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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
Overall
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    27,339
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    4,051
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    3 out of 5 stars

futuristic past

For me it was a hard listen, hard to tell where the story was, in time, and what time period the story was in. by chapter 30, I was still asking what happened to cause the circumstances

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Well Read

Clare Danes really captures the determination of the character and the mood of the tale!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Read this skip the Hulu series

the novelization of a handmaid's tale is a far better story than the series Hulu put out. Don't even bother watching the series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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could it happen?

A classic. must read for all. last chapter is pertinent for understanding and reflecting on our world.

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

Not for me

Loved Claire Danes’ narration, but the story moved too slow and it felt as though Atwood was beating me over the head with figurative language. I finally gave up after 20 chapters. Just not my style of writing.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Claire Danes - Homeland Hero Dementia

Claire Danes is absolutely perfect to read this book. She is a slightly more stable version of her character in Homeland as she reads this, which is fine with me. I love me some Crazy Cary of the CIA (formerly)! :)

The story is dark and depressing, but there is no shortage of historical precedent for such inhuman behavior on the part of religious fanatics and patriarchal hypocrites. I both enjoyed it for its brilliance and was ready to be done with it for its deeply dystopian nature.

It absolutely lives up to its reputation as a master work of speculative fiction. I am already planning to send a copy as a gift to someone who I think will appreciate it as much as I have.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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An idea of what could be.

Excellent! I thoroughly enjoyed the fragmented thought process in the story telling. Atwood made it more realistic by using this method.

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Almost perfect

Loved this book. The only thing that was slightly irritating was the disjointed writing. I understood the purpose of it but at times seemed to force the dramatics a little too much

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Ugh, Terrifying

Unexpected and more relevant than ever; kept me spellbound start to finish. Highly recommended read

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

depressing

Would you try another book from Margaret Atwood and/or Claire Danes?

Atwood - no Danes - perhaps

Has The Handmaid's Tale turned you off from other books in this genre?

Pretty much

Was The Handmaid's Tale worth the listening time?

Not for me

Any additional comments?

Toio much reflective of where we are heading. News is bad enough for me.

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