The Handmaid's Tale

by

Paperback, 324 pages

English language

Published Nov. 13, 1987 by Virago.

ISBN:
978-1-85381-174-6
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OCLC Number:
55563424

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5 stars (2 reviews)

The Republic of Gilead allows Offred only one function; to breed. If she deviates, she will, like all dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radioation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire--neigher Offred's nor that of the two men on whom her future hangs... --back cover

46 editions

reviewed La servante écarlate by Margaret Atwood (Pavillons)

Not so speculative fiction

5 stars

I was warned this book is not a fun one. Indeed it is not.

You get to see the omnipresent fear and violence of a patriarchal surveillance state. You get to see how it got there, little by little, and how it got accepted. The disturbing part is that it is very much believable...

I hadn't seen since Orwell's "1984" the effect of a totalitarian system on an individual so well described, especially at an individual level. You get to see how a single mind resists or breaks when faced with such overwhelming brutal and oppressive environment.

It is definitely worth reading, especially when you keep in mind the fact that Atwood has been censored in several US states.

reviewed Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

a classic

5 stars

I read this classic just two years ago. It felt more relevant to the present than it may have been when it was written. This book is a revolutionary milestone in speculative fiction and probably feminist literature as well, but I found equally interesting that the text is based on progressive loss of innocence. The final chapter is incredible and left me very satisfied.