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)

Well told dystopian story with Christian twist

Claire Danes does a marvelous job as narrator in first person as our Handmaid and voicing other characters effectively across emotions from fear to fervor, disdain to resignation. This story has now been made a TV show but I haven't seen it... found the story intriguing and well told, essentially a "caste" system in a future where fertility is prized and the Bible is used to justify the extremes. Through the narrator's perspective, one can almost imagine how powerless a person might feel when subjected to this type of reality. I was somewhat disappointed with the ending and don't want to give it away. Interesting handling of it and gave me some of the answers I was looking for -- but certainly not all of them. Worth a listen!

Dystopia from the Woman's Perspective

it was quite enjoyable to pick up a dystopian novel from the perspective of a woman, although I admit that it's eerie similarities to current political temperament in the US felt more like reality than careful warning. The story is says to follow, although it did feel like there was a lack of clear progression at some parts. Claire Danes was a fantastic narrator for the story, and I admired her take on the "Aunts". Overall a chilling and fantastic precautionary tale.

A prophetic tale

The book was written from a different perspective than what I'm used to but I really enjoyed it. I was captivated and finished it in 2 days!
It was terrifying to see how many similarities there are in the story and our current reality...

This is a great story

Great story and good narrator. I recommend this to anyone. This is a perfect example of show and don’t tell. Very good imagery in this story.

Claire Danes did a wonderful narration...

I finally pushed this book up on my to-read list, and since I've been on an Audible listening marathon for the past couple weeks, purchased the Audible to go along with my Kindle version. Started this last nite and finished listening on a cross country airplane trip today. I had seen this book on the top 20 Kindle listings (books read and sold) for a year or more and I will be the first to admit, I have not watched the TV series. So... it might be my age, or it might be this is not my first choice of book genres or it might be that I had expected more, but this was not a feel-good read, in fact I found it rather depressing. I asked my daughter in law and she raves on the Hulu TV series. (so it could be my age). The good, Claire Danes narration is spot on, I think she made it all the more interesting to listen to and the story is well told, based upon the concept of what it discusses, but I never got emotionally involved with Offred or any of the characters. I'm glad I read it, so now I don't feel like I may have been missing something, this one won't be in my top ten books ever. Comes in with 4 stars.

interesting story

Sadly, narrator was very monotone the entire reading.
I felt at so many points it became confusing.

Visionary

Very powerful novel of a horrifying dystopian society. Although fiction, its power is found in the plausibility of its reality—it really would not be that far of a stretch to arrive at something quite similar to the world Atwood presents in this remarkable novel from the 80s that may be even more relevant now than it was when it first came out. Highly recommended.

Great, and plausible, dystopian story

Claire Danes is an amazing narrator. Margaret Atwood wrote a masterpiece, that hopefully won't become a blueprint for our society.

Great book... the ending is a little different

Wonderful, thoughtful, scarily accurate, and still very relevant to today’s society. Very relatable as a woman. The story his heart wrenching and gripping, the only set back for me was the end. It’s good, and I understand the authors point in ending it that way. But, after building such a relationship with the narrator you would like to hear more of it from her perspective

Claire Danes is masterful

I read the book in high school but wanted to revisit it in light of its resurgent popularity. Claire Danes’ narration is fantastic. Her voices subtle but compelling, bringing even greater attention to the prose, rather than distracting from it. Highly recommended.