Customer Reviews

The Handmaid's Tale (MAXNotes Literature Guides)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book absolutely must be devoured. It is a tale so moving and compelling you feel driven to complete it. Move over Orwell's "1984." You become even more engrossed in this story. The reality of it takes over your own. The eventual outcome of our heroine is never revealed, although the epilogue offers tantilizing clues that keep your mind speculating long after completing the novel. Superb!

I absolutely loved this book. Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors, and I have read most of her books. The Handmaid's Tale is definetly my favorite. The sympathy you feel for the main character is so real, and you'll find that you can't put the book down. I am 16, and I read it in 2 nights. Not much sleep! It is an excellent example of how books should be written. Margaret Atwood is in my opinion one of the most talented writers of all time.

I had to read this for school. When ever you have to do that, you automatically assume that the book will be... boring? Well, i coulnt NOT stop reading. The way Atwood describes the innermost thoughts of the main character is facinating. The story line, and the settign though, is a bit depressing. Women are used practically for their ovaries, in an age of decling birth. It makes me mad that, (if you read) some women are treated so badly. This book makes you think, on the most part, but is VERy emotional. You will find you turning the pages constatnly, and Atwood keeps you on your toes.

Margaret Atwood's cautionary tale of a near-future America governed by a reactionary theocracy delivers insight into how people entrenched in a caste system react to their circumstances. Besides telling the tale of the women who are virtual slaves and concubines, the story shows the other side of the supposedly righteous, puritanical society which dominates every aspect of life in this not entirely unlikely scenario. Atwood also does a fine job of illustarting the small acts of resistance to the monolithic oppression of this society, and the small glimmers of hope the oppressed find and cling to.

This was a very strange tale of a woman who went from being someone, an individual, to being a means of procreation. The story takes you through the strange rituals of sexual intercourse and leaves you wondering if a society could ever really reduce itself to such means to ensure the survival of mankind. The main character must suffer the loss of not only her daughter and husband, but also her own identity and self-esteem. A very degrading tale of how women are sometimes viewed as an object to be used and discarded as men and people in power see fit. On the last page of this book one question came to mind. "That's it?". The ending was very disappointing. I really wish there could have been a little more information imparted as to the character's past. A name would heve been nice. But then again that may have spoiled the mystery. Overall, I found the book interesting but it left me unsatisfied. So what's the use?