criminal Luther Whitney is forced to conceal himself in a walk-in closet when Christine Sullivan, the lady of the house, arrives in the bedroom he's ransacking with none other than Alan Richmond, President of the US. Through the one-way mirror, Luther watches the drunken couple engage in a bout of rough sex that gets out of hand, ending only when two Secret Service men respond to the Chief Executive's cries of distress and gun down the letter-opener-wielding Christy. Gloria Russell, Richmond's vaultingly ambitious chief of staff, orders the scene rigged to look like a break-in and departs with the still befuddled President, leaving Christy's corpse to be discovered at another time. Luther makes tracks as well, though not before being spotted on the run by agents from the bodyguard detail. Aware that he's shortened his life expectancy, Luther retains trusted friend Jack Graham, a former public defender, but doesn't tell him the whole story. When Luther's slain before he can be arraigned for Christy's murder, Jack concludes he's the designated fall guy in a major scandal. Meanwhile, little Gloria (together with two Secret Service shooters) hopes to erase all tracks that might lead to the White House. But the late Luther seems to have outsmarted her in advance with recurrent demands for hush money. The body count rises as Gloria's attack dogs and Jack search for the evidence cunning Luther's left to incriminate not only a venal Alan Richmond but his homicidal deputies. The not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper climax provides an unsurprising answer to the question of whether a US president can get away with murder. For all its arresting premise, an overblown and tedious tale of capital sins. (Film rights to Castle Rock; Book-of-the-Month selection)

Pub Date: Jan. 18, 1996

ISBN: 0-446-51996-0

Page Count: 480

Publisher: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995

More by David Baldacci

by David Baldacci

Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

The Handmaid’s Tale #1

The handmaid’s tale, margaret atwood.

311 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think? Rate this book Write a Review

Friends & Following

Community reviews.

“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”

“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Don't let the bastards grind you down.”

We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Don't let the bastards grind you down.

"...a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith."

Join the discussion

Can't find what you're looking for.

Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Let’s take a journey today into the dystopian world of one of the most iconic novels I’ve stumbled upon – “The Handmaid’s Tale” by the brilliant Margaret Atwood . I first came across this book in a college literature course. The somber cover and intriguing title pulled me in, and once I dived into the pages, there was no looking back.

Book Summary of The Handmaid’s Tale

Our narrator, Offred, gives us a first-person account of her life under the regime. She tells us about her previous life, her attempts to escape with her husband and daughter, and how she landed in the ‘Rachel and Leah’ re-education center, a.k.a. the Red Center. In the Red Center, women are brainwashed and prepared for their roles as Handmaids. Offred’s life changes when she is assigned to the household of Commander Fred (hence her name, Offred), where she is expected to carry his child.

Book Review of The Handmaid’s Tale

“The Handmaid’s Tale” is a chilling portrayal of a dystopian future that isn’t too hard to imagine, which is what makes it so terrifying. Margaret Atwood ‘s writing is sharp and evocative, painting a picture of Gilead in all its oppressive grimness. Offred’s voice is compelling, and her narrative grips the reader, making one feel the weight of her desperation, loneliness, and the glimmer of rebellion that she clings to.

The Handmaid’s Tale Rating

My rating: 9/10. The novel is a superbly crafted piece of literature that leaves a lasting impact. It’s haunting, poignant, and thought-provoking, the kind of book that stays with you long after you’ve put it down.

About the Author: Margaret Atwood

Her personal life saw her married to American writer Jim Polk, and later, novelist Graeme Gibson, with whom she had a daughter. They were together until Gibson’s death in 2019, an event that deeply affected Atwood and influenced her subsequent works.

Where to Read The Handmaid’s Tale

Related reading, about the author, related posts, what is antimetabole in writing examples, definitions, and how to create them, what is anthimeria in writing examples, definitions, and how to create them, alliteration: definition and examples, leave a comment cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Report Website Issue
Join The Cowl
Meet Our Staff
Privacy Policy
Congress Updates
National and Global News
Film and Television
Pop Culture
Letters to the Editor

August 21, 2024

Providence College's Student-Run Newspaper Since 1935

Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale

by The Cowl Editor on October 28, 2021

Arts & Entertainment

Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret atwood’s chilling dystopian vision.

Tully Mahoney ’23

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a chilling exposé of a dystopian reality in which an extreme regime overtakes the US government and creates an ultra-patriarchal, religious state known as the Republic of Gilead. The novel is told from the point of view of a Handmaid, Offred, whose only duty is to produce children for a Commander, a Gilead official, and his wife. She is subjected to participate in a “Ceremony,” a non-consensual ritual that Handmaids undergo in order to conceive children. The main themes that Atwood highlights in the novel are women’s limited choices, the subjugation of women in patriarchal societies, and the female desire for independence.

Some events that take place in The Handmaid’s Tale are very contradictory of the Christian faith, yet the extremist government in the novel justifies these acts using Christianity. Non-consensual sex, adultery, murder, and pre-marital sex are just a few examples of this phenomenon. Such acts are fundamental sins and appear contradictory to a religious state. Atwood’s deep dive into an extremist interpretation of theology, paired with an equally extreme patriarchal mindset, led her to stray from typical Christian dogma.

On sites like GoodReads, some readers gave The Handmaid’s Tale poor ratings due to Atwood’s lack of usage of quotation marks. These reviewers ignore the importance of her message and instead cling to grammatical choices. Atwood is fully aware of when and where it is proper to use quotation marks, yet she broke this rule with intention and purpose. If one’s main argument against a novel is its grammatical correctness, then they are not truly looking at its deeper meaning.

The Handmaid’s Tale will make readers love it while simultaneously hating it. There were sections of this novel that hurt to read, forcing some people to picture uncomfortable scenes that they would have never imagined, even in their wildest dreams. A book that makes a reader cringe as they read, yet compels them to keep reading, is a book that is worth one’s time. This dystopian world is a feminist’s nightmare, yet its terrifying reality opens readers’ eyes to the warning that Atwood is attempting to convey as she demonstrates what life would be like if humans adhered to extremist misogynistic views. Notably, the sense of horror present throughout The Handmaid’s Tale is not only limited to its women and their lack of independence, but is also seen in the men who have near-total power in their society, yet show no signs of joy, happiness, or love, which are three components of truly living.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel that is important for people of all walks of life to read. History is taught because everyone must learn about the past to not repeat its mistakes. Reading The Handmaid’s Tale can help prevent the realization of a society like described in the novel, one that allowed for a horrible reality for women.

Atwood has a wonderful ability to make a distant reality feel real. Readers are able to see Offred’s world, feel her contempt, and hear her conversations, which will transform their current views on the society in which they live. The Handmaid’s Tale feels very slow in the beginning half, but it is worth pushing through because this section of the text provides a lot of context for its second half, which will leave readers unable to put the book down.

The Handmaid’s Tale has been made into a Hulu TV show for those who are less inclined towards reading or like to pair their books with imagery in film. This reviewer must note that she could not get past the first episode because she felt like it strayed too far from the book and was not an accurate depiction. Nevertheless, the series does a fair job of conveying the general idea of the novel.

Bookreporter
ReadingGroupGuides
AuthorsOnTheWeb

The Book Report Network

Regular Features

Author spotlights, "bookreporter talks to" videos & podcasts, "bookaccino live: a lively talk about books", favorite monthly lists & picks, seasonal features, book festivals, sports features, bookshelves.

Coming Soon

Newsletters

Weekly Update
On Sale This Week

Fall Reading

Summer Reading
Spring Preview
Winter Reading
Holiday Cheer

Word of Mouth

Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, the handmaid's tale.

About the Book

An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” ( The New York Times ). Now an award-winning Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss.

In Margaret Atwood’s dystopian future, environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War. The result is the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women. Offred is one of these, a Handmaid bound to produce children for one of Gilead’s commanders. Deprived of her husband, her child, her freedom and even her own name, Offred clings to her memories and her will to survive.

At once a scathing satire, an ominous warning and a tour de force of narrative suspense, THE HANDMAID'S TALE is a modern classic.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Publication Date: March 16, 1998
Genres: Science Fiction
Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN-10: 038549081X
ISBN-13: 9780385490818

NONFICTION BOOKS
BEST NONFICTION 2023
BEST NONFICTION 2024
Historical Biographies
The Best Memoirs and Autobiographies
Philosophical Biographies
World War 2
World History
American History
British History
Chinese History
Russian History
Ancient History (up to 500)
Medieval History (500-1400)
Military History
Art History
Travel Books
Ancient Philosophy
Contemporary Philosophy
Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Great Philosophers
Social & Political Philosophy
Classical Studies
New Science Books
Maths & Statistics
Popular Science
Physics Books
Climate Change Books
How to Write
English Grammar & Usage
Books for Learning Languages
Linguistics
Political Ideologies
Foreign Policy & International Relations
American Politics
British Politics
Religious History Books
Mental Health
Neuroscience
Child Psychology
Film & Cinema
Opera & Classical Music
Behavioural Economics
Development Economics
Economic History
Financial Crisis
World Economies
Investing Books
Artificial Intelligence/AI Books
Data Science Books
Sex & Sexuality
Death & Dying
Food & Cooking
Sports, Games & Hobbies
FICTION BOOKS
BEST NOVELS 2024
BEST FICTION 2023
New Literary Fiction
World Literature
Literary Criticism
Literary Figures
Classic English Literature
American Literature
Comics & Graphic Novels
Fairy Tales & Mythology
Historical Fiction
Crime Novels
Science Fiction
Short Stories
South Africa
United States
Arctic & Antarctica
Afghanistan
Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
Netherlands
Kids Recommend Books for Kids
High School Teachers Recommendations
Prizewinning Kids' Books
Popular Series Books for Kids
BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS (ALL AGES)
Ages Baby-2
Books for Teens and Young Adults
THE BEST SCIENCE BOOKS FOR KIDS
BEST KIDS' BOOKS OF 2023
BEST BOOKS FOR TEENS OF 2023
Best Audiobooks for Kids
Environment
Best Books for Teens of 2023
Best Kids' Books of 2023
Political Novels
New History Books
New Historical Fiction
New Biography
New Memoirs
New World Literature
New Economics Books
New Climate Books
New Math Books
New Philosophy Books
New Psychology Books
New Physics Books
THE BEST AUDIOBOOKS
Actors Read Great Books
Books Narrated by Their Authors
Best Audiobook Thrillers
Best History Audiobooks
Nobel Literature Prize
Booker Prize (fiction)
Baillie Gifford Prize (nonfiction)
Financial Times (nonfiction)
Wolfson Prize (history)
Royal Society (science)
Pushkin House Prize (Russia)
Walter Scott Prize (historical fiction)
Arthur C Clarke Prize (sci fi)
The Hugos (sci fi & fantasy)
Audie Awards (audiobooks)

The Best Fiction Books » Dystopian Novels

The handmaid's tale, by margaret atwood.

Published in 1986, The Handmaid’s Tale is a haunting epistolary novel narrated by Offred, a woman living in a future America where environmental and societal breakdown have led to the establishment of a fundamentalist Christian theocracy. In Gilead, women have been stripped of their fundamental rights and reduced to their reproductive potential. Lesbians and other ‘gender outlaws’ are executed, as are doctors who conduct abortions.

The Handmaid’s Tale was recognised as a modern classic and first adapted into a film in 1990. It reappeared in the headlines (and the bestseller lists) in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s US electoral victory, after which time the handmaid’s bonnet became an icon of the feminist protest movement. More recently it was adapted as a multi-Emmy Award-winning television series starring Elisabeth Moss, who also narrates the audiobook of The Handmaid’s Tale .

The sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale is The Testaments, set 15 years later.

Recommendations from our site

“Atwood takes all the hard information about gender inequality that she sees around her and then turns it up a few notches.” Read more...

The best books on Alternative Futures

Catherine Mayer , Politician

The Handmaid’s Tale was adapted as a multi-Emmy Award-winning television series starring Elisabeth Moss, who also narrates the audiobook .

Narrators: Elisabeth Moss, Bradley Whitford, Amy Landecker, Ann Dowd

Length: 11 hours and 22 minutes

Great Actors Read Great Books

The book, according to the author

The Handmaid’s Tale has not been out of print since it was first published, back in 1985. It has sold millions of copies worldwide and has appeared in a bewildering number of translations and editions. It has become a sort of tag for those writing about shifts towards policies aimed at controlling women, and especially women’s bodies and reproductive functions: “Like something out of The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Here comes The Handmaid’s Tale” have become familiar phrases… The book came out in the UK in February of 1986, and in the United States at the same time. In the UK, which had had its Oliver Cromwell moment some centuries ago and was in no mood to repeat it, the reaction was along the lines of, Jolly good yarn. In the United States, however…it was more likely to be, How long have we got?

