Review: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

I don’t know where to start with this book. I initially got it because of Jenn Im who included this in her books to read video. She said that it was something I HAD to read.


I definitely have mixed feelings about this book. A part of me completely hates it and a part of me wishes I understood it a bit better. When I have moments like these, I go search Google for other people’s review about it. Here’s my fave one from Goodreads.

The Handmaid’s Tale is told in first person by a woman who’s lived in our present day (more or less), as well as in this dark fundamentalist Tomorrowland. She’s gone from wearing flip-flops and sundresses to a full-body religious habit, color-coded red to match her subservient role. She was married once, had a child. Now she’s another’s property, one of the handmaids sent from one man’s house to another. The hope is that she will become pregnant when a prominent man’s wife cannot. Her life has been flipped and made forfeit. She lives in fear and depression and abuse. This is meant to make me unnerved, and it does.

There’s a question I have that never gets answered, not properly at least. How did this happen so quickly? How did we go from “burning bras” to having every part of our lives regulated? Why did it take Massachusetts decades, centuries, to reject puritanism, but only a few years(?) to reject liberalism?

Rights can erode, but you don’t see it happen on such a large scale and so seamlessly, and not overnight. Nothing happens overnight, especially not governmental takeovers in relatively stable, secular societies, which is the book’s scenario. –Goodreads

When reading books, I really appreciate reading a solid and well-established backstory Every time I read a book that lacks that, I’m instantly on the fence about it. This is exactly what happened to me.

We are thrown into a world where women aren’t valued. They are given roles – some are respectable while some are downright messed up. This kind of world seems possible however it wasn’t clearly explained how this was happened and how it happened all too fast. It’s like someone said this should be the new norm and people just accepted it. It felt lacking – I couldn’t connect with it even if I tried.

I always give books (and series) a chance even if I feel like I can’t connect with it. I did set aside my questions and tried to get absorbed by the book. It did. I felt the sadness, fear, anxiety, and hopelessness of the protagonist. Somewhere along the way, however, she lost me. It was beginning to be quite the ride but then she surrendered to her sexuality and desires and then she lost me. There she was living as a handmaid, the worst way to live in this dystopian novel and she forgot everything once she finally had consensual sex. She was willing to adjust just because she found a little solace.

the handmaids tale1

While reading the reviews and trying to understand this book. The word feminism always came up. I think what transpired in this book is every feminist’s worst nightmare. Scratch that, I think it is every woman’s nightmare. No woman should be allowed to be labeled and treated as a possession rather than an actual human being. However, if this were to happen in real life, it shouldn’t only be a woman’s fight. Every person should stand up and fight for this kind of injustice. Should men also just be reduced to sperm donors, guards, or chauffeurs? I think the word feminism was thrown around hastily when analyzing this book. This dystopia doesn’t just demean women, it demeaned everyone.

Let me warn you, the book is open-ended. I hate these types of endings as it doesn’t give me a proper ending. It leaves the reader (or viewer) to decide what kind of ending they choose to have. And as predicted, I hated that it ended this way. I kept on flipping the pages hoping to read more but I didn’t get that. I was just left there wanting to read about how the protagonist died instead of leaving me hanging there and wanting more. I wanted closure.

the handmaids tale2

Overall, I’m at a loss for this book. I would want to read it again and hopefully then find more meaning in it. I find this book a little too much for me (I guess dystopian books aren’t my thing) and have found zero joy in reading it. There are some good lines taken from the book but as a whole, I just couldn’t relate to it. It doesn’t empower me nor does it teach me anything. If anything, it shows me a possibility – one I believe humans aren’t going to succumb to anytime soon. We are better than that, right?

Published by K

To keep it short and simple: I'm thirty years old. Still plenty young, but not as young as I used to be.

18 thoughts on “Review: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

    1. Sige push mo tapos basahin yung review ng isa’t isa after! Hahaha gusto ko din malaman ano naiisip mo (at ng iba pa) tungkol dito


    1. Try ko panuorin yan, Kate. Pero what’d you think about it? Please provide an essay hahaha! I want to understand it kasi pero parang lahat ng naiisip ko very meeehh siya for me.


  1. As a semi-feminist (still working on it hahahaha), I think I would hate this book. But since you recommended it, I’d give it a shot (I actually already have it in my library :p). Jusko, baka mabato ko phone ko while reading this. Hahaha

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hahahaha (I also want to be a feminist but I’m working on it and trying to be more educated before labeling myself as one) I’d love for you to read it and then sabay tayong bato yung phone natin. OR maybe you can educate me on why it is one of the best books about feminism. Gusto ko lang din mabasa thoughts mo about this since I really like your reviews 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Before this month ends, sana matapos ko nang basahin to. Pag nasira/nabasag yung phone ko, Imma send you receipts para you can send me a refund ah??? :p

        Liked by 1 person

      2. De Kat, settled na yung agreement. Okay na ko sa iPhone 13. Thank you in advance pows. Hahahahahaha (hoy ang OA ng saya ko, feeling ko madadapa ako neto mamaya tas maiiyak ako sa sakit hahahaha shet)

        Liked by 1 person

      3. “Bigyan kita…” hanggang diiyan lang yung nabasa ko. Napapikit na ko after. Hahahaha. Ayan e. Pag ako nadapa talaga, sinasabi ko sayo, maiipit yung buhok mo sa UV tas di mo siya matatanggal until makababa ka. Hahahahaha

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Aw shet. Tapos yung dapa ko plakda. Nako, Maria Katrina Esperanza (pag ganitong usapan gusto ko full name so inimbentohan nalang kita ng pangalan hahaha) pag ako talaga nadapa, mabubuhol yung buhok mo nang malala tas no choice ka kundi magpagupit. 😂😈

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Bleeehhhh nasa bahay na ako di naman naipit hair ko sa van hahahahahaa lol. Have a great shift. If you’re reading this during your shift hahahaha (something I feel you’ll be doing)


  2. Hi Kat, natapos ko na din basahin after 48 years. Like you, I didn’t find joy reading it at gustong gusto ko na sana itigil ang pagbabasa dahil parang nakakadepress siya. Di ko nga alam kung gagawan ko siya ng review haha

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Buti di lang ako yung nakafeel ng ganito. Babasahin ko pa din yung review mo kahit na di mo siya type. Hahaha!!! Baka iba nafeel/naexperience mo habang binabasa kasi haha


  3. Really liked your review. I was wondering whether the open ending was a way to say to the readers « I won’t tell you how it ends because I want you to be worried and get out fighting for your rights?” Like I had the feeling that I actually didn’t want a proper ending. Maybe because the book is not only about the main character but is about our attitude towards the world and eventually I didn’t need to end that story. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Wow. That’s one way to look at it! I agree the book did make me reflect on the current situation and made me want more… It’s not just straightforward compared to the books I’m used to

      Liked by 1 person



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