Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood Reviews

The Handmaid's Tale is a book that is often seen as merely a feminist novel in which the author describes female subjugation and the main characters struggle to survive. However it is more than that; it is a book that challenges society and the society of the future that we are creating and asks us to think about how the choices we make and the ...  Read the complete review

Story I remember reading this book at the very start of my A-level in English Literature. When we first approached the book, we were told to buy it, bring it into school but not read it. To be honest, none of us really knew what a 'handmaid' was. So we came in, 20 odd students, & sat there wondering how the lesson would go, when we ...  Read the complete review

This is my first review of a book so I hope I do well! Although not my favourite book I agree with the fact it's been put on the study lists for so many students taking qualification in English Literature. I think this book throws up so many questions, answers and gives a scary look into the possible future of our world! The ...  Read the complete review

One thing I have to say about this novel is that it's hard to get into. The story sets out a future America (or part of America at least), called Gilead, in which a complete return to 'traditional values' has taken place - i.e. women have been reduced either to breeding machines or housekeepers, and men dominate. Initially, a ...  Read the complete review

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood views the world in the future, Atwood creates the world of 'Gilead'. Gilead's (underpopulated due to Nuclear-shutdowns and accidents which left many women unable to reproduce) goal is to repopulate the world. The creators of Gilead banned articfial insemination and fertility ...  Read the complete review

"And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die." The first paragraph of Genesis, 30:1-3 and how Atwood, begins her most famous of books, The Handmaid's Tale. Booker Prize nominated and winner of both the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction ...  Read the complete review

Imagine a world where women are allowed no possessions or no money of their own. Where their name is taken from them and, instead, they are known only as a possession of the man whose child they are to bear. Some men living in the Dark Ages may find this quite a good idea, but I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that as a woman ...  Read the complete review

June is a prisoner by her country. But then all women are that can have children. She lives in a hall that used to be a gymnasium and sleeps on an army bed. She cannot talk to anyone or even have contact. She is watched as she sleeps and no men are allowed in the building she is in, this is the republic of Gilled. The Aunts control her. These are ...  Read the complete review

I suppose there's two ways at looking at this title. Either you could see the 'influences' of the book as making it a rather tired rip-off, or you could say that it helps it - both Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World are classics, and drawing on them could help The Handmaid's Tale. I just think it's a rip off ...  Read the complete review

This book is comparable to 1984, in which an all-controlling government is vividly illustrated. It has the wonderful elements that make novels classics. Adventure:Your heart thumps as you imagine what risks the main character is taking. Romance:The young woman remembers better times, with her husband, often she longs ...  Read the complete review

I too have read this as part of my AS Level English course and found it very comparible to my History course. This may sound slightly weird but in my opinion "The Handmaid's Tale" takes much of its ideas from the 'great' dictatorships of the 20th Century. Atwood follows the life of Offred, formally Kate, who is ...  Read the complete review

My reason for reading the Handmaids tale was due all my friends reading it for there A level in English lit. They kept talking about the book. So I borrowed it to see what it was all about and so that I could join in with them and become part of the in crowd. The book is set in a future where we have no hope. In addition, any woman who ...  Read the complete review

This apparently 'gripping' book by the ever awe inspiring Margaret Atwood makes excellent bedtime reading for the AS level English Literature students at my college. As you can probably see, I am no genius but am I the only one who thinks the book was written for the purpose of winning the Booker Prize? Atwood tries desperately to ...  Read the complete review

"The Handmaid's Tale", by Margaret Atwood, is a high-ranking cautionary tale. Although the scenario is mildly entertaining and a gripping read, we must not lose sight of its origins - Atwood is portraying a world evolved from our own... In the late Twentieth Century, with the advent of greater and greater technological ...  Read the complete review