Margaret Atwood

When it debuted in 1985, Atwood even took newspaper clips to her interviews about the book to show her plot points’ real-life antecedents. The book mirrored the United States’ embrace of conservatism, as evidenced by the election of Ronald Reagan as president, as well as the increasing power of the Christian right and its powerful lobbying organisations the Moral Majority, Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition – not to mention the rise of televangelism.

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, BBC Culture. 25 April 2018.

The world of 1984 has never existed. Neither has the one of Brave New World, or A Clockwork Orange, or any of the other dystopias that are supposed to tell us about the human condition. But all you have to do to recreate The Handmaid’s Tale is go back a few hundred years or move to the right country. A paranoid, in this case, is just a woman in possession of all the facts.

Adi Robertson, The Verge. 9 Nov 2016

The new world of ”The Handmaid’s Tale” is a woman’s world, even though governed, seemingly, and policed by men. Its ethos is entirely domestic, its female population is divided into classes based on household functions, each class clad in a separate color that instantly identifies the wearer – dull green for the Marthas (houseworkers); blue for the Wives; red, blue and green stripes for the Econowives (working class); red for the Handmaids (whose function is to bear children to the head of the household, like Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid in Genesis, but who also, in their long red gowns and white wimple-like headgear, have something of the aura of a temple harlot); brown for the Aunts (a thought-control force, part-governess, part-reform-school matron). The head of the household – whose first name the handmaid takes, adding the word ”of” to show possession -”Offred,” ”Ofwarren” – is known as the Commander. It is his duty to inseminate his assigned partner, who lies on the spread thighs of his wife.

Mary McCarthy, reviewing the first edition in The New York Times, 9 February 1986.

Other books by Margaret Atwood

The testaments: a novel by margaret atwood, the penelopiad by margaret atwood, alias grace by margaret atwood, angel catbird by johnnie christmas, margaret atwood & tamra bonvillain, cat's eye by margaret atwood, oryx and crake by margaret atwood, more books like the handmaid's tale.

Have you already read and loved The Handmaid's Tale?

We think you’ll like these books too.

The Children of Men by P D James

The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

Women and Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

Our most recommended books, on liberty by john stuart mill, war and peace by leo tolstoy, middlemarch by george eliot, nineteen eighty-four by george orwell, the confessions by augustine (translated by maria boulding), republic by plato.

Support Five Books

Five Books interviews are expensive to produce, please support us by donating a small amount .

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

The Book Report Network

Bookreporter
ReadingGroupGuides
AuthorsOnTheWeb

Find a Guide

For book groups, what's your book group reading this month, favorite monthly lists & picks, most requested guides of 2023, when no discussion guide available, starting a reading group, running a book group, choosing what to read, tips for book clubs, books about reading groups, coming soon, new in paperback, write to us, frequently asked questions.

Request a Guide

Advertise with Us

Add your guide, you are here:, the handmaid's tale.

About the Book

In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies?

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable.

Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now....

Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Publication Date: March 16, 1998
Genres: Science Fiction
Paperback: 311 pages
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN-10: 038549081X
ISBN-13: 9780385490818

How to Add a Guide
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Newsletters

February 9, 1986 Book Review By MARY McCARTHY THE HANDMAID'S TALE By Margaret Atwood. urely the essential element of a cautionary tale is recognition. Surprised recognition, even, enough to administer a shock. We are warned, by seeing our present selves in a distorting mirror, of what we may be turning into if current trends are allowed to continue. That was the effect of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four,'' with its scary dating, not 40 years ahead, maybe also of ''Brave New World'' and, to some extent, of ''A Clockwork Orange.'' It is an effect, for me, almost strikingly missing from Margaret Atwood's very readable book ''The Handmaid's Tale,'' offered by the publisher as a ''forecast'' of what we may have in store for us in the quite near future. A standoff will have been achieved vis-a-vis the Russians, and our own country will be ruled by right-wingers and religious fundamentalists, with males restored to the traditional role of warriors and us females to our ''place'' - which, however, will have undergone subdivision into separate sectors, of wives, breeders, servants and so forth, each clothed in the appropriate uniform. A fresh postfeminist approach to future shock, you might say. Yet the book just does not tell me what there is in our present mores that I ought to watch out for unless I want the United States of America to become a slave state something like the Republic of Gilead whose outlines are here sketched out. Another reader, less peculiar than myself, might confess to a touch of apathy regarding credit cards (instruments of social control), but I have always been firmly against them and will go to almost any length to avoid using one. Yet I can admit to a general failure to extrapolate sufficiently from the 1986 scene. Still, even when I try, in the light of these palely lurid pages, to take the Moral Majority seriously, no shiver of recognition ensues. I just can't see the intolerance of the far right, presently directed not only at abortion clinics and homosexuals but also at high school libraries and small-town schoolteachers, as leading to a super-biblical puritanism by which procreation will be insisted on and reading of any kind banned. Nor, on the other hand, do I fear our ''excesses'' of tolerance as pointing in the same direction. Liberality toward pornography in the courts, the media, on the newstands may make an anxious parent feel disgusted with liberalism, but can it really move a nation to install a theocracy strictly based on the Book of Genesis? Where are the signs of it? A backlash is only a backlash, that is, a reaction. Fear of a backlash, in politics, ought not to deter anybody from adhering to principle; that would be only another form of cowardice. The same for ''excessive'' feminism, which here seems to bear some responsibility for Gilead, to be one of its causes. The kind of doctrinaire feminism likely to produce a backlash is exemplified in the narrator's absurd mother, whom we first hear of at a book-burning in the old, pre-Gilead time - the ''right'' kind of book-burning, naturally, merely a pyre of pornographic magazines: ''Mother,'' thinks the narrator in what has become the present, ''You wanted a women's culture. Well, now there is one.'' The wrong kind, of course. The new world of ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a woman's world, even though governed, seemingly, and policed by men. Its ethos is entirely domestic, its female population is divided into classes based on household functions, each class clad in a separate color that instantly identifies the wearer - dull green for the Marthas (houseworkers); blue for the Wives; red, blue and green stripes for the Econowives (working class); red for the Handmaids (whose function is to bear children to the head of the household, like Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid in Genesis, but who also, in their long red gowns and white wimple-like headgear, have something of the aura of a temple harlot); brown for the Aunts (a thought-control force, part-governess, part-reform-school matron). The head of the household - whose first name the handmaid takes, adding the word ''of'' to show possession -''Offred,'' ''Ofwarren'' - is known as the Commander. It is his duty to inseminate his assigned partner, who lies on the spread thighs of his wife. THE Commanders, presumably, are the high bureaucracy of the regime, yet they are oddly powerless in the household, having no part in the administration of discipline and ceremonially subject to their aging wives. We are not told how and in what sense they govern. The oversight perhaps accounts for the thin credibility of the parable. That they lack freedom, are locked into their own rigid system, is only to be expected. It is no surprise that our narrator's commander, Fred, like a typical bourgeois husband of former times, does a bit of cheating, getting Offred to play Scrabble with him secretly at night (where books are forbidden, word games become wicked), look at his hoard of old fashion magazines (forbidden), kiss him, even go dressed in glitter and feathers to an underground bunny-type nightclub staffed by fallen women, mostly lesbian. Nor is it a surprise that his wife catches him/ them. Plusca change, plus c'est la meme chose. But that cannot be the motto for a cautionary tale, whose job is to warn of change. Infertility is the big problem of the new world and the reason for many of its institutions. A dramatically lowered birth rate, which brought on the fall of the old order, had a plurality of causes, we are told. ''The air got too full, once, of chemicals, rays, radiation, the water swarmed with toxic molecules.'' During an earthquake, atomic power plants exploded (''nobody's fault''). A mutant strain of syphilis appeared, and of course AIDS. Then there were women who refused to breed, as an antinuclear protest, and had their tubes tied up. Anyway, infertility, despite the radical measures of the new regime, has not yet been overcome. Not only are there barren women (mostly shipped to the colonies) but a worrying sterility in men, especially among the powerful who ought to be reproducing themselves. The amusing suggestion is made, late in the book at a symposium (June 25, 2195) of Gileadean historical studies, that sterility among the Commanders may have been the result of an earlier gene-splicing experiment with mumps that produced a virus intended for insertion into the supply of caviar used by top officials in Moscow. ''The Handmaid's Tale'' contains several such touches of deft sardonic humor - for example, the television news program showing clouds of smoke over what was formerly the city of Detroit: we hear the anchorman explain that resettlement of the children of Ham in National Homeland One (the wilds of North Dakota) is continuing on schedule - 3,000 have arrived that week. And yet what is lacking, I think - what constitutes a fundamental disappointment after a promising start - is the destructive force of satire. ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' had it, ''A Clockwork Orange'' had it, even ''Brave New World'' had it, though Huxley was rather short on savagery. If ''The Handmaid's Tale'' doesn't scare one, doesn't wake one up, it must be because it has no satiric bite. The author has carefully drawn her projections from current trends. As she has said elsewhere, there is nothing here that has not been anticipated in the United States of America that we already know. Perhaps that is the trouble: the projections are too neatly penciled in. The details, including a Wall (as in Berlin, but also, as in the Middle Ages, a place where executed malefactors are displayed), all raise their hands announcing themselves present. At the same time, the Republic of Gilead itself, whatever in it that is not a projection, is insufficiently imagined. The Aunts are a good invention, though I cannot picture them as belonging to any future; unlike Big Brother, they are more part of the past - our schoolteachers. But the most conspicuous lack, in comparison with the classics of the fearsome-future genre, is the inability to imagine a language to match the changed face of common life. No newspeak. And nothing like the linguistic tour de force of ''A Clockwork Orange'' - the brutal melting-down of current English and Slavic words that in itself tells the story of the dread new breed. The writing of ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is undistinguished in a double sense, ordinary if not glaringly so, but also indistinguishable from what one supposes would be Margaret Atwood's normal way of expressing herself in the circumstances. This is a serious defect, unpardonable maybe for the genre: a future that has no language invented for it lacks a personality. That must be why, collectively, it is powerless to scare. ONE could argue that the very tameness of the narrator-heroine's style is intended as characterization. It is true that a leading trait of Offred (we are never told her own, real name in so many words, but my textual detective work says it is June) has always been an unwillingness to stick her neck out, and perhaps we are meant to conclude that such unwillingness, multiplied, may be fatal to a free society. After the takeover, she tells us, there were some protests and demonstrations. ''I didn't go on any of the marches. Luke [ her husband ] said it would be futile, and I had to think about them, my family, him and her [ their little girl ] .'' Famous last words. But, though this may characterize an attitude - fairly widespread - it does not constitute a particular kind of speech. And there are many poetical passages, for example (chosen at random): ''All things white and circular. I wait for the day to unroll, for the earth to turn, according to the round face of the implacable clock.'' Which is surely oldspeak, wouldn't you say? Characterization in general is weak in ''The Handmaid's Tale,'' which maybe makes it a poet's novel. I cannot tell Luke, the husband, from Nick, the chauffeur-lover who may be an Eye (government spy) and/ or belong to the ''Mayday'' underground. Nor is the Commander strongly drawn. Again, the Aunts are best. How sad for postfeminists that one does not feel for Offred-June half as much as one did for Winston Smith, no hero either but at any rate imaginable. It seems harsh to say again of a poet's novel - so hard to put down, in part so striking - that it lacks imagination, but that, I fear, is the problem. Mary McCarthy, whose latest book is ''Occasional Prose,'' will assume the new Stevenson Chair of Literature at Bard College beginning this fall. The Lady Was Not for Hanging The dedication of ''The Handmaid's Tale'' -''For Mary Webster and Perry Miller'' - holds clues to the novel's roots in our Puritan past. ''Mary Webster was an ancestor of mine who was hanged for a witch in Connecticut,'' Margaret Atwood explained. ''But she didn't die. They hadn't invented the drop yet'' - the part of the platform that falls away - ''so they hanged her but she lived.'' The author's studies in early American history under the Harvard scholar Perry Miller also informs her theme of religious intolerance. ''You often hear in North America, 'It can't happen here,' but it happened quite early on. The Puritans banished people who didn't agree with them, so we would be rather smug to assume that the seeds are not there. That's why I set the book in Cambridge,'' said the Canadian author, who lives in Toronto and has traveled widely in the United States. Like many of her fictional women (she has written poems, essays and novels, notably the feminist classic ''Surfacing''), she is wryly unpolemical. ''Feminist activity is not causal, it's symptomatic,'' she said of the book's antiwoman society. ''Any power structure will co-opt the views of its opponents, to sugarcoat the pill. The regime gives women some things the women's movement says they want -control over birth, no pornography - but there's a price. If you were going to put in a repressive regime, how would you do it?'' Despite the novel's projections from current events, Margaret Atwood resists calling her book a warning. ''I do not have a political agenda of that kind. The book won't tell you who to vote for,'' she said. But she advises, ''Anyone who wants power will try to manipulate you by appealing to your desires and fears, and sometimes your best instincts. Women have to be a little cautious about that kind of appeal to them. What are we being asked to give up?'' - Caryn James Return to the Books Home Page

| | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

| | |

Bob on Books

Thoughts on books, reading, and life, review: the handmaid’s tale.

