Reviews

• 30年前の作品とは思えない。

  30年前の作品とは思えないほど現代にも通じるものがあります。それほど女性の扱われ方はあまり変わっていないということなのでしょうか。 作者によると書かれている事例は作者の創作ではなく、歴史上行われてきた事を書いているそうです。確かにどこかで聞いたことのあるような事ばかり。そのせいかディストピア小説にありがちな陰鬱な読後感はありませんでした。 英語はとても読みやすく、ほとんど一気読み。 続編が出ているので気になります。

• Slightly damaged by the packaging

  I didn’t like that the packaging is not good that the book arrived slightly damaged.

• Arrived in great condition

  Arrived quickly, no scratches or bends or damage to the jacket. Looks to be printed correctly and no other problems with the binding etc.

• Awesome

  Book arrived in perfect condition and the story's great! Love the vintage collection and bookmark that comes with it ♡

• Handmaids Tale

  Scary stuff these days. It may have you looking over your shoulder.

• 遠い世界の話ではない、という怖さ

  ひたすらに静寂の中、独白によって話は進んでいきます。これほど音のしない小説も初めてかも。 荒唐無稽な設定の世界のように初めは感じるのだけれど、読んでいるうちに歴史上、世界中のあちらこちらで起こったことだ、と思い直します。 そして、ふと、自分の身にこれが起こらないと言う保証はどこにもないのかも、と言うことに気がついて寒々しい気持ちになります。 人間の優しさ、愛、思いやりという形にならない柔らかな感情が一切否定され、字を読むことも許されず(だから町のお店の看板も絵だけ)、はっきりと目に見えない恐怖と暴力で支配される世界。 裏表紙の書評の抜粋 Read it while it’s still allowed.-Houston Chronicle 本当に！

• 女性の置かれてきた立ち位置が極端な設定ではあるが説得ある野心作に仕上がっている。

  この作品を読んでいるときに、まさにアフガニスタンでタリバンが実行支配する情勢となった。女性の立場はまた暗黒時代に戻ってしまうのか。この作品は現実世界を映し出しているようだ。

• フィクションであり現実でもある。

  現実に起こっているおぞましい事実を上手くフィクション化している物語。 性犯罪に遭ったことにある方はフラッシュバックを起こす可能性があるので、積極的にお勧めは出来ないのだが、それでもこれはあまりにも描写が上手なので是非とも読んでほしい。

• Já tinha assistido à série homônima de TV e achei ótimo o livro.

• Un libro maravillosamente escrito por una de las grandes de la literatura contemporánea. Una fantástica historia distópica, perfectamente escrita, en primera persona que te sumerge de lleno en una sociedad donde las mujeres son meros objetos con distintos fines dependiendo de su clase social. Fanatismo religioso se mezcla con una dictadura militar, en un libro que amas y odias al mismo tiempo.

• Çok ilgili ve kibar bir satıcı :) Hediye kitap için çok teşekkür ederim :))

• It came impeccable.

• I will admit - Over the years, 'Handmaid' was one of those books everyone had told me just HAD to be read - but with the clear discomfort they'd show in saying that, I always thought - Nope; not for me. I'm just not one for the whole dystopian thing; I need to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Fast forward to last week - this book being required for my daughter's Eng Lit class, and sitting available while I was at loose ends in a Starbucks for several hours - I thought, Why not?... and how glad I am, that I had those few hours. Wow. I was gone, hook line and sinker, from the first page on. Handmaid is set in, yes, a dystopian future in which women's place in the world has been subverted, through various events which resonate awfully closely with current times. The story picks up at the moment when Offred (a concatenation of her "owner's" name and her position in this society) is assigned to a new home in a city in America, for reasons that become all too clear within a few short pages. Her experiences within this new environment, interwoven with her recollection of her past before this societal apocalypse, unveil themselves like the layers of an onion - a never-ending interweaving of recollections and current experiences which, in their close parallels with so much that seems to be happening in our current world, make it not just an uncomfortable read, as so many other reviewers have said; but an eerily prescient one for these times. I could go on about that aspect of what makes this such a valuable read for any person over the age of 10 years old, but I'm quite sure many of the 1,000 + prior reviewers will have spoken to that far more effectively than I ever could. But for me, what makes this book so great is the Voice that the protagonist gains as she struggles in such a harsh, unforgiving, and shockingly cruel environment - the brutal honesty with which that voice speaks to the horrors and impossible personal choices that any of us would have to make, faced with such a savagely misogynistic society. There is no turning away from those realities in this book; Offred is, clearly, no better than any of us; but, she is, perhaps, more honest about her choices than any of us would ever manage to be. She has no roads but dead ends; no feelings but pain, isolation, and tragic loss; in a society which both reviles her and yet absolutely, completely, stunningly, needs her. And yet. There is compassion - much compassion - in this book not just for Offred but for each of her persecutors; and a perfectly clear view, of each person in Offred's life, from the patriarchy which dictates every aspect of the lives of the Americans; to the women with whom she is forced to share the household; to the man who runs their lives - and in theory owns Offred, body and soul. Margaret Atwood has managed to capture the complete horror of this situation and yet the complete spectrum of needs and innate humanness - warts and all - of each of the players in this world, speaking with true sight not only about what they each do, but the real WHY of it, like a series of ornate but utterly constrained chess pieces moved about in a deadly game by unseen hands. Atwood's brilliance with the written word, the layers of meaning she assigns to so many individual words, is a both a challenge and a complete delight, no matter how difficult the topics she makes us consider. Each page is like unwrapping a gift of many layers of brightly colored paper, never knowing what you will ultimately find inside: something to treasure, or something to fear. Offred's voice and her observations of self, other, and society are so clear and beautiful, so bleak, sad and yet hopeful - so compelling - in making us see these people. There are many phrases and visions Atwood has generated that will stay with me, now, for life. I cannot say I am in all cases glad of that - but I know i am richer for it. And in reading many of the current, more negative responses of the Amazon reading community, I cannot help but wonder if their dislike of the book is in many cases driven precisely from Atwood's artistry with words. She holds up not a picture for us to view, but a mirror to reflect realities that in many cases no one in their right mind would want to see - they are far too close, too personal, too true. And yet - we MUST look. I do not see, as some others do, a depressing endgame in this book; quite the opposite. Offred's determination to survive no matter what the cost and her slow but relentless growth to her own form of power and eventual rebellion, is not so much a story as a roadmap. We could all do well by, like Offred, looking with clear eyes at this dystopian imagining. If, at the end of the day, this book leaves you uncomfortable or depressed or angry - good, if at the same time it also manages to leave you unsettled. Atwood's intent was never to entertain you but to inform you - and that, she does with a master's deft hand. Three days and counting. What will we learn in Atwood's new book? I look forward, with a perfectly uncomfortable blend of anticipation and anxiety, dread and hope, to the answer to that question.

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