Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

The group will be reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood in preparation for the fiction award winner, The Testaments, next month.



Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now . . .

Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.

I read this last year and really liked it. Am going to follow the thread and get ready for The Testaments.

I liked this book, but not as much as I expected to. I'm curious to see other people's thoughts on it. I wonder too, how many people watched the TV show and did it have any effect on how much you enjoyed the book or vice versa?

I read this a couple years ago in preparation for the TV show. It was a tough read, in part because it feels so realistic. I lived in a state with conscience clauses for pharmacists for a few years and I remember how panicked my friends and I were because our access to birth control was up in the air. We were hoarding BC and EC in case we needed to share it out later and that was just bonkers. And now Congress is straight up coming for Roe v Wade and that's even scarier.

As far as the shows goes, I thought the first season was solid and I think the horrifying bits were earned. (It's also gorgeously shot, which is kind of unexpected.) The second season edged into torture porn for me and it was too hard to watch the actual news and this possible version of our timeline, so I called it quits. I haven't read her new book either. What did folks think of that?

I read the Handmaid's Tale in college as required reading and recall (although many years ago!) being at once repelled by the concepts but unable to stop reading. I remember being a little disappointed at the end of the book, since it was left open ended. This is where I really enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu..seasons 2 and 3 carry forward Offred/June's journey in a gorgeous but disturbing way. I zoomed through Season one voraciously and enjoyed the next two seasons and the speculation on what June's ongoing journey would be like...but find myself a little impatient with lack of real resolution. I am still a fan of the show and do recommend it. I also just started The Testaments. I am not far enough in to know much but Margaret Atwood's simple and elegant prose has been hooked in again so far!

The Handmaid's Tale
I felt this book was an easy read. Sometimes it feels like with some of these books that are "required reading" from school they can be tedious to get through. This was not my feeling at all. The story was very engaging and made me curious about the television series. I can't believe Margaret Atwood took about a 35 year to 40 year hiatus to write the sequel to this book since the ending is what it is. She did a great job creating such an oppressive world not only for women, but for all humans. I'm looking forward to The Testaments for February to hopefully learn more why the world ended up this way...maybe I'll get these answers from the television series?

I think people that watch the show are bound to be disappointed by the book. The tv show is so good at fleshing out all the different characters and the backstory to Gilead.