The Handmaid’s Tale , Margaret Atwood. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986.

Summary: One woman’s account of life as a “handmaid” in the dystopian society of the Republic of Gilead, an authoritarian religious society organized around the urgent problem of declining birthrates.

Many of you already know the story, either from reading the novel or the TV series or both. In a dystopian future brought on by an eco-disaster or series of disasters, the Republic of Gilead has taken the place of the United States (or at least part of it, at war with other “sects”). It is a world of steeply declining birth rates organized into a religious tyranny centered around the production of children, especially among the power elite. Commanders whose Wives ceased to reproduce were assigned Handmaids whose name became Of+Commander’s first name. This is the story of Offred. She has been trained for this sacred role by the Aunts, a severe group of women who indoctrinated them into the sacred task of child-bearing.

Offred was separated from her husband Luke after their attempt to escape this tyranny. She doesn’t know whether Luke is dead or alive or where her daughter is. Her daughter is the reason she is a Handmaid. She is fertile. Most of her life is lived in her room, or on strictly regulated shopping trips, birth celebrations, and “salvagings” where transgressors are hanged. Once a month is the Celebration, when she lays between the knees of the Wife, (following Genesis 30:1-3), while the Commander has very impersonal intercourse with her in the hope of inseminating her.

Much of the narrative hinges on transgressions, many of which become necessities either because the rigid life, or because the rigidities just don’t work–a house of prostitution where the elite men covertly go, which has become the refuge of Moira, Offred’s rebellious friend who is a survivor, doctors who offer to have sex when the Commanders fail, Wives who arrange surrogates, a Commander who wants to have a real relationship with his Handmaid, and an underground “Mayday” movement helping people escape. Atwood’s narrative explores what happens when tyrannous purity cultures bump up against human nature.

Of course the tyrannous culture has to be maintained, and it does so by “salvagings” that turn lynching into a religious ceremony, not unlike what happened in many parts of the Jim Crow south, with a system of informers, Eyes, as well as any of the people around one. The narrative develops around the choices Offred must make when presented with the demands of the transgressive system, risking life to choose survival for herself, and possibly for her daughter, along with answering to her own longings for intimacy.

As you can see, Atwood raises all kinds of questions for us. Is it possible to employ religion (or a quasi-religion) in the service of a tyranny and its aims? In this narrative, women are both close companions and the arch enemies of other women. What do we make of that? And can this dystopia happen here?

The events of the past year are too close for comfort. We have been threatened with the dissolution of our political and social order. Religion has been coopted for political ends. We are in a country of declining birth rates. We face the possibility of a global eco-disaster that many consider posing an existential threat that warrants drastic action, while others vehemently deny and defy.

Most of all, it seems to me that this is a work of resistance. Some see an illusion in the title to The Canterbury Tales. Many see in these stories subtle resistance to the existing religious and political order, even while on religious pilgrimage. Offred’s tale, a series of daytime narratives punctuated by nights, mostly given to reflection, seems also a tale of resistance, a way of fighting to maintain her identity when her life, indeed her body, is employed against her will to sustain the world order. What I see her is a cautionary tale for us all.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Feminist literature at its most searing and urgent

Publisher: McClelland and Stewart
Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction
First Publication: 1985
Language: English
Series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Book #1
Setting: Republic of Gilead, The United States of America, Bangor, Maine (United States)
Characters: The Commander, Offred, Serena Joy, Ofglen, Moira, Aunt Lydia, Nick, Janine

Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” is a chilling, dystopian masterpiece that has only grown more frighteningly relevant with time. Set in the totalitarian theocracy of Gilead where women are stripped of autonomy, Atwood spins a haunting yet grounded vision of gender subjugation taken to its nightmarish extreme. Through the eyes of the defiant handmaid Offred, readers are immersed into this troubling alternate reality where fertile women are ruthlessly conscripted into reproductive servitude at the whims of the patriarchal elite. Both a searing work of speculative fiction and an urgent contemporary allegory, the novel’s piercing insights into oppression, resilience, and reclaiming one’s bodily autonomy burn with prescient intensity.

The narrative centers around Offred, a handmaid assigned to bear children for a high-ranking Gileadian Commander and his infertile wife. In this society where an environmental crisis has rendered most women sterile, handmaids represent a brutally repressed class of subjugated wombs. Offred recounts her indoctrination into this caste alongside her fellow handmaids, all forcibly separated from their previous lives and personal identities.

Woven throughout her present-day existence of ritual dehumanization and state-sanctioned sexual servitude, Atwood periodically flashes back to Offred’s old life as an independent woman with a husband, child, and career before Gilead’s ascent to power. These interstitial slivers of her lost freedoms throw the full extent of the regime’s human rights atrocities into stark relief.

Beyond just chronicling Offred’s individual plight, the novel methodically builds an unnerving procedural portrait of Gilead itself—its skewed religious dogma, institutionalized misogyny, environmental cataclysm underpinnings, and brutal enforcement mechanisms deployed by the dreaded Eyes secret police. A lurking resistance to the totalitarian order simmers as Offred starts discretely pushing boundaries, creating enigmatic mysteries and stakes beyond mere survival.

Main Character Analysis:

In Offred, Atwood crafts an uncommonly complex and enduring heroine of modern literature. On one level, she presents as an innately empathetic everywoman figure whose ordinary existence was upended by extraordinary totalitarian forces beyond her control. Her poignant internal musings express familiar laments over society’s degradations and the human psyche’s staggering reservoirs of resilience when stripped of basic rights.

Yet Offred simultaneously emerges as a fiercely individualistic voice of courageous defiance in the face of dehumanization. Atwood embeds her protagonist with streaks of subversive wit, cunning self-preservation, and surreptitious rebelliousness that reverberate as both psychologically authentic portraits of oppression’s aftermath and symbolic calls for radical feminist resistance. Whether flashing from moments of fragility to emboldened acts of reclaiming her identity, Offred radiates a vivid interiority grounded in a profound, hard-won understanding of power’s perpetual abuses.

Just as crucially, Atwood humanizes even Offred’s oppressors and masters in Gilead as multi-dimensional figures rather than flattening them into caricatures. The indomitable Aunt Lydia, the soul-weary but conflicted Commander, and the fearsome Eyes secret police enforcers add textured shades of gray into the heroine’s plight. It underscores that living, breathing human beings perpetuate even the most monstrous systems.

Writing Style:

Atwood’s masterful command of voice and perspective are on full display throughout. By filtering the haunting narrative solely through Offred’s first person recollections and introspections, the author imbues her disquietingly visceral prose with piercing immediacy. We marinate not just in the mundane indignities of her regimented existence, but the raw reflections of a soul grappling to maintain individuality amidst totalitarian subjugation.

Moments of dark, gallows humor and veiled double meanings compound the novel’s searing irony while Atwood’s naturalistic, sparingly deployed descriptions evoke dystopia rendered through inescapably plausible textures. Chilling, psychologically smothering, and utterly transportive.

While operating as a gripping, imaginative work of speculative fiction on its surface, “The Handmaid’s Tale” proves most resonant and impactful through Atwood’s unflinching interrogation of society’s darkest systemic misogynies and their most nightmarish possible perpetuations. The regressive theocracy of Gilead itself embodies a searing allegory for the toxic masculinity, gender subjugation, environmental destruction, and authoritarian dogma festering like cancers within seemingly progressive nations before metastasizing into full-fledged fascism.

More broadly, Atwood raises disturbing inquiries into the human species’ eternal proclivity for consolidating power and codifying control over oppressed groups under the guise of restoring moral order or upholding traditional values. Offred’s plight and Gilead’s stark world-building illustrate how oppression’s insidious mechanics start taking root through gradual normalization, dehumanizing rhetoric, and cloaking egregious violations behind bureaucratic banality.

Just as crucially, Atwood locates rays of hope and radical feminist empowerment in Offred’s surreptitious acts of defiance and survival through preserving identity, taking reproductive autonomy, and nurturing clandestine resistances. Even in the most draconian of totalitarian landscapes, the novel posits that pockets of transcendent resilience and self-determination will gestate through the cracks.

What People Are Saying:

Since its initial publication in 1985, “The Handmaid’s Tale” has only grown in stature to become one of the most acclaimed and essential literary works of the 20th century. Lavished with critical superlatives praising its chilling atmosphere, profound socio-political resonances, Atwood’s masterful use of language, and Offred’s iconic interiority, the novel stands as a certifiable modern classic.

Its continued newfound relevance and timeliness amid assaults on reproductive rights have only lent it further prescient urgency in recent years. Both as landmark work of speculative fiction and vital cautionary tale, it endures as a monumental reading experience.

My Personal Take:

With dystopian fiction seemingly more inescapable than ever on our current nightmarish media landscape, I initially approached Margaret Atwood’s seminal “The Handmaid’s Tale” with a degree of self-conscious hesitation. I feared being subjected to yet another heavy-handed “imagine a world where fascism but make it a patriarchal theocracy” slog of a narrative delivered with all the subtlety of a high school polemic against gender oppression’s dangers.

But from those opening disquieting vignettes of Offred’s strange ritualized daily existences as a handmaid amid Gilead’s surreal civilities, I found myself progressively under the novel’s melancholic yet utterly engrossing spell. Atwood’s intricate world-building and scathing satirical observations about how violently repressive systems can congeal before one’s very eyes hit with such sobering force. I was hooked, following along with equal parts dread and morbid fascination as Offred reminisced on the incremental normalization that led to full-blown totalitarian nightmare unfolding.

And yet what I was perhaps woefully underprepared for was just how cathartic and boldly empowering the character’s own gradual transformation from institutionally-gaslit woman into defiant vessel of self-determination and reclaimed sexual autonomy would ultimately feel. Sure, the sequences of dehumanizing servitude she and her fellow handmaids are subjected to land as such lurid potent trigger warnings for anyone who has navigated sexual abuse or violence. But with exquisitely calibrated pacing and fiercely emotional intelligence, Atwood channels the maelstrom of anger, self-preservation instincts, and radical resilience Offred gradually summons in fighting back against her oppressors.

By the final chapters, I was indelibly moved by how cohesively Atwood synthesizes overarching allegory about humanity’s proclivity for chilling evil when systems remain unchecked with deep wells of feminist interiority – all filtered through the gripping yet disarmingly intimate account of one woman whose indomitable spirit and hard-won self-knowledge refuses, against all odds, to ever be extinguished. Even when enveloped by the story’s claustrophobic atmosphere and harrowing depiction of subjugation norms, I felt almost spiritually buoyed by the character embodying such transcendent feminine agency.

Wrapping It Up:

Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” is a towering work of imaginative literature whose enduring impact has only intensified in our current era of encroaching authoritarianism and human rights erosions. By rendering the dystopian landscape of Gilead in such plausible yet grotesquely visceral terms, she has crafted a gripping yet substantive cultural reckoning with patriarchal oppression’s most nightmarish perpetuations if left to metastasize unchecked.

Yet it’s Atwood’s staggeringly intimate and empathetic channeling of trauma’s aftermath, resilience’s infinite wellsprings, and feminine defiance’s enduring vigor where the novel scorches deepest onto the soul. As at once searing speculative fiction, radical feminist cri de coeur, and harbinger of real-world urgency, “The Handmaid’s Tale” stands imposing as an eternal call to remain vigilant over human rights’ fragility when indifference breeds complacency. A towering literary masterwork.

