(For more on this, see 'Genre.')īut whether you think the distinction is necessary or arbitrary, The Handmaid's Tale is now considered standard-even required-reading, appreciated both by the public and critics. She calls it 'speculative' fiction instead, which has caused some problems with sci-fi fans. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction, and a nomination for the Booker Prize.īut while The Handmaid's Tale has gotten tons of praise as a work of science fiction, Atwood has claimed that this book is actually something else completely. The Handmaid's Tale won author Margaret Atwood some seriously major awards, including the 1986 Los Angeles Times Best Fiction Award, the 1987 Arthur C. In this future, nearly all the women have become infertile, so the few who can still have babies have been rounded up, brainwashed, and assigned to powerful men in a twisted attempt to restore the human race. After all, it takes place in a scary vision of a dystopian future, kind of like Brave New World, 1984, or even The Hunger Games. The Handmaid's Tale, a best-selling book first published in 1985, was marketed as a sci-fi horror story. It could also be classified as science-fiction-and was. Instead, this novel could be classified as terrifying, bleak, and cruel and unusual. Words like perky, saucy, and zany would never be used to describe the contents of Margaret Atwood's most famous work. It brings to mind cute intrigue, friendly gossip, and flirtatious banter, right? Or a zany romp where various servants compare the goings-on of their employers. Like it might be a saucy recounting of the life 'n' times of a French maid.

The title The Handmaid's Tale sounds kind of.

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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood