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)

Where the USA might be heading.

Terrifying look into what could come. Very well read and a fascinating story for sure.

Great.

What did you love best about The Handmaid's Tale?

Loved Clare Danes. She's perfect for the voices.

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

Switching to the future.

Which scene was your favorite?

Her times with Moira.

If you could rename The Handmaid's Tale, what would you call it?

A blip in women's time.

It was okay

Any additional comments?

It was an okay book, I had high expectations from previous reviews. It was much different than I expected and some parts were kind of slow. Claire Danes did a good job narrating though. Would recommend, but not raving reviews...

Amazingly done.

I love it. Claire Danes is wonderful. Great story. I recommend this to an6one who likes dytopian science fiction.

Frightening... and exceptional.

I read this in high school and absolutely loved it 20+ years ago. I used to love reading horror books and this was one of the first dystopians I ever read and it stuck with me. The story was so well written and laid out, it never occurred to me that society could revert as Margaret Atwood thought up. It was just a crazy backwards society.

Rereading (listening) today gives a completely different perspective. And somehow a book as old as this has become relevant again.

Claire Danes was a perfect pick for this audio book. She did such an exceptional performance and made it hard to think of anyone else in that role. I felt like I was on this horrible journey with Offred with Claire in my ears.

Yes, the first season of the TV show is a wonderful adaptation of this. But, the book, oh the book... this will haunt you long after the last page is read.

I drank this in like I hadn't had water in days.

I couldn't "put it down". This book is a wake up call. Bravo Atwood. Bravo Danes.

excellent story

excellent story, I wish the author would have expanded more and made the story longer. definitely too short. as the I was starting to get a bigger picture of the world the main character lives in the author cuts the story, IMO, abruptly.

Crazy read!

It took me forever to get into this book. The narration is too long at times and way too descriptive which makes you lose interest in the book. However, the second half of the book is fantastic. And the end? Brilliant!!

Claire Danes does great

Claire Danes just does a fantastic job with this - brings the character and story to life. Only wish there was more to it.

Danes brings the handmaid to life

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

Insightful, exciting, political

What other book might you compare The Handmaid's Tale to and why?

Orwell's 1984 and other dystopian works - with a feminist twist. Also, the language is beautiful and the metaphors unexpected. I started to see my own place in the world with different eyes after having listened to The Handmaid's Tale.

What about Claire Danes’s performance did you like?

Danes really got under my skin. Her diction and tone brought me very close to Atwood's protagonist.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but it gave me goosebumps, both because of the actual story and because of what it implies about the society in which we live today.