Readers also enjoyed

Hera by jennifer saint, i want to die but i still want to eat tteokbokki by baek se-hee, house of glass by sarah pekkanen, the wedding people by alison espach, the blue hour by paula hawkins, popular stories, one day, life will change by saranya umakanthan, most famous fictional detectives from literature, the complete list of the booker prize winner books, book marketing and promotion services.

We provide genuine and custom-tailored book marketing services and promotion strategies. Our services include book reviews and social media promotion across all possible platforms, which will help you in showcasing the books, sample chapters, author interviews, posters, banners, and other promotional materials. In addition to book reviews and author interviews, we also provide social media campaigning in the form of contests, events, quizzes, and giveaways, as well as sharing graphics and book covers. Our book marketing services are very efficient, and we provide them at the most competitive price.

The Book Marketing and Promotion Plan that we provide covers a variety of different services. You have the option of either choosing the whole plan or customizing it by selecting and combining one or more of the services that we provide. The following is a list of the services that we provide for the marketing and promotion of books.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews have direct impact on readers while they are choosing their next book to read. When they are purchasing book, most readers prefer the books with good reviews. We’ll review your book and post reviews on Amazon, Flipkart, Goodreads and on our Blogs and social-media channels.

Author Interviews

We’ll interview the author and post those questions and answers on blogs and social medias so that readers get to know about author and his book. This will make author famous along with his book among the reading community.

Social Media Promotion

We have more than 170K followers on our social media channels who are interested in books and reading. We’ll create and publish different posts about book and author on our social media platforms.

Social Media Set up

Social Media is a significant tool to reaching out your readers and make them aware of your work. We’ll help you to setup and manage various social media profiles and fan pages for your book.

We’ll provide you our social media marketing guide, using which you may take advantage of these social media platforms to create and engage your fan base.

Website Creation

One of the most effective and long-term strategies to increase your book sales is to create your own website. Author website is must have tool for authors today and it doesn’t just help you to promote book but also helps you to engage with your potential readers. Our full featured author website, with blog, social media integration and other cool features, is the best marketing tool you can have. You can list each of your titles and link them to buy from various online stores.

Google / Facebook / Youtube Adverts

We can help you in creating ad on Google, Facebook and Youtube to reach your target audience using specific keywords and categories relevant to your book.

With our help you can narrow down your ads to the exact target audience for your book.

For more details mail us at [email protected]

The Bookish Elf is your single, trusted, daily source for all the news, ideas and richness of literary life. The Bookish Elf is a site you can rely on for book reviews, author interviews, book recommendations, and all things books. Contact us: [email protected]

Quick Links

Books of Brilliance

The latest book reviews and book news, the handmaid’s tale book review.

The Handmaid's Tale novel tv show series

The Handmaid's Tale book review

One of the biggest and most controversial books in the world is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The novel tackles difficult topics head on and has stayed in the media mainstream for decades. Keep reading to find out why this novel is a must read!

Currently, The Handmaid’s Tale has a show airing of the same name that has been critically-acclaimed. Atwood has written a novel that has broken boundaries and has led to the novel being one of the most censored books in the world . Once you read a description of the plot , you will get an idea why.

The Handmaid’s Tale Summary

The President of the United States is killed in a staged attack as well as most of Congress. The ones behind the attack are a radical political group that call themselves the “Sons of Jacob” and start a revolution. This group believes that judicial laws of the Old Testament should be used to govern modern society.

The group suspends the United States Constitution and newspapers are censored. They rename the United States of America to the Republic of Gilead and change it to a military dictatorship.

The new regime changes the laws using the Old Testament as a guide and restructure the social classes. In this new structure, women have become the lowest-ranking class and cannot own money, property, or read and write. And they lose the right over their own reproductive functions.

The story is told in first person by Offred, a fertile woman that is assigned the title Handmaid. Her job is to produce children for the Commanders, the ruling class of men in Gilead. She undergoes trainer with other women to become a handmaid.

Offred shares her story of how she was treated and what her job as a handmaid led to and how she ended up joining the resistance to fight back against the ruling class.

The novel tackles heavy subjects and does it flawlessly. It reminds me of 1984 and as reproductive rights are restricted in this day and age, it is as relevant as ever. As a society, we are always a few steps from being in a state of chaos and this novel captures a possibility if we ever forget what’s at stake.

I remember reading this for class and being surprised at the content of the novel. I was hooked and was amazed at Atwood’s ability to tell a story so chillingly. Schools should allow books like this to be required reading because no adult is going to think kids are “old enough to grasp the topics at hand.” It is the school’s job to educate the youth and there is no better way than this classic novel.

The novel was beloved by critics and helped Atwood be considered as a prominant writer of the 20th century. Atwood’s novel led to many online discussions and intense debates. And just like 1984, this novel is a warning of a dystopian future that may happen if we aren’t careful. Novels like these are important reminders that there are always forces in place that want to rob our freedom and control and monitor our every action.

Seeing novels like The Handmaid’s Tale stay relevant because of tv shows gives me great joy. Some books should always be part of modern society and this is one of them. Even decades later, this book is as popular as ever. I enjoyed this book a lot and recommend it to everyone who likes dystopian novels and great writing by a talented author.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Share this:, 40 thoughts on “ the handmaid’s tale book review ”.

Add Comment

Pingback: Books Everyone Should Read Once in Their Lifetime - Books of Brilliance
Pingback: The Ten Best Dystopian Books of All Time - Books of Brilliance
Pingback: Books That Will be Releasing in 2023 - Books of Brilliance

This book is indeed controversial and is a hot button for conflict. You did an awesome job summarizing and giving your opinion in a thought provoking manner. Kudos! Excellent review!

Pingback: The Best Psychological Thrillers of All Time - Books of Brilliance
Pingback: The 20 Best Dystopian Novels of All Time - Books of Brilliance
Pingback: The 25 Best Dystopian Novels of All Time - Books of Brilliance
Pingback: Classic Novels That You Should Read
Pingback: The 20 Best Science Fiction Books of All Time
Pingback: The Best Books That Take Place in Boston
Pingback: The 10 Best Science Fiction Books That You Must Read
Pingback: Ten Classics that You Must Read
Pingback: 20 Classics that You Must Read
Pingback: 23 Books to Read Before You Die
Pingback: 10 Books to Read Before You Die!
Pingback: The 20 Must Read Dystopian Novels of All Time
Pingback: The 25 Must Read Dystopian Novels of All Time
Pingback: The 30 Must Read Dystopian Novels of All Time
Pingback: The Ten Must Read Dystopian Novels of All Time
Pingback: The 50 Best Science Fiction Books That You Must Read
Pingback: The 25 Must Read Science Fiction Books of All Time
Pingback: The 20 Best Science Fiction Books That You Must Read
Pingback: The 40 Best Science Fiction Books That You Must Read
Pingback: The 5 Best Science Fiction Books That You Must Read
Pingback: The Five Classics That You Must Read
Pingback: Seven Sci-Fi Books That You Must Read Once in Your Life
Pingback: 18 Must Read Classic Books According to Fox!
Pingback: Five Sci-fi Novels That You Must Read Once in Your Life
Pingback: The 30 Best Science Fiction Books That You Must Read
Pingback: Three Sci-fi Novels That You Must Read Once in Your Life
Pingback: These are the 10 Essential Books to Read!
Pingback: 20 Essential Classics to Read - Beloved Classics!
Pingback: 10 Essential Books to Read - Books of Brilliance
Pingback: The 20 Best Science Fiction Books That You Must Read - Books of Brilliance
Pingback: Seven Sci-Fi Books That You Must Read Once in Your Life - Books of Brilliance
Pingback: 10 Sci-Fi Books That You Must Read Once in Your Life
Pingback: The Ten Best Dystopian Books of All Time
Pingback: The 30 Best Science Fiction Books That You Must Read

Book Review: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood

Title: The Handmaid’s Tale

Author: Margaret Atwood

Publisher: McClelland and Stewart

Publication Date: 1985

How have I never read one of Margaret Atwood’s books before? For my 2024 summer holiday I decided to give The Handmaid’s Tale a try. The Handmaid’s Tale is arguably Atwood’s most famous work (largely due to the 2017 TV series of the same name starring Elizabeth Moss). Knowing how things can change from book to adaptation I was very curious to read Atwood’s original novel.

I hadn’t realised that The Handmaid’s Tale was published back in 1985 – old enough to now be considered a vintage classic according to the edition I bought. The dystopian story feels timeless in the disturbing sense that I could imagine the events of the novel happening at any period of history.

In the book much of America is overthrown and replaced with the heavily structured totalitarian society of Gilead which is based on extreme interpretations of Christianity. After a plague of infertility causes a sharp drop in population, the founders of Gilead believe they’ve created the solution. A few privileged men become Commanders with the Wives running the household. Each pair is given a Handmaid – a fertile woman who is forced to become a surrogate mother and provide the Commander with a child. Successful Handmaidens are then given to a new Commander and the process starts again.

The story follows Offred’s journey from the years immediately prior to the rise of Gilead to her forced training under the eyes of the ruthless Aunts to life as one of Gilead’s original Handmaidens.

Instead of always focusing on specific events, the novel instead examines the emotions of each scene. We learn Offred’s thoughts and feelings and follow her stream of consciousness. This does lead to a rather random organisation of the novel’s plot. Rather than traditional chronological storytelling each chapter jumps backwards and forwards between scenes and time periods. At the end of the novel we learn that the story we are reading is Offred’s verbal account of her experiences. The human mind frequently jumps between topics and gets momentarily distracted when it recalls past events so, from this perspective, I feel Atwood does a very good job of naturally conveying the human thought process. However I was sometimes confused by the unexpected time shifts in the middle of chapters which temporarily took me out of the story as it felt like I was actually reading several different stories at once.

The Handmaid’s Tale falls into the category of ‘speculative fiction’ and to me the book could also be placed into the genre of ‘alternative history’. The complete reimagining of society as shown in the novel is Atwood’s way of asking: what if ? If the deliberately extreme society of Gilead existed what would it look like and how would people react within it?

Despite its rules the inhabitants of Gilead we meet are often quite contradictory. For example the Commander has all of the power and status society can offer yet he still feels compelled to break the rules through his unauthorised one-on-one interactions with Offred. His wife, Serena Joy, helped to create the foundations of Gilead society but now she is trapped by that same creation – unable to earn money or even read.

Then there are the Handmaidens.

The property of the Commander she is currently assigned to, Offred’s name (given to her by Gilead) literally means Of-Fred. Indoctrinated by the Aunts, the Handmaidens’ identities are striped from them and Offred’s true name is never explicated stated in the novel.

I like that, through the Aunts and Handmaidens, Atwood showcases a range of different attitudes to life in Gilead. Firstly the Aunts, like the formidable Aunt Lydia, are older women who seem to be true believers of Gilead’s extreme philosophy although this is possibly due to the position of power they hold in the social hierarchy. Offred comes across as subservient yet she is always quietly pushing against her boundaries to see what small freedoms she can gain. Her walking/shopping partner Ofglen is far more pro-active with rebel connections and a desire to tear down the new system. In contrast to them both is Ofwarren who is described as unpopular amongst the other Handmaidens due to her choice to fully commit to Gilead’s way of life in order to survive and be safe within it. These differences between the characters helps to make this society more believable. Even in a dystopian world there have to be people for whom it is a utopia in order for it to work. Equally, in terms of storytelling, there need to be characters like Offred and Ofglen who want to fight back in order for there to be enough conflict to drive the plot.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a reasonable 314 pages for anyone like me who is curious about the book. There are plenty of breaks in the story which made it a fairly quick read. Overall I liked the novel but didn’t love the constant jumps in time. The book works as both an interesting though experiment and as a feminist dystopia. As I said, this was my first time reading one of Atwood’s books and I’d certainly be open to reading more of her work in the future.

If you enjoyed this review then you may also like these reviews:

Book Review: ‘When Women Were Dragons’

Book Review: ‘Until We Win’

Book Review: ‘The City of Ember’

We Need to Talk About Books

The handmaid’s tale by margaret atwood [a review].

