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)

Not my type of story.

Would you listen to The Handmaid's Tale again? Why?

I wouldn't listen to this again, even though I loved the story teller. I just didn't like the way the author wrapped it up. The story was very slow in some sections. Just wasn't the book for me.

What about Claire Danes’s performance did you like?

She has an amazing voice and can make an ordinary story a little better.

A breathtaking listen

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

I've read this book before, but Claire Dane's adds a whole new level to Offred, bringing her to life and giving her voice a sharper impact than I had ever experienced just reading the words.

Every American shouldread this..great listen

Would you listen to The Handmaid's Tale again? Why?

Clare Danes does a great job with the feel of the book and fits the story. If a radical religion were to gain footing in our America, we would be in for such a shock. I loved this. What a great subject!

Very slow. Great last chapter

Struggled to stay focused with all the "Waiting for Godot" lack of development. Last chapter provided better context.

I wish I had not waited so long to read this!

An very talented writer! And an excellent performance. I'm now a Margaret Atwood fan and will be looking for more works by her.

All around great book!

Claire Danes is a wonderful narrator capturing the emotion of all characters. Easy listen, wonderfully written!

Spectacular writing describing a haunting tale

Easy read with amazing eloquent prose. Topics are DEEP: feminism, misogyny, religious fanaticism, identity, and the importance of a healthy society and many more. Remarkably easy to understand given the topics and themes, evokes thought and discussion because main character is so aware of her own transformation. Want to read again!

TV series vs book?

It's really not a question worth debating much, in my opinion. I watched the series first, after hearing so many people talk about it. I'm really looking forward to season 3.

I'm also looking forward to Ms. Atwood's recently announced written sequel. I'm not concerned with the show keeping up with the books, or vice versa, because both are excellent in their own rights. I say let the show do what it will, as long as it remains the excellent production it is. I'll enjoy it, no matter how much it deviates from the book(s). But we're here to talk about the book that launched that ship.

Ms. Atwood's writing style is one of my favorites. She paints a very vivid picture with her words. (I admit I placed the TV faces on the characters as I listened, but I "saw" many other things differently.) Her attention to the most minute details both creates a thorough mental picture, and gives us emotional insight into what the handmaid was dealing with. The passage about the egg? These days, it might have been written by someone actively practicing mindfulness. But with the handmaid, the details of the egg tell us that she doesn't have a whole lot else to do to save her sanity but to focus on "the little things." This is a common theme throughout the book.

The story itself is disturbing, of course. But the richness in which it's told makes it irresistible. It also makes one think. Could this happen to us now? Noooo, there's no way..is there?

Ms. Daines was an excellent choice for narrator. Her range of emotions were spot on, and sounded very authentic. The anguish came through especially well. I liked that she just used her regular voice for the most part. It's distracting to listen to a female narrator try to "sound like a man" and vice versa.

TL;DR Whether you've seen the show or not, get this book. :)

Wonderful!

This is a great read that really makes you think. The narration is excellent, and I finished this much quicker than anticipated. It is a relevant story to modern news, and worth the time.

Intriguing storyline but boring style

I enjoyed the idea of living in a new society through the eyes of the handmaiden. But I was disappointed and bored by the authors style of writing. Her sentences were too long and drawn out. It's as if she was trying too hard to give the writing an artistic style when she was being descriptive. It was too pretentious and very quickly became tiresome. I would say to myself just tell me where she is and what is happening and describe people or settings. She would go on comparing a simple object with numerous or over complex descript ions. I wanted more story and less frill, it was as if someone from he 16th century England had written it.perhaps she wanted the writing to appear from the past, but it didn't work for me. I was disappointed by her style. The story deserved better and was too short.