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)

Mesmerizing

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

great book, annoying performance

I love Margaret Atwood's books..but I did not enjoy the performance at all. Her voice is tense and on the verge of being aggressive throughout the whole book that it is tiring in the ears.

Claire Danes is a steady voice of conciousness ...

This book has always been a favorite of mine and you can imagine my delight in stumbling on this. Claire's voice and performance has every nuance you want, nah need in offred,s tale. She tales ypu through the horrors, heartbreaks, and hardships of Gillead, but pulls you back in just before you are ready to tie the noose. A wonderful listen for anyone young and old to help you appreciate what you have, but also be mindful of the consequences of the choices you make.

Good story that could have been great

I've been meaning to read this book for quite sometime and while I think it was a good story and I completely understand the lack of clarity and detail provided, the world created was so rich with rocks left unturned that I found it almost frustrating.
In either case, would reccomend to others

Amazing story and narration.

One of the most brilliant stories and narrations I've ever heard. This is a must read. I'm curious to see how the show matches up.

Interesting story despite the dated future.

I knew the rough outline of this story thanks to the movie, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it. All I really remember about the movie is that is left me with an aversion to Robert Duval! Ha! Now that I have read the book, I want to see the movie again to see if my opinion of him will change.

It was a very interesting story, I am always impressed with the imagination it takes to create an alternate society. I liked that the facts of what happened in the world to bring us to this point, this dystopia, were unveiled slowly and through flashbacks of Offred’s life “before” and how she reflected on her new life as essentially a concubine.

I don’t want to risk divulging and spoilers, but I was unsatisfied with the end; I have lots of unanswered questions!

A minor complaint I have was with certain aspects of the author’s vision of the future: it felt dated. But it’s not her fault, the book was published three decades ago and from that perspective we had a different view of what the future would be!

For example:

•All books were transferred to CDs and then destroyed. In 1985 that seemed plausible! In 2014 with Ebooks and audiobooks, it’s preposterous.

•There was no more money; all replaced by electronic cards and if someone made purchase, the card number had to be typed in. In 1985 we did not swipe credit cards or have smart chip pin cards or have tap-and-pay like we do today!

•They found cassette tapes, but since cassettes were obsolete they had no cassette players and had to build one. Kind of silly - thinking of 8 tracks… lots of those players still around!

But these are petty details. Overall I liked the story very much.

Good story only got bored with the vocabulary

Great possibly feasible story, however description of everything 4 times sometimes aggregating. Loved it and would recommend it to someone who is patient with descriptions so extensive.

love the book, love Claire Danes

One of my favorite books, and Claire Danes narrates it so beautifully. She is able to inject so much emotion into her voice and she makes each character's voice sound completely distinctive.

Clares Danes Makes this Even Better

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. The story is frighteningly current. The narration is awesome.

What did you like best about this story?

The dystopia felt realistic and made it read like a horror novel. Compelling.

an immersive story

I enjoyed Claire Danes' performance of this engrossing, bleak story. She and Ms. Atwood made me feel and visualize everything that happened.