The Handmaid’s Tale is the testimony of Offred, a Handmaid living in the Republic of Gilead; a Christian totalitarian state in what was once part of the USA. We are only given hints of what precipitated the collapse of the US and the establishment of Gilead; a series of social, political, environmental and military disasters. One of the crises is a decline in fertility. As a woman of child-bearing age, who had a child before the revolution, Offred was forced into being a Handmaid; an exclusively female social class created for the purpose of bearing the children of high-ranking men based on an interpretation of the story from Genesis of Rachel and Jacob. Her assigned name, Offred, is a contraction of ‘of Fred’; the man who is now her master.

Offred’s story begins with her new assignment which is unlike most others. Like all Handmaids, she must live in the home of her master and his family and routinely perform the acts that may result in her conceiving in a highly ritualised ceremony. She is not permitted out of the house alone but must be accompanied by a Handmaid from another home on her errands. Her living arrangements are analogous to a prison; there are many precautions taken to prevent her from committing suicide, a path many Handmaids apparently take. Her role also requires a number of other responsibilities, both in public at mass gatherings and in relative privacy with other Handmaids. Like other Handmaid’s, she is looked down upon by others despite the official sanction of her role. Women of other classes seem to despise her and men seem either awkward or leering.

While she shares her present experiences, Offred also shares her memories of the past. Of growing up, her mother, her husband and daughter, and her best friend in a world much like ours in her recent past. She also tells the story of how she and others were indoctrinated as Handmaids; at special facilities run by the ‘Aunts’.

You are a transitional generation, said Aunt Lydia. It is the hardest for you. We know the sacrifices you are being expected to make. It is hard when men revile you. For the ones who come after you, it will be easier. They will accept their duties with willing hearts. She did not say: Because they will have no memories, of any other way. She said: Because they won’t want things they can’t have.

Offred’s new master is particularly high-ranking, a Commander in fact. His wife, Serena Joy is recalled by Offred as being a prominent televangelist and an early advocate of philosophy the Republic is founded on. In the world Serena helped create, her status is now stripped of her while she has to suffer the indignity of housing the woman who will procreate with her husband.

She doesn’t make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn’t seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she’s been taken at her word.

While Offred’s initial experience in the house is standard enough, soon the Commander begins offering her small luxuries and freedoms. To what purpose? Offred hardly knows, but the possibility of entrapment means she can hardly let her guard down. Meanwhile, the Handmaid who accompanies Offred on her errands, Ofglen, also begins to share things with her, giving the slightest hint of the possibility of subversion.

The first aspect of The Handmaid’s Tale that readers will notice is its style. It is written in a first-person narration from the point of view of Offred and is somewhat stream-of-consciousness, though nowhere near as difficult to read as that term might imply. The adjective I kept wanting to use to describe the style is ‘punchy’. It is clearly written to be impactful; Atwood uses short sentences of provocative messages that land hard blows.

Offred’s retrospective observations are dense with ideas and themes, page after page of them, many of which could individually make the central theme of a book on their own. If, like me, you try to be a conscientious reader, noticing every little thing; this can become overwhelming, even tiresome. I had to force myself to let go and just read without dwelling too much on every little point that gets raised. I think it is for this reason that I found The Handmaid’s Tale just a little bit easier to put down and harder to pick up than I expected.

The Handmaid’s Tale does share a common technique of much of dystopian fiction in inventing its own language. As well as ‘Handmaids’ we learn about ‘Aunts’, ‘Unwomen’, ‘Marthas’, ‘Econowives’, ‘Jezebels’; and events such as ‘Salvagings’ and ‘Prayvaganzas’. Offred frequently plays with words in her testimony and the power of words and of language becomes a key theme in the novel.

With any alternative setting on Earth, the question is inevitably asked about whether the world the author has created is realistic or plausible. Overall, though it is extreme, I would hesitate to call it unrealistically impossible (more on that later). The one thing I questioned, as I was reading, was that the world Offred lives in seems too pristine. The thing about police states is that the cracks emerge almost immediately. All that surveillance and policing of people’s behaviour carries an inordinate economic cost with no economic benefit and ignoring the obvious cracks in the façade becomes a dominant theme of the state propaganda. Offred’s world is far from cracking but perhaps it is still in its early days. Perhaps her experience is too narrow, even with everything her Commander shows her.

But the immaculate appearance of this world may be a point Atwood is trying to make. In fact, I think that is a lot of what this novel is about. Reading The Handmaid’s Tale , I felt Atwood was very deliberate in the choices she has made. The most obvious example is that this world does not really contain any futuristic technology. The point being that you do not require all-seeing telescreens to establish a totalitarian state. The Handmaid’s Tale is, therefore, not so much an alternate-future as an alternate-present. The fact that the world has changed quickly – so quickly that Offred can easily recall being an adult, married with a child, in a world much like our own just a short time earlier – is to remind us that such change can occur quickly. Perhaps the immaculateness of Offred’s world is to point out that we can be living under oppression with no outward material signs of a failing society.

This deliberateness on the part of Atwood also extends to method she employs to focus on the main theme – the oppression of women in society. Obviously other groups are also being oppressed and we are given hints in the novel about anti-Semitism, racism and homophobia. But this is a story that focuses on the oppression of women and to achieve that the author has chosen, not a comprehensive third-person view of this world from multiple characters, but a first-person narration of such an oppressed woman.

Although I did find it draining at times, and focused on just one of many stories that could be told about this world, I think Atwood should be given credit for considering a great many details about her world. It is a pretty effective way to avoid cliché in a genre that can have a lot of it.

Salman Rushdie recently appeared on an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher in which he said he has been borrowing something Maher said about learning the difference between an imperfect friend and a deadly enemy. Maher said it in reference to those on the political Left who could not get behind Hillary Clinton even when the alternative was Donald Trump, but it is a point worth remembering for it applies to more than that particular equation.

The aspect of The Handmaid’s Tale that I liked the best was that Atwood does not paint the era before the establishment of the Republic of Gilead in rosy hues. Instead, she makes it very clear that it was no paradise and had many deep flaws. Again, I think this is a deliberate choice by Atwood making a point. There are passages that critique the past, but our main window in this respect comes from Offred’s memories of her husband, her best friend and, especially, her mother. Like the past, the people closest to her were flawed as well.

When we think of the past it’s the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.

Predictably, the new authorities point to the flaws of the past as the reasons that necessitate their oppression. For the oppressed to believe this argument would be to side with a deadly enemy over an imperfect friend and be deceived by the motives of the former. This is a far simpler diagnosis to make in hindsight than before power is handed to others to remake the world.

We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away, said the Commander. Think of the trouble they had before. Don’t you remember the singles bars, the indignity of high-school blind dates? The meat market. Don’t you remember the terrible gap between the ones who could get a man easily and the ones who couldn’t? Some of them were desperate, they starved themselves thin or pumped their breasts full of silicone, had their noses cut off. Think of the human misery.

It is also difficult to ignore the fact that the two agents of oppression who have affected Offred the most personally are both women – Aunt Lydia during her training as a Handmaid and Serena Joy in the house she now lives in. Both seem to sincerely believe in the superiority of this society they have helped create despite the fact that it places women like themselves in subordination to men. Again, I feel Atwood making another point.

There is still an assumption made by prevalent social, economic, political or psychological models that people will act in their individual best interests, whether material or emotional, undervaluing the role that ideas – ie, values – play in all of our decision-making. Those who are aware that they are subordinating their own interests for ‘higher’ values – as Aunt Lydia and Selena Joy probably acknowledge – often speak of such choices as being more morally sound than the perceived selfishness of individual interests. What The Handmaid’s Tale shows is that such confidence is misplaced; selfless values are not automatically or universally morally superior to individual interests. It really depends on what values and interests we are talking about.

Now we walk along the same street, in red pairs, and no man shouts obscenities at us, speaks to us, touches us. No one whistles. There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.

Much of the inspiration and substance of cultural and political movements are reactionary and so I think it is also helpful to remember the era that The Handmaid’s Tale was written in. It was first published in 1985; after it had become clear that the countercultural revolution had ended without achieving all of its goals and had left many of its own adherents disillusioned and uncertain. Instead, a more unified and focused conservative opposition now occupied positions of power, promising a return to the values that preceded the countercultural movement. In particular, with regards to the themes of The Handmaid’s Tale , this meant attempting to rejuvenate a role for Christianity in public life, advocating a diminished role for women outside of the home and attempts to restrict the freedom women have to control their own fertility.

A return to traditional values. Waste not want not. I am not being wasted. Why do I want?

Offred’s mother is presented as a countercultural figure and a distinctly unlikeable one. But despite her unlikeable qualities, she may be the imperfect friend we should find preferable to a deadly enemy. She is a reminder that being in a society where we are sometimes antagonised or even offended by those we disagree with is a small price to pay for the freedom to hear and benefit from what others have to say. Neither societies nor people have to be perfect to be worthy of our support. Meanwhile, the inaction, divisiveness and indifference while waiting for the perfect solution is the only opportunity a deadly enemy needs.

But The Handmaid’s Tale is not a morality tale. Its portrayal of the world is too complex and no solution is offered. It is instead a cautionary tale. Any solutions the reader wishes to find on their own are, like vigilance, neither straightforward nor easy. We can read The Handmaid’s Tale as a warning of the direction Western culture was (is?) taking. Atwood has ridden the current and taken us to an extreme, though not impossible, location. Anyone who finds the world of The Handmaid’s Tale unrealistic would best remember that we have seen something similar occur with incredible speed in a similar timeframe. The photos of women wearing miniskirts in 70’s Tehran is testament to that. The ‘it can’t happen here’ assumption is a dangerous one, and an invitation for those who would like to see it happen to test their luck.

I stop walking. Ofglen stops beside me and I know that she too cannot take her eyes off these women. We are fascinated, but also repelled. They seem undressed. It has taken so little time to change our minds, about things like this.

Though they have a small role in the novel, there are other concerns, apart from socio-political ones, that were becoming prevalent in the era the novel was written. Concerns such as environmental and nuclear disasters. The Three Mile Island Accident, for example, occurred in 1979. I doubt whether The Handmaid’s Tale is alone in expressing a reaction to the abrupt shift in culture and politics of the early 1980’s, but I am not so knowledgeable as to conjure up other examples readily. The one that most comes to mind is Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta (1988-89). Others probably address different aspects of the time such as consumerism, celebrity culture and unregulated finance. Perhaps The Child in Time by Ian McEwan (1987), Money by Martin Amis (1984), White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985) or Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter (1984). There were also the films of Oliver Stone that were successful despite being potent reminders of the turbulent 60’s and 70’s ( Platoon , 1986; Born on the Fourth of July , 1989) or being spoilers of the current trends ( Wall Street , 1987).

Because The Handmaid’s Tale is so dense with talking points, there are many more things we could delve into. For example, the tendency to define women based on their biology. Given that the novel is the testimony of one woman, and an apparently extraordinary story, the issue of the incredulity, undervaluing and dismissal of women’s stories is raised as well. We could therefore flip the assumption that the world of the novel is the product of a radical revolution away from our current world and is instead a concentration of traits that are already ingrained in our current culture that transcend political and religious lines. We could discuss what the existence of a secret underground and a vibrant black market in the novel’s world means. If the vices of the previous world are deliberately built into the new one in a more dangerous form, doesn’t it make a hypocrisy of those who claim it goes against their values? Or do they hold a different standard when those vices are hidden, monopolised and exclusively for their enjoyment? Or is the claim to being held to higher values and religion simply a tool for those really seeking power? The Republic does seem to be in perpetual wars of religion with other Christian denominations. We could go on and on; there is a lot to this short novel but I will have to leave it here.

I don’t think I can say I ‘enjoyed’ The Handmaid’s Tale . I don’t think it is that kind of experience we get from the fiction we read for pure entertainment. Despite its short length, it is confronting, ‘punchy’, dense, even a bit overwhelming and bleak. I’ve admitted that I often found it easy to put down and difficult to pick up again, but I think that is ok; it is part of the point of it and it was the points made that I probably liked best.

I have not yet seen the recent television adaptation. Reading The Handmaid’s Tale , I think it obviously lends itself quite well to television. Not necessarily television of the era in which it was written, but of our current era. The use of flashbacks in the novel, I imagine, will be exploited quite well for The Handmaid’s Tale as it has been for shows like Lost and Orange is the New Black . Despite finishing the novel unconvinced that I had ‘enjoyed’ it, I nevertheless found myself looking forward to experiencing the TV adaptation with the strange feeling that I will enjoy that more.

