The Handmaid's Tale
Special Edition
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The Handmaid's Tale
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Narrated by:
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Claire Danes
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Ray Porter
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Margaret Atwood
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Tim Gerard Reynolds
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full cast
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Written by:
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Margaret Atwood
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Valerie Martin - essay
About this listen
"Are there any questions?" The final line in Margaret Atwood's modern classic, The Handmaid's Tale, has teased and perplexed fans since the book's original release more than 30 years ago. Now, in this Audible Original production, listeners get some of the answers they've waited so long to hear.
Featuring an all-new interview with Professor Piexoto, written by Atwood and performed by a full cast, The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition is a must-listen for both fans and newcomers alike. Emmy Award winner Claire Danes (Homeland, Temple Grandin) gives a stirring performance of this classic in speculative fiction, where the message (and the warning) is now more timely than ever. In addition to rich sound design that honors the audio origins of Atwood's classic, the special edition also includes a brand-new afterword from the author and an essay written by author Valerie Martin (Mary Reilly, Property).
After a violent coup in the United States overthrows the Constitution and ushers in a new government regime, the Republic of Gilead imposes subservient roles on all women. Offred, now a Handmaid tasked with the singular role of procreation in the childless household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost everything, even her own name. Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life for mere glimpses of her former freedom, and records her story for future listeners.
Whether you're a fan of the original novel or someone who has recently discovered it, The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition will shock, impress, and satisfy all those who listen.
©1985 O.W. Toad, Ltd. First American Edition 1986. Published by special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. (P)2017 Audible, Inc.
Editorial Review
Margaret Atwood’s most famous science-fiction novel has been a treasure of Canada for decades but has seen a resurgence of popularity in more recent years. Its themes have continued to stay relevant over the years - in large part due to the Emmy award-winning tv series (on primetime and Hulu).
Though the Canadian author Margaret Atwood has a distinctly Canadian voice, this New York Times bestseller and Booker Prize-winning dystopian fiction addresses universal issues of autonomy, feminism, the rights of fertile women - and females more generally - and the power and suppression of government. Set in a totalitarian theocracy of the near-future New England Puritanism with sci-fi elements, the issues have become more and more relevant to modern-day life, where femininity and the right to bear children - or not - are constantly under attack. These themes and tropes of women’s rights, jezebels fundamentalists and unwomen will connect with you on a very real level, making the harrowing totalitarian republic of Gilead and its colonies, although surreal, feel far more plausible than ever before.
The award-winning actress and season professional Claire Danes narrated this audiobook adaptation of the dystopian novel. Her bold style and dynamic voice are the perfect match for this story, and she gives a stunning performance alongside a full cast of voice actors. Each character - from lead Offred to the Commander, Janine, Serena Joy, Aunt Lydia, Moira, and the rest come to life, bringing you a true sense of a complete and startling world into which you can sink. This classic story of dystopia is powerful, moving, and full of harsh warnings and is a must-listen for those hearing it for the first time. Similarly, as a special edition, there are several never before heard features for fans of the work to uncover. If you love this audiobook, you may also enjoy The Testaments sequel. Add both to your Audible wish list today.
Featured Article: Outstanding Female Authors Everyone Ought to Listen to
Throughout history, women have crafted some of the most incredible and beloved stories in the world. From rising stars to household names, female authors have contributed some of the best works of all time for our listening pleasure. At times, especially in societies where gender roles and expectations were rigidly defined, women would write under pen names to avoid the fact that a woman was behind the work. Discover the best female authors.
What listeners say about The Handmaid's Tale
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Makayla
- 2018-07-31
Great Book!!!
The music is amazing and the woman reading it is just fantastic in my opinion
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- When are DT coming to Vancouver?
- 2019-08-22
great story very well read
A great story very well read. Really enjoyed Claire Danes. Ms Atwood always makes one think. Love it
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kiki H
- 2019-09-07
Powerful & Chilling
I had to read “A Handmaid’s Tale” in high school at age 18 and read the book again by choice in my thirties. Now almost 50, I decided to listen to it as audiobook and I am so glad I did. Each reading I’ve appreciated the book so much more. Claire Daines did an absolutely wonderful job narrating the book. I was surprised to see the additional sections at the end. I very much enjoyed listening to Margaret Atwood’s answers to questions she’d been asked over the years. I am currently watching the tv version so I wanted to go back and refresh myself on the source material as I anxiously await Margaret Atwood’s new audible book coming out “The Testaments”. I will definitely listen to “The Testaments” on Audible because I enjoyed listening to “The Handmaid’s Tale” so much this way. I highly recommend this very timely book!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- NOV.BABY
- 2018-09-21
As they say..
As they say..the book is always better than the movie. Well in this case it's the book is better than the TV show.
Atwood has a knack for transporting you to a different reality. A truly absorbing book, you'll find it hard to stop listening.
