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The Handmaid's Tale  By  cover art

The Handmaid's Tale

By: Margaret Atwood
Narrated by: Claire Danes
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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)

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What listeners say about The Handmaid's Tale

Average customer ratings
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Amazing

This is an amazing story to listen to. I literally could not find enough times in the day to be alone to listen. It was beautifully narrated and well written. It is not a novel that I would normally categorize as suspenseful, but I could not get enough and always had questions leaving me to listen more. Wonderful novel; I would highly recommend!

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What a moving and powerful book

I truly enjoyed this book. It was thought provoking and startling close to issues we currently face.

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absolutely terrifying book.

really good, but really creepy if you keep up with politics at all.
also, the storyline of Offred and Moira are entirely too close to real life for my BFFL and I.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

What's with the hype.

The narration only adds to the dullness of this book. Boring on top of more boring.

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an excellent experience

If you could sum up The Handmaid's Tale in three words, what would they be?

Engrossing, important, thought-provoking

What did you like best about this story?

The moral lesson of a society gone bad.

What does Claire Danes bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her amazing performance made the story all the scarier.

Who was the most memorable character of The Handmaid's Tale and why?

The narrator -- she had experienced life in both societies.

Any additional comments?

Everyone should read this book, but listening to Clare Danes makes it much, much better.

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Danes does a fantastic job with this classic

Claire Danes' narration and character voices are fantastic. She does a great job of bringing this story to life.

It's amazing that this book has been continuously in print since it burst onto the scene in 1986. Heartening, because it tackles many, many aspects of misogyny and social imbalance.

I found this book impossible to stop listening to even at its grimmest moments. It is interesting, thought-provoking, and surprising.

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Felt like something was missing....

Claire Danes did amazing at narrating but I felt like there was something missing...like there were holes or gaps that I wished were filled in. Maybe because I watched the TV series first it sullied the book. Overall, the story idea was pretty good. It just made me want to watch the series again though.

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Like it better than the series

It took a bit to get into but I liked it. I wish there was sequel.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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A little Disappointed

The concept of the book is fantastic. However, I liked the tv show a bit better, there was more beef to the story line, though they did change a lot of things around. All around an enjoyable listen.

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Mesmerizing

This was a great “read”. So relevant in today’s turbulent culture. Well worth listening to and I may do it again.

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