How does The Handmaid's Tale book end and what does it mean for the final season of the Hulu TV show?

The series has gone in it's own direction since the first season.

The Handmaid's Tale season 1 episode 10 screenshot

Popverse's top stories of the day

The Haikyu!! manga delivers the emotional ending fans have been waiting for

Former Boom! Studios and IDW execs create new comic book publisher with Scott Pilgrim and Extraction producer
An Alien: Romulus easter egg you missed slyly connects the entire saga (including the first movie) back to a classic UFO story from the '60s

Few books have become as prophetic as The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. When it was published in 1985, the novel’s dystopian take on reproductive rights and gender inequality garnered critical and commercial acclaim, but what does the ending mean and how does it relate to the hit television adaptation on Hulu?

We’ll be breaking down the ending to The Handmaid’s Tale novel and explaining how it differs from the TV show ahead of its upcoming sixth and final season .

The Handmaid’s Tale ending, explained

Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, we are treated to a firsthand account of Offred’s experience in Gilead, which includes sexual slavery and abuse at the hands of her Commander and his wife. The Commander, whose surname is never revealed in the main book and is only implied in the epilogue, starts to form a more romantic connection with Offred, which is illegal in the strict authoritarian nation of Gilead.

Offred starts to consensual romantic relationship with Nick, the Commander’s driver, at the behest of Serena, the Commander’s wife. She also learns of a secret resistance within Gilead called Mayday. When Offred becomes pregnant with Nick’s child, Serena discovers her relationship with her husband that goes beyond the scope of the Ceremony, a monthly fertility ritual that culminates in the rape of the Handmaid involved. At the end of the novel, Offred is taken away by The Eyes, a group of officers who act as the secret police in Gilead.

It is unclear if Offred is being taken away by The Eyes or Mayday. Nick seems to imply that he is part of the resistance and that Offred should “trust him” but it is left vague and open to interpretation.

What happens in The Handmaid’s Tale epilogue?

That is the end of Offred’s story in the book, but the epilogue irons a few details out. At a historical conference in the year 2195, it is explained that the events of the novel were recorded on cassette tapes that were found and transcribed later. It is explained that Offred’s story takes place during “the Gilead Period” which has since ended with the fall of the fascist regime. It does say that Nick was indeed part of Mayday but doesn’t say what happened to Offred in the end.

What is Offred’s name in The Handmaid’s Tale?

While the Hulu TV show has given Offred the name June, that name is only implied by the novel. In fact, Margaret Atwood has said that she never intended for that to be the main character’s name but it makes sense so she has allowed fans to latch onto the theory. The name June originally came from the list of names the trainee handmaids would whisper to each other as they fell asleep at night. Of those spoken, June was the only one not accounted for, which seemed to imply that it belonged to Offred.

How does The Handmaid’s Tale book differ from the show?

The first season of The Handmaid’s Tale is remarkably close to the first book, complete with flashbacks to how Offred came to be trapped in Gilead and how she was separated from her husband and child. However, from the second season onward, The Handmaid’s Tale has forged new ground for June and the Resistance in Gilead. This is because the first season ends almost exactly how the novel ends – everything since then has been original to the series.

Aside from expanding the plot greatly, The Handmaid’s Tale series also empowers June more than Atwood’s novel did. In the book, she seldom took any action for herself and was very passive within the plot. Her purpose was to allow the viewer to see the world of Gilead through her eyes. The series has made her far more active and involved in the plot.

Want to know what's coming up next in pop culture? Check out our guides to upcoming movies , upcoming TV shows , upcoming comics , and upcoming comic conventions . If you're looking for specific franchises or genres, we have all the upcoming MCU , upcoming Star Wars , upcoming Star Trek , and upcoming DC movies & TV for you. If you're a fan of superheroes and not specific to just Marvel or DC, we have overall guides to all the upcoming superhero movies and upcoming superhero TV shows (and new seasons) as well.

Follow Popverse for upcoming event coverage and news

Trent Cannon : Trent is a freelance writer who has been covering anime, video games, and pop culture for a decade. (He/Him)

Want to join the discussion? Please activate your account first. Visit Reedpop ID if you need to resend the confirmation email.

Find out how we conduct our review by reading our review policy

Let Popverse be your tour guide through the wilderness of pop culture

More Guides

A still from a Simpsons Christmas episode

The Simpsons Christmas special release date: Catch the 35th anniversary double episode this December

A promotional image for The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror XXXV: Denim

The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror XXXV Halloween special release date: Homer parodies Venom

Doctor Odyssey: Here's when Ryan Murphy's new drama series is being released

A promotional image of Kaitlin Olson in High Potential.

High Potential release date: When Drew Goddard's new ABC drama premieres

A promotional still of the cast of Outer Banks.

Outer Banks: How to watch the Netflix series

A still of Anthony Mackie as Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World.

Captain America: Brave New World release date - When Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford's MCU movie hits theaters

A still of Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson in Captain America: Brave New World

Captain America: Brave New World cast - Who else is joining Anthony Mackie in his first solo MCU movie

Featured events

D23 Expo 2024

Aug 09 - Aug 11

PAX West 2024

Aug 30 - Sep 02

New York Comic Con 2024

Oct 17 - Oct 20

Oct 25 - Oct 27

Emerald City Comic Con 2025

Mar 06 - Mar 09

Apr 11 - Apr 13

Book review: “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

The Women’s Prayvaganzas are for group weddings which is to say arranged marriages.

In this one, there are twenty Angels — that’s a military designation for men who are soldiers in units such as the Angels of the Apocalypse and the Angels of Light — and twenty daughters, dressed in white as if for First Communion, behind white veils, some of them as young as fourteen.

The leaders of this politico-religious American regime, called Gilead, are known as Commanders, and the Commander in charge recites a prayer that is more of an assertion than anything sacral, although it’s framed as something scriptural, deeply meaningful:

“I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array. “But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. All . “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. “Notwithstanding, she shall be saved by childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”

“Blessed are the silent”

There, in a nutshell, is the world that Margaret Atwood has conjured up in her 1986 novel The Handmaid’s Tale .

It is a world in which religious zealots have taken power by assassinating the President and machine-gunning Congress and replacing the nation’s military forces with their own military forces.

They have used the Bible to promulgate a whole new set of laws, and, because the Bible is, well, not zealous enough, have edited the Scripture in ways that suit their goals. For instance, the Beatitudes:

The voice was a man’s. Blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed be the meek. Blessed are the silent . I knew they made that up, I knew it was wrong, and they left things out, too, but there was no way of checking. Blessed be those that mourn, for they shall be comforted . Nobody said when.

That’s the narrator of The Handmaid’s Tale , a 33-year-old, five-foot-seven woman with brown hair and viable ovaries.

That last fact is the key, and that’s why her life is as it is.

Parsing the prayer

And it is the way it is because the central effort of the new regime has been to put men in total power and make women subservient in all ways and in all things.

Hence, the line in the prayer: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.”

Hence, the prayer’s revision of the Bible: “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (Obviously, Genesis had it all wrong.)

(The Bible, by the way, is kept under lock and key.)

Hence, the prayer’s insistence on “shamefacedness and sobriety” and “holiness with sobriety” and “silence,” and its warnings against women teaching or usurping power over men.

Hence, the prayer’s assertion that a woman can only be saved “by childbearing.”

Of Econowives, Unbabies and The Ceremony

The scene at the Women’s Prayvaganzas and the reading of the prayer takes place about two-thirds of the way through A Handmaid’s Tale , and, by this point, none of this comes as a surprise to the reader.

The reader already knows that, in Gilead, there are Commanders and Wives, and there are Angels and Guardians and Econowives, and there are babies and Unbabies and Unwomen.

And shipment to the Colonies (basically radioactive dumps) is always a fear, especially for anyone too old or too useless.

And radicals, whether revolutionaries or simply religious dissenters, such as Quakers, find themselves in prison — the one in the novel used to be Harvard University — or executed at the end of a rope on a hook along the wall of the prison.

Or simply killed.

Some women survive as Marthas, serving as cooks and maids in the homes of Commanders and their Wives.

And then there are the Handmaids, one of whom is the narrator of the novel.

A creepy ceremony

A Handmaid is young and fertile, and her job is to permit her Commander (and his Wife in a creepy ceremony called The Ceremony) to use her body for copulation, in the most sterile and depersonalized way possible, in hopes of impregnating her.

The birth rate, you see, has fallen well below replacement levels because of all the pollution and, well, all of modern life as lived before the coup d’état.

When a pregnant Handmaid goes into labor, the resources of the government go into high gear. She is rushed in a red Birthmobile to the hospital and into the hands of a coven of midwives — no doctors (all male) unless absolutely necessary — while other red Birthmobiles bring other Handmaids to be with her in this important moment, but quietly.

Blue Birthmobiles bring Wives who feast on finger food and get tipsy, waiting to celebrate with the Wife of the Commander who has impregnated this particular Handmaid. These Wives aren’t so quiet. It is the Wife of the Commander who will raise the child. If the child survives. If the child isn’t an Unbaby.

A Handmaid is rotated from one Commander to another, but, if, after three such postings, she hasn’t conceived and borne a child able to survive, it’s off to the Colonies for her.

The narrator’s name before the take-over is never provided to the reader. Like all Handmaids, she is given a name based on the first name of her Commander at her present posting. For this third posting, the narrator’s Commander’s name is Fred.

So, she is Offred.

Atwood’s novel envisions a world that is every feminist’s worst nightmare.

Actually, it would be better to say that it is every human being’s worst nightmare.

She envisions a society that is so controlled that everyone is tightly constrained in their roles.

Among the women, there are levels of pain and oppression, but every single woman is crushed under the weight of the new laws and the new power structure. The Wives, true, are in the comfiest of levels, but theirs is a feckless existence.

Indeed, the Wife of Offred’s Commander is a woman named Serena Jo who was a conservative talking head on television, trumping for family values. But the family values of the Gilead regime turned her life on its head. No longer could she be prominent in her own right. She had been reduced to an appendage of her husband.

Every man, too, is caught in this societal structure which keeps him tightly confined in his job and without hope of even talking to a woman in any real way until and unless marriage is granted to him.

And, as becomes evident as the novel unfolds, even those at the top of the heap, those with power and control — the Commanders — are dissatisfied by the life they are forced to lead.

“A national resource”

Offred explains to the reader that she and other Handmaids have chosen their roles although they had few other choices. They wear thick long-sleeved red habits with white-winged bonnets, reminiscent of what centuries of Roman Catholic nuns wore in black, brown and white. (Nuns, though, because of their vows of celibacy are seen by the regime as rebels.)

She is, Offred says, “a national resource.” And she explains that, although rejuvenating the birth rate is the central goal of her existence, the system has been designed to make sure that no incident of attempted impregnation will lead to anything else.

We are for breeding purposes; we aren’t concubines, geisha girls, courtesans. On the contrary: everything possible has been done to remove us from that category. There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted for the flowering of secret lusts; no special favors are to be wheedled, by them or us, there are to be no toeholds for love. We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.

“Preoccupied”

In fact, when it comes time for The Ceremony, Offred remains fully clothed above the waist.

The Commander’s Wife lies on the bed with her legs apart, and, with her back to the Wife, Offred lies between the Wife’s legs with her own legs apart and her thick skirt up to her waist. Then, the Commander comes in for the ritual.

I remember Queen Victoria’s advice to her daughter: Close your eyes and think of England . But this is not England. I wish he would hurry up… Serena Joy grips my hands as if it is she, not I, who’s being fucked, as if she finds it either pleasurable or painful, and the commander fucks, with a regular two-four marching stroke, on and on like a tap dripping. He is preoccupied, like a man humming to himself in the shower without knowing he’s humming, like a man who has other things on his mind. It’s as if he’s somewhere else, waiting for himself to come, drumming his fingers on the table while he waits…. But isn’t this everyone’s wet dream, two women at once? They used to say that. Exciting, they used to say.

“No quailing”

It’s been thirty-one years since Atwood published The Handmaid’s Tale , and it has continued to resonate.

In 1990, the novel was adapted into a movie of the same name with a screenplay by Harold Pinter and starring Natasha Richardson as Offred. In 2000, an opera, composed by the Danish composer Poul Ruders with a libretto by Paul Bentley, based on Atwood’s book and using the same name, premiered in Copenhagen.

