The Handmaid's Tale

Rigidkovrila, 350 paĝoj

Lingvo: English

Eldonita je 6-a de novembro 1986 de Jonathan Cape.

ISBN:
978-0-224-02348-1
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5 steloj (3 recenzoj)

Offred is a national resource. She is a handmaid; viable ovaries make her a precious commodity in the Republic of Gilead, where the birthrate has plummeted to dangerous levels. Assigned to a Commander whose wife cannot produce, Offred's purpose is onefold: to breed.

Dressed in red from veil to shoes, apart from the white wings which cover her face, Offred walks in silence each day past the Guardians of the Faith, who man each barrier. She exchanges tokens for food. She visits the Wall, where gender traitors and war criminals hang for atrocities, once legal, committed in the time before.

At night in the bare room, Offred remembers: quaint, outdated customs such as gossiping, using paper money, jogging. Illegal thing: women having jobs, reading, her real name, love. Love used to be central to everything. Now it is irrelevant.

Margaret Atwood, who has shown her formidable insights into the complexities …

59 eldonoj

Not so speculative fiction

5 steloj

I was warned this book is not a fun one. Indeed it is not.

You get to see the omnipresent fear and violence of a patriarchal surveillance state. You get to see how it got there, little by little, and how it got accepted. The disturbing part is that it is very much believable...

I hadn't seen since Orwell's "1984" the effect of a totalitarian system on an individual so well described, especially at an individual level. You get to see how a single mind resists or breaks when faced with such overwhelming brutal and oppressive environment.

It is definitely worth reading, especially when you keep in mind the fact that Atwood has been censored in several US states.

Una novel·la que enganxa des del primer paràgraf i que et fa pensar com poden arribar a passar coses tan bèsties

5 steloj

Tenia pendent la lectura d’alguna cosa de la Margaret Atwood i, quan he aconseguit temps, he començat pel Conte de la serventa , la primera novel·la de la temàtica Galaad. M’he penedit de no haver-ho fet abans perquè m’ha enganxat a la lectura i no he parat fins a acabar el llibre i començar el segon, Els testaments , que comentaré un altre dia.

Primer de tot cal dir que l’autora té una mestria en l’escriptura que molts altres voldrien. A cada paràgraf hi passa alguna cosa, per petita que sigui, i això t’enganxa i et fa avançar amb ganes.

En segon lloc, el tema que tracta que no saps ben bé si és ciència-ficció o política ficció. No és la ci-fi de marcianets i maquinetes a què estem acostumats. Més aviat es tracta d’inventar un model de societat puritana, cristiana i retrògrada on les dones són relegades als papers …

a classic

5 steloj

I read this classic just two years ago. It felt more relevant to the present than it may have been when it was written. This book is a revolutionary milestone in speculative fiction and probably feminist literature as well, but I found equally interesting that the text is based on progressive loss of innocence. The final chapter is incredible and left me very satisfied.