Sehr hilfreich, 31. Oktober 2001

Die Cliff notes bieten eine gute Lernhilfe und helfen beim Verständnis des nicht ganz einfach zu lesenden Buches. Wer also eine kleine Verständishilfe benötigt, kann die Cliff notes sicher gut gebrauchen. Mir haben sie sehr geholfen.

       This book was chilling, changing, incredible., 7. November 1999

I have never read a more accurate book of fiction before. I haven't thought about the personal rights that I enjoy, until I read the Handmaid's Tale. It is a story of rebellion and it is about the will to live. It is about finding the means to survive emotionally. It is about sex, but not kinky sex. It is about the neccesity for love. I loved this book, and I hope that someday, every high school senior has a chance to read this book before they graduate.

       A concept of our society, framed in the future, 29. September 1999

A fantastic piece of poetic prose which captures not only the horrors of a future society but also those of our own. Atwoods ability to cinematically describe events in such detail, allow vivid pictures of both characters and settings to form in our minds as we imaginatively read the text, and although often obscure Offred's perspective is made truely believable as a result of her lack of stimulants, and censored life. Although on first inspection this book appears to portray a depressing glimpse into a bleak future, on closer inspection we also see how it is a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit in adversity.This satirical account provides a moral messsage that we could all learn from, appreciate the freedom which we have at the present and never abbuse it.

       I love this truly frightening book, 31. August 1999

Just finished it for the second time. Read it around the time it first published also. Appreciated it more this time especially since the Republican Party has been taken over by right wing zealots.

As for readers who are bothered by the fact that there is no closure to the story, that we don't know the heroine's ultimate fate remember the title of the book is THE HANDMAID'S TALE. Once Offred ceases to be a handmaiden there is no more to her tale. She creates a new life for herself. She's no longer a handmaiden but she also can't go back to the life she had before that. She is now a new person. The reader is no longer privy to her life. Since the book is written in first person, we know that Offred has changed the names of most of the characters in her story. This is to protect herself. She wants to leave an account of what happened but she does not want to become a martyr.

      Thoughtful premises followed by an unsatisfactory ending, 30. August 1999

While the Orwellian concept of a government controlled society is initially intriguing, the character development is sluggish, and many of the terms used in the book are inadequately defined.