An ongoing television series called The Handmaid’s Tale began streaming on Hulu in April, 2017. To date, six episodes have aired, and the series has been renewed for a second season.

The Handmaid’s Tale is more than a science-fiction/speculative novel, and its purposes are more than literary.

It is Atwood’s call to arms to women — and like-thinking men — to fight against the erosion of rights that can happen in an American society in which women remain underpaid and less powerful than men.

Amid the relentlessly depressing details of the life of Offred and the other people in her world, there is a glimpse of what used to be.

It is the saddest moment in the book.

Offred gets to see a Vogue magazine from the 1970s, and the photos of the models are a jagged, ragged, sharp contrast to the world as she now knows it.

There they were again, the images of my childhood: bold, striding, confident, their arms flung out as if to claim space, their legs apart, feet planted firmly on the earth. There was something Renaissance about the pose, but it was princes I thought of, not coiffed and ringleted maidens. Those candid eyes, shadowed with make-up, yes, but like the eyes of cats, fixed for the pounce. No quailing, no clinging there, not in those capes and rough tweeds, those boots that came up to the knee. Pirates, these women, with their ladylike briefcases for the loot and their horsey acquisitive teeth.

It was a world she had lost. A world she never thought could be lost.

Patrick T. Reardon

Written by : Patrick T. Reardon

For more than three decades Patrick T. Reardon was an urban affairs writer, a feature writer, a columnist, and an editor for the Chicago Tribune. In 2000 he was one of a team of 50 staff members who won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Now a freelance writer and poet, he has contributed chapters to several books and is the author of Faith Stripped to Its Essence. His website is https://patricktreardon.com/.

One Comment

[…] McCarthy, M. (1986, Feb. 9). Book review: The handmaid’s tale. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/03/26/specials/mccarthy-atwood.html Plugged In (2017). The handmaid’s tale book review. Focus on the Family. Retrieved from http://www.pluggedin.com/book-reviews/handmaids-tale/ Quaglio, F. (1988). Book review: The handmaid’s tale. Bridgewater Review, 6(1), 29. Retrieved from http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol6/iss1/13 Reardon, P.T. (2017, May 22). Book review: “The handmaid’s tale” by Margaret Atwood. Retrieved from https://patricktreardon.com/book-review-the-handmaids-tale-by-margaret-atwood/ […]

The Handmaid's Tale

Self-Purchased copy

Margaret Atwood

Penguin Random House

Dystopian/speculative fiction, number of pages.

“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. ”

This is the story of Offred, a handmaid, living in America. A handmaid is a woman whose sole purpose of existence is to produce children for the high commanders in The Republic of Gilead. The organization of this Republic is such that a handful men have all the power.

The interaction night between the commander and the handmaid is called the ceremony and is conducted in the Commander’s Wife's presence. Refuse to co-operate and, they would be hanged at the Wall or, worse, sent into the gutters to die a slow and painful death exposed to life-threatening chemicals and radiation. In between all this unimaginable cruelty in her world, Offred needs to keep looking for her daughter and husband, living in the hope that they are still alive.

Novels By Margaret Atwood

This chilling summary should explain the context of the book very clearly. The narrative belongs to Offred; she is telling her story. This book isn’t just some make-believe story. The author made a systematic study of the society through astute observations. Infertility was on the rise, and this system was the solution. The situation was a reality many years ago and sadly is still rampant in some parts of the world. Women were and are still considered by many as a means of reproduction, nothing more.

Atwood creates a mind-numbing atmosphere that will provoke your thinking and create unforgettable, haunting images of the handmaid and her dire circumstances. I cannot forget the dialog between Offred and her commander when she boldly dares to ask him- why? Why did you do this to women? Make them quit their jobs, own no property, and confine them to homely roles, so they depend on men? He says – “There was nothing for men to do. There was nothing to work for, nothing to fight for. You know what they were complaining about the most? The inability to feel.”

You cannot but ask- What is this compelling necessity that brought society to these levels? There was even a training institute with Aunts following Hitlerism running the place for fertile women where they were taught all the intricacies of living a subdued life sacrificed to breeding.

The novel's writing is brilliant, no doubt, but sometimes it got too abstruse and heavy for me. But my favorite part was the portrayal of the characters. It was beyond brilliant. I felt the Offred’s fears and disorientation, Serena Joy’s anguish, Commander Fred’s genuine kindness, Nick’s audacity, and Aunt Lydia’s brute force.

Poetry and Short Stotries by Margaret Atwood

I got so involved and was so shocked that I had to remind myself this novel is Fiction. The horrendous and inhuman living conditions described will send a chill down the stiffest spines. I felt real pain for Offred when finally, in her story, she accepted defeat and said- “all I want to do is keep on living. For that, I resign my body freely to the use of others.”

At the end of my copy of the book, there was the transcription of a History lecture based on the novel, where historians were verifying this story's trueness, and the claims surprisingly mentioned the existence of such a republic and its citizens in the past. The transcription ends with a remarkable conclusion by the speaker, “The past is great darkness, and filled with echoes. Voices may reach us from it, but what they say to us is imbued with the obscurity of the matrix out of which they come, and try as we may, we cannot always decipher them precisely in the clearer light of our own day”.

Who Should Read This

I recommend this classic only to adult readers beyond 18, owing to adult themes of torture, sex, and rape.

Final Verdict

If you want to be zapped by a story and shocked into the realization of real issues faced by real women, read this story. I rate it five out of five stars, obviously, because it does the job a book is meant to do- it holds your attention throughout.

Happy reading!

Margaret Atwood's books have been published in over thirty-five countries. She is the author of more than forty works of fiction, poetry, critical essays and books for children. Her novels include Bodily Harm , Cat's Eye , The Robber Bride , Alias Grace , which won the Giller Prize in Canada, and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin , winner of the 2000 Booker prize; and Orynx and Crake . Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson. They are the joint Honorary Presidents of the Rare Bird Club of BirdLife International.

- Featured In -

Watch The Handmaid's Tale Free with Amazon Prime. Get it Now.

This post contains affiliate links. Read my Disclosure Policy .

Three Thousand Stitches By Sudha Murty Simplified | Quotes And Summary

Book Reviews

50 Best Good Vibes Good Life Quotes (Vex King)

Book Reviews , Book Summary , Quote Bank

Review of The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams

Review of twenty-seven minutes, a gripping, dark thriller by ashley tate.

The 10 Most Underrated 'The Handmaid's Tale' Episodes, Ranked

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Content Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Hulu show The Handmaid's Tale. For the duration of its five seasons so far, the dystopian drama The Handmaid's Tale has presented a harrowing look at a disturbing dystopia in which women are forced to have children for the ruling class in an attempt to remedy the country's, now-called Gilead, plummeting birth rate. The series premiered in 2017 and is based on the novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood . Season 6 will be T he Handmaid's Tale 's last and is expected to air in 2025, three years after Season 5. Its sequel, The Testaments , is also in development for Hulu.

The Handmaid's Tale has delivered a number of standout episodes detailing the harsh realities of life in Gilead, especially for June in particular. But for every critically acclaimed episode with top scores, there's another that's overlooked, despite being just as intense and emotional. Like the show's best episodes, its most underrated ones provide an insightful look into its characters .

The Handmaid's Tale

Not available

10 "Heroic"

Season 3, episode 9.

In “Heroic,” June’s ( Elisabeth Moss ) mental state became fragile as she was confined to and forced to kneel on the floor of the hospital room of her walking partner, Natalie ( Ashleigh LaThrop ), also known as Ofmatthew, who was brain-dead but was being kept alive to carry her pregnancy to term. June's punishment was intended to last until the baby was born and had already been underway for a month at the start of the episode. After an encounter with Serena Joy ( Yvonne Strahovski ), June reconsidered her actions.

So much of what Gilead put people through amounted to psychological torture, such as June’s confinement in “Heroic.” Star Elisabeth Moss has consistently delivered fantastic performances on The Handmaid’s Tale , and this was a great example as June unraveled. It was also a crucial episode for June’s character . But despite its emotional punch, it’s among the lowest-rated episodes of the series on IMDb, possibly in part because of fan backlash to the deaths of two women of color.

9 "The Word"

Season 2, episode 13.

After Eden’s ( played by Sydney Sweeney ) death, June went through her things in Season 2 finale “The Word” and found a Bible with notes written in the margins, indicating Eden knew how to read and write – despite Gilead’s laws against women doing so. The incident motivated Serena and the other wives to attempt to enact change. Meanwhile, Emily ( Alexis Bledel ) got to know her new Commander, who turned out not to be as cruel as his peers.

“The Word” was a reminder of what the women of Gilead had lost – all women, not just the handmaids. It was also a compelling episode about a mother’s love and willingness to do anything for her child – when in the midst of an escape, June trusted others with baby Nichole and opted to stay behind to find and free her other daughter, Hannah, while Serena came to terms with what life in Gilead would be like for Nichole and willingly surrendered her.

8 "A Woman’s Place"

Season 1, episode 6.

The ambassador to Mexico visited Gilead in “A Woman’s Place,” and Commander Waterford ( Joseph Fiennes ) hoped to arrange a trade agreement between the two countries. During the visit, the ambassador questioned the handmaids. Meanwhile, through flashbacks, the episode revealed the role Serena played in the creation of Gilead and showed a very different version of her – she was an outspoken activist and writer, far from the submissive housewife she became in Gilead.

“A Woman’s Place” is an essential episode of The Handmaid’s Tale – it showed how other countries viewed Gilead and the lengths those in power would go to put forth Gilead’s best image, proving they were aware of how cruel they truly were. And for the first time in the series, it focused on a character other than June, with a glimpse of Serena’s previous life . The insight into her character made the episode a must-watch .

7 "Home"

Season 4, episode 7.

In “Home,” June finally made it to Canada, where Luke ( O. T. Fagbenle ) and Moira ( Samira Wiley ) were living and raising Nichole, and officially sought asylum for her safety, and she began to adjust to her new life and experienced a number of conflicting feelings about the change. She was reunited with Luke, and after some initial awkwardness, he apologized for failing to get her and Hannah out while June expressed her guilt over Hannah not being with her. Later, June confronted Serena.

After watching June come so close to escaping Gilead so many times, it was great to see her finally succeed – and confront Serena on top of it. “Home” helped illustrate how vastly different life was in Gilead compared to outside of it, as well as the impact it had on June and Luke both individually and as a couple. The emotional moments between the two were among the episode’s best and helped to make it a compelling episode overall.

6 "Faithful"

Season 1, episode 5.

Serena suspected Fred was infertile in “Faithful” and came up with a plan for Nick ( Max Minghella ) to sleep with June in the hopes of getting June pregnant. Meanwhile, June and Fred spent more and more time together in his office, mostly playing Scrabble, and June was inspired by Emily’s act of rebellion. In addition, flashbacks showed the start of June’s relationship with Luke – he was married to another woman when they first met.

“Faithful” was the start of June’s relationship with Nick, which would ultimately have a huge impact on the series moving forward , and also showed a softer, more humane side to Fred. While the series largely focuses on June, it occasionally offers a look at the lives of other handmaids, among the most interesting of whom was Emily , who had some great moments in this episode, her violent rebellion especially.

5 "Holly"

Season 2, episode 11.

In “Holly,” after a brief meeting with Hannah arranged by Fred, June was left alone in an abandoned house – although she had been accompanied by Nick, he was shot and taken away by guards, leaving June on her own, heavily pregnant, with apparently no one coming to retrieve her. After spending some time searching the house, she eventually went into labor and gave birth to a daughter she named Holly.

“Holly” was a compelling episode that juxtaposed the births of June’s two daughters , Hannah and Holly – named after June’s mother and later renamed Nichole by Serena – showing the vastly different circumstances under which they entered the world. And because childbirth in Gilead included a ceremony for the wives, it was great for June that Serena was robbed of that experience. Moss delivered one of her best performances of the series in the episode.

4 "The Crossing"

Season 4, episode 3.

After being captured by Gilead, in “The Crossing,” June was taken to and interrogated about the whereabouts of escaped handmaids by a furious Aunt Lydia ( Ann Dowd ). Meanwhile, Nick and Lawrence ( Bradley Whitford ) worked together to do as much as possible to help June. In the episode’s final moments, the handmaids headed towards escape across train tracks, only for some of them to be hit and killed by an oncoming train. The episode was also notable for being Moss’ directorial debut .

