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)

6 stars for Claire Danes

Would you consider the audio edition of The Handmaid's Tale to be better than the print version?

yes! Claire Danes was enthralling.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Handmaid's Tale?

"I am laughing"

What about Claire Danes’s performance did you like?

She *was* Offred. She was perfect. Understated and beaten but not destroyed.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

it could happen

Great Potential, But Fell Short.

The plot synopsis makes this sound like a taught thriller-like read. Witht the recent political climate, one can see how these types of regimes can form; though perhaps not to this extreme. I was hoping for a tense read. intrigue, psychological webs, etc. Perhaps the Hulu series trailer amped me up. But the story is mundane. The character isn't likeable, though some may say she is admirable for her own acts of resistance, which are few and frail. The writing was laborious and repetative; overly descriptive. I haven't read any other of the author's work, so perhaps it was a character trait coming through i the writing. The most interesting chapters where the last few. The last one (a postscript type of narrative) making the whole previous tale more interesting.
Claire Danes was not a good choice, her voice lacks variety. she was dull to listen to, but the character was dull herself, so perhaps that was purposeful. in which case, good choice. I'm hoping the Hulu series is better.

Amazing story

Wow. I powered through this on the edge of my seat. It is so terrifying and timely.

haunting

listening to this feels frighteningly relevant, and puts me in a strange vauge state of mind if I listen too long.

Classic dystopian novel

It took me a long time to finally experience this story. It's extremely well written; Atwood is an amazing writer. The story itself is interesting and, whenever reading a dystopian novel, I always remind myself that even the seemingly absurd could happen (especially with the state of things at this time). It definitely felt dated, as it was written in the 80s. But that can't be helped. I thought the performance was excellent. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook.

Hulu tv series better. Danes amazing.

Have you listened to any of Claire Danes’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not heard her performances before, but think she was amazingly good in this one!

Any additional comments?

Claire Danes has ruined all other audio books for me... this was my first audio book ever, and she was so wonderful! Perfect performance. The book itself I have mixed feelings about though. Atwood builds a truly amazing world, but there really is no plot to drive me forward through the book... it is ALL world building. She does a good job of getting in the head of the main character, showing how she feels being in this bizarre world, but still, no plot. The jumping around in time is really annoying, frustrating, and confusing. In the tv show at least I can tell what time period they are in by the clothing, setting, and sometimes characters. In the book I'm often lost. Flashbacks triggered by objects or events in the present are fine, but random un-triggered flashbacks are not, especially not that many of them. Sometimes Atwood will start a chapter describing something interesting, like the commander appearing upstairs, then a flashback will happen that takes up the entire rest of the chapter, and I'll lose track of the commander having been upstairs, then the story won't pick up again until some bizarre location in a later chapter. Atwood's level of detail is extreme... she will go into excruciating detail about mundane, insignificant things that have no bearing on the story. I often felt bored hearing about things like flower petals and such... but that world she built is amazing.

Still thinking about the What Ifs

This book is a trip. It was a little rough to get into, and a little hard to keep up with the back and forth, but I ate up the last half. It's not for everyone, but it's a good read. Think Pilgrims meet modern 2017 and creates a retro totalitarian society- from a first person female view. I'm still reeling from it.

So possible and scary

I love the inspiration for the story and where the author got the ideas from. It's incredibly believable. The ending was less satisfying than the Anne frank story but since the inspiration was life I have to remember that life doesn't always get a complete ending, happy or otherwise. Sometimes it's not fair

A gripping, haunting distopian tale

Claire Danes does an unsurprising but still amazing job at reading this classic science fiction novel. The story may seem slow in the beginning, but the introspective start provides an important canvas for the muted despair and life of grey dullness inhabited by the main character, who serves as a breeding vessel for the privileged few.

Even with the quieter start, Danes' talented reading kept me glued in. The novel progresses to reveal a complex and damaged society that struggles under its rich facade of religion.

"The Handmaid's Tale" is an interesting look at the role of women in society, extremism in religion and the subjection of the underclass, and I highly recommend it. The theme of this book is one that has stayed with me, which is to me the mark of a great book.

good book

a very good book. makes you think quite a bit. although the situation described is unlikely, it could happen.