The Handmaid's Tale

By: Margaret Atwood

Narrated by: Claire Danes

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, Fiction, 2013

Margaret Atwood's popular dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale explores a broad range of issues relating to power, gender, and religious politics. Multiple Golden Globe award-winner Claire Danes (Romeo and Juliet, The Hours) gives a stirring performance of this classic in speculative fiction, one of the most powerful and widely read novels of our time.

After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all-controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred, now a Handmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules in hopes of ending this oppression.

Cover Art by Fred Marcellino. Used with permission of Pippin Properties, Inc.

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©1985 Margaret Atwood (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Claire Danes sparkles in this performance…Danes’s Offred is complex, and her flashes of intense strength highlight her vulnerability. This is a consuming listen, thanks to Danes’s emotional subtleties.” (AudioFile)

Definitely 5 ⭐️

I was not sure I wanted to listen rather than read this one. Perfectly narrated, it does not disappoint. Highly recommend!

excellent reading and entertainment!

daines is excellent narrator. found reasons to drive to listen to book I've been intending to read for years.

best thing I've listened to on audible yet!

What about Claire Danes’s performance did you like?

everything. she was excellent. This book is perfectly suited to her and also to one person reading. it's not dialogue heavy. and some other books i've listened to on audible are so dialogue heavy that hearing the narrators voice do a million other characters takes you out of it. Claire Danes was OUTSTANDING!

Ok but not the best book ever

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book was ok. Not my favorite but not the worst either. I would not read this one again.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Nothing really

Which scene was your favorite?

Nothing

Do you think The Handmaid's Tale needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

The ending was strange. It would be interesting maybe to link the time gap somehow.

Excellent!

Claire Danes gives a powerful performance. I was absolutely mesmerized by both the book and the narrator!

Could have skipped first 2/3 of the book...

I was almost giving up on the book when I was about half way through the book. A lot of rambling. Too much back story and not enough about this future world she created. Not much is happening until the last 1/3 of the book. The last 1/3 of the book is good but only if you can get through the first 2/3.

Will make you hate men

Because this book has been recommended for teaching at the high school level, as a teacher, I felt I needed to read it. Although I appreciate the perspective the narrator offers into a misogynistic theocratic dystopia and the elements of modern society which it reflects, I would never teach this book. I had to make myself read (listen to) it. If the intent is to create unpleasantness in the life of the reader, the author certainly succeeded. I even found myself hating men at times. There is no let up in the misery. Ms Danes channels the misery in her reading of the tale. Indeed for this book, there is no balm.

So beautifully written and read

Just an absolutely gorgeous telling of a tragic and horrific story. Every word is poetry. I could quote this book left and right because every sentence is so perfectly written. Claire Danes does an incredible job and makes me cry on multiple occasions. This is an incredible book, I recommend it highly.

Startling futuristic tale of subjugation

Interesting but repetitive writing style. Play on words was overused; a little goes a long way. Last chapter was the best.

Best narration I have heard for a great story

I haven't seen the t.v. series yet but after listening to the audiobook I think I must! Great story, and even better narration.