Aunt Lydia is one of the most cruel characters on the show, if not the most cruel – but Dowd is fantastic in the role, and “The Crossing” presented Dowd at her best and Lydia at her worst , or close to it, from the execution of other handmaids to the use of Hannah to get June to cooperate. And after all the trauma Janine had endured, it was difficult to watch her in the aftermath of the handmaids’ deaths.

3 "Late"

Season 1, episode 3.

In “Late,” June visited Janine’s ( Madeline Brewer ) baby. Meanwhile, Emily was arrested and faced the horrific punishment of genital mutilation for having an affair with Martha, who was executed. Elsewhere, June met the new Ofglen, who acted like Emily never existed. June’s flashbacks showed the early days of the revolution which led to the creation of Gilead, which included women being denied service at businesses because of the way they dressed – in Moira and June’s case, workout clothes.

“Late,” Emily’s storyline in particular, is among the most disturbing episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale and can be difficult to watch , but that’s also what makes it so compelling. The episode depicted not just an unthinkable punishment but the bizarre way in which handmaid – especially more compliant ones – were stripped of their identities and downplayed some of Gilead’s most egregious crimes. But some of the episode’s best scenes were the flashbacks, which showed how changes in what became Gilead started out small.

2 "Household"

Season 3, episode 6.

In “Household,” June traveled to D.C. with Serena and Fred to participate in a public prayer ceremony, with the goal of pressuring the Canadian government to return baby Nichole to Gilead. While there, they stayed in the large, beautiful home of the powerful Winslow family, a large family with six children – most presumably kidnapped from their real parents – headed by Commander George ( Christopher Meloni ), who was implied to be gay, yet another crime in Gilead.

The Handmaid’s Tale was almost exclusively focused on a specific location, but in “Household,” the show offered a look at how other parts of Gilead functioned, specifically D.C. – and somehow, it was even worse than what had been shown previously . It was jarring to see the way the government of Gilead had completely taken over the city, from the transformation of the Washington Monument into a cross to the far more disturbing handmaids with their mouths sewn shut.

1 "Vows"

Season 4, episode 6.

After June emerged from the rubble of a Gilead-sponsored air strike on Chicago, she was almost immediately reunited with Moira in “Vows,” who was serving as an aid worker and presented a chance for June’s freedom. As a result, June made it to Canada and was also reunited with Luke – and she was worried that he would never forgive her for not being able to get Hannah out of Gilead, as well.

“Vows” was a turning point for The Handmaid’s Tale . Moira’s return was a very welcome one – she’s a great character and great to watch, no matter what she’s doing. Her reunion with June was understandably emotional, and the episode presented a touching focus on their friendship, which somehow managed to stand the test of America’s descent into Gilead and the horrors it caused them. But one of its best and most emotional moments was June’s tearful statement to Luke that Hannah wasn’t with her .

NEXT: The Best Episodes of 'The Handmaid's Tale' For Beginners

Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale Psychology: Seeing Off Red

Edited by travis langley and wind goodfriend. turner, $18.99 trade paper (392p) isbn 978-1-68442-042-1.

Reviewed on: 08/20/2024

Genre: Nonfiction

Hardcover - 368 pages - 978-1-68442-043-8

Open Ebook - 1 pages - 978-1-68442-044-5

Apple Books
Barnes & Noble

Featured Nonfiction Reviews

COMMENTS

The Handmaid's Tale Book Review
Our review: Parents say ( 8 ): Kids say ( 17 ): Details matter to Margaret Atwood, and Offred's tale is related with precision and deep compassion. The Handmaid's Tale is one of the most acclaimed dystopian novels of the 20th century. An uncompromising portrait of a totalitarianism and institutional misogyny, it critiques fundamentalism in all ...
The Handmaid's Tale Book Review: A Dystopian Masterpiece
The Handmaid's Tale Review. The Handmaid's Tale is a classic of the dystopian and speculative fiction genres. It is generally considered to be Margaret Atwood's masterpiece, one that has resonated throughout the decades since it was written. Readers come away from The Handmaid's Tale, chilled by the depictions of violence and abuse within ...
THE HANDMAID'S TALE
That this stunningly brilliant fiction echoes Caryl Churchill's superb play A Number and Margaret Atwood's celebrated dystopian novels in no way diminishes its originality and power. A masterpiece of craftsmanship that offers an unparalleled emotional experience. Send a copy to the Swedish Academy. 34.
The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale is the first-person account of one of these enslaved women. Massachusetts Turns Into Saudi Arabia? More than thirty years have passed since The Handmaid's Tale was first published in 1985, but many still think of it as the go-to book for feminist fiction. It makes numerous "best of" lists, the kinds with 99 other books ...
The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale is a futuristic dystopian novel [6] by Canadian author Margaret Atwood published in 1985. [7] It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. [8] Offred is the central character and narrator and one of the "Handmaids": women who are forcibly assigned to ...
Book Review: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Book Review of The Handmaid's Tale "The Handmaid's Tale" is a chilling portrayal of a dystopian future that isn't too hard to imagine, which is what makes it so terrifying. Margaret Atwood's writing is sharp and evocative, painting a picture of Gilead in all its oppressive grimness. Offred's voice is compelling, and her narrative ...
Book Review: The Handmaid's Tale
Book Review: The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood's Chilling Dystopian Vision. Tully Mahoney '23. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a chilling exposé of a dystopian reality in which an extreme regime overtakes the US government and creates an ultra-patriarchal, religious state known as the Republic of Gilead. The novel is told from the point of view of a Handmaid, Offred ...
The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale. by Margaret Atwood. Publication Date: March 16, 1998. Genres: Science Fiction. Paperback: 311 pages. Publisher: Anchor. ISBN-10: 038549081X. ISBN-13: 9780385490818. In Margaret Atwood's dystopian future, environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War.
The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale. by Margaret Atwood. 1. The novel begins with three epigraphs. What are their functions? 2. In Gilead, women are categorized as wives, handmaids, Marthas, or Aunts, but Moira refuses to fit into a niche. Offred says she was like an elevator with open sides who made them dizzy, she was their fantasy.
The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Published in 1986, The Handmaid's Tale is a haunting epistolary novel narrated by Offred, a woman living in a future America where environmental and societal breakdown have led to the establishment of a fundamentalist Christian theocracy. In Gilead, women have been stripped of their fundamental rights and reduced to their reproductive potential.
The Handmaid's Tale
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force. The Handmaid's Tale. by Margaret Atwood. Publication Date: March 16, 1998. Genres: Science Fiction.
Book Review
Book Review By MARY McCARTHY. THE HANDMAID'S TALE ... It is an effect, for me, almost strikingly missing from Margaret Atwood's very readable book ''The Handmaid's Tale,'' offered by the publisher as a ''forecast'' of what we may have in store for us in the quite near future. A standoff will have been achieved vis-a-vis the Russians, and our ...
Review: The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986. Summary: One woman's account of life as a "handmaid" in the dystopian society of the Republic of Gilead, an authoritarian religious society organized around the urgent problem of declining birthrates. Many of you already know the story, either from reading the novel or the … Continue reading Review: The ...
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Dystopian. Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" is a towering work of imaginative literature whose enduring impact has only intensified in our current era of encroaching authoritarianism and human rights erosions. The book stands imposing as an eternal call to remain vigilant over human rights' fragility when indifference breeds complacency.
Book Review: The Handmaid's Tale
Book Review: The Handmaid's Tale. Alicia M. Walker View all authors and affiliations. Based on: Atwood MargaretThe Handmaid's Tale. New York: Anchor Books, 1986. 309 pp. $15.95. ISBN-13: 978-0385490818. Volume 48, Issue 1.
Review: 'The Handmaid's Tale' Creates a Chilling Man's World
"The Handmaid's Tale," based on the 1985 Margaret Atwood novel, is a cautionary tale, a story of resistance and a work of impeccable world-building. It is unflinching, vital and scary as hell.
The Handmaid's Thriller: In 'The Testaments,' There's a Spy in Gilead
The most chilling — and timely — lines in "The Handmaid's Tale" occur near the beginning of Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel. Offred and her shopping partner Ofglen are walking past the ...
The Handmaid's Tale Book Review
The Handmaid's Tale. The novel was beloved by critics and helped Atwood be considered as a prominant writer of the 20th century. Atwood's novel led to many online discussions and intense debates. And just like 1984, this novel is a warning of a dystopian future that may happen if we aren't careful.
Margaret Atwood on What 'The Handmaid's Tale' Means in the Age of Trump
March 26, 2017. : An essay last Sunday about Margaret Atwood's Novel "The Handmaid's Tale" misspelled the surname of the Canadian general who was the commander of the United Nations ...
Book Review: 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale is arguably Atwood's most famous work (largely due to the 2017 TV series of the same name starring Elizabeth Moss). Knowing how things can change from book to adaptation I was very curious to read Atwood's original novel. I hadn't realised that The Handmaid's Tale was published back in 1985 - old enough to now be ...
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood [A Review]
The Handmaid's Tale is frequently called a modern masterpiece and a dystopian cautionary tale that compares to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four and Huxley's Brave New World.It certainly packs a lot of punch in a short novel and the recent acclaimed TV adaptation has seen it return to the best seller's lists over 30 years after it was first published.
How does The Handmaid's Tale book end and what does it mean for the
The first season of The Handmaid's Tale is remarkably close to the first book, complete with flashbacks to how Offred came to be trapped in Gilead and how she was separated from her husband and child. However, from the second season onward, The Handmaid's Tale has forged new ground for June and the Resistance in Gilead.
Book review: "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
There, in a nutshell, is the world that Margaret Atwood has conjured up in her 1986 novel The Handmaid's Tale. It is a world in which religious zealots have taken power by assassinating the President and machine-gunning Congress and replacing the nation's military forces with their own military forces. They have used the Bible to promulgate ...
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
My Review. This chilling summary should explain the context of the book very clearly. The narrative belongs to Offred; she is telling her story. This book isn't just some make-believe story. The author made a systematic study of the society through astute observations. Infertility was on the rise, and this system was the solution.
10 Most Underrated 'The Handmaid's Tale' Episodes, Ranked
The Handmaid's Tale has delivered a number of standout episodes detailing the harsh realities of life in Gilead, especially for June in particular. But for every critically acclaimed episode with ...
The Handmaid's Tale Psychology: Seeing Off Red by
The Handmaid's Tale Psychology: Seeing Off Red Edited by Travis Langley and Wind Goodfriend. Turner, $18.99 trade paper (392p) ISBN 978-1-68442-042-1
We Set the Dark on Fire
Paxson also compared the novel to The Handmaid's Tale, noting that "We Set the Dark on Fire is definitely written for young adults in a way that The Handmaid's Tale is not, resulting in a book that feels less cynical". [5] Tor.com's Alex Brown also compared We Set the Dark on Fire to The Handmaid's Tale, as well as Nineteen Eighty-Four. [8]

Or browse by category:

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Common Sense Selections for Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

How to Help Kids Build Character Strengths with Quality Media

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

Common Sense Media Review

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 16+?

Any Positive Content?

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Violence & Scariness

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Educational Value

Positive Messages

Positive Role Models

Where to Read

Blessed Be!

Is It Any Good?

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Book Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Suggest an Update

Animal Farm

Brave New World

Science Fiction Books

The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale as a Dystopian Novel

Ceremony in The Handmaid’s Tale

The Past and Present in The Handmaid’s Tale

The Future in The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid's Tale Book Review: Atwood's Dystopian Masterpiece

Join or Create Groups

About Emma Baldwin

Margaret Atwood

Atwood Facts

Atwood's Best Books

Atwood, the Feminist and Enviromentalist

Block Member?

THE HANDMAID'S TALE

THE SECRET HISTORY

ABSOLUTE POWER

Please select an existing bookshelf

Please sign up to continue.

Almost there!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

The Handmaid’s Tale #1

About the author

Ratings & Reviews

Friends & Following

Join the discussion

Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Book Summary of The Handmaid’s Tale

Book Review of The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale Rating

About the Author: Margaret Atwood

Where to Read The Handmaid’s Tale

Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale

Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale

Regular Features

Newsletters

Fall Reading

Word of Mouth

The Best Fiction Books » Dystopian Novels

Recommendations from our site

The book, according to the author