#Audible1
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hannah C.
- 2020-10-05
Perfect reading of a sadly, timeless tale
Claire Danes provides the perfect voice for Offred. And the added commentaries were very insightful. A must read/listen.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cara-Leigh
- 2021-07-09
This story takes hold of you, and won’t let go!
The story is so shocking, so disturbing, so fascinating, that it sucks you in and doesn’t let you go. The narration, in general, was phenomenal and really helped to draw you into the story. The biggest drawback is Margaret Atwood‘s narration. And some of the excessively-described scenes. But her narration was shockingly bad! LOL She sounded like a corpse attempting to speak. But, her story mesmerizes you so much that her narration is forgivable, albeit extremely distracting and obnoxious. I would highly recommend this book. It will stay with you, long after the story ends.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2020-11-06
I was ambivalent
I don’t regret it at all. This book is engaging and Claire Danes does such an amazing job. I highly recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-11-09
Ouch!
As a teenager and lover of novels and the tales they told, I fancied myself somewhat of a wordsmith. My essays received A+’s and my English papers and book reviews were the teachers’ pets of prose. I happened upon Hardy’s Tess of the D’urbervilles and read greedily as he described the maid, Tess, working in the fields. The line which slayed me was, ‘she was a mere vessel of emotion untinctured by experience.’ Hardy so perfectly said what he meant that I was embarrassed to even consider myself a writer of any ability. I set the novel down and sheepishly picked it up a decade later to see if I could read through the stardust that was Hardy’s gift.
Attwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale eloquently and blatantly shares her command of the English language and its grit and glam. Were I a teenaged boy when I began to read it, I would have tripped over the same Hardy ‘boy’ and walked away…minimized by its exultant command. I am humbled by Attwood’s adroit and adept storytelling and her view into the soul of humanity.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-05-12
Masterful Storytelling
Timeless, compelling, heartbreaking story. So beautifully written. Incredible performance by Claire Danes. Can’t recommend highly enough. You will want to listen again and again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- LB
- 2018-09-14
The way this was meant to be read
I have been wanting to read this book for about 2 decades. Seriously, since I was about 15/16 when people I knew were assigned it in high school English classes. See, being Canadian, getting assigned a Margaret Atwood novel in high school English, at least when I was growing up, was somewhat mandatory, but our teachers had a choice of which one they assigned us. Most people I knew were assigned either Alias Grace, The Handmaid's Tale or Cat's Eye. All of which I had heard of before, my class, however, got assigned one I had never heard of: The Robber Bride. It was interesting and engaging, especially being set in Toronto, which is where I went to high school. But we were teenagers and the main character were all middle-aged women, so it wasn't a book I could relate to at the time. Plus it wasn't my usual genre, it was contemporary fiction, which isn't something I often select by choice. So those two things combined to put me mentally off Margaret Atwood for a few decades. Even though I liked it I wasn't sure I wanted to read more of her.
But my mind had always kept coming back to her stuff, specifically The Handmaid's Tale. So last year I saw that the library I work at had one copy that was in, so I snagged it and brought it home where it has been sitting on a shelf for about the last six month. I flipped through the first few pages, wasn't sure about the style of the writing, and set it aside again. But after reading, and loving, The Penelopiad and Angel Catbird v.1 I started thinking about it again. Then the hype for the new Hulu tv adaptation really started in earnest and I couldn't stop thinking about it. And then I heard about the Claire Danes narrated audiobook and decided that since I like Claire Danes - I may as well try listening to the book instead of reading the physical copy. So I used my April audible credit to get it.
I am SO glad that I made the decision to read this book in the audiobook format - especially this particular edition of it. Once I started listening, I kind of had a hard time stopping, which is why I listening to the entire thing in one day. Caveat, when I listen to audiobooks I listen to them at 2x-2.5x speed (in this case 2x) because I find the narration way too slow at anything less. In the case of this book, I actually think listening to it at double speed really added another layer of complexity to the story. It's revealed in the historical notes section at the end of the novel that the story came to light in the form of tape recordings found in a chest after the fall of Gilead. To me then, listening to the story, and listing to it at the furtive almost frantic double speed, makes it feel authentic in that context.
This book is terrifying - especially now, in 2017 after the election of Trump. It's terrifying because it's so eerily possible like things that happen in this book are actually happening in the States right now and that's heartbreaking. That's one of the aspects of dystopian fiction that has always fascinated me, seeing what parts of the dystopia I can see in the world around me. But The Handmaid's Tale is almost too on the nose which is what makes it scary. But also what makes it an amazingly good novel. The new Afterword by Margaret Atwood that is included with this edition does a much better job of talking about that than I could. She discusses the context in which she wrote the book compared to now, and why the book is so timeless, but so incredibly relevant and important right now.
Originally posted here: http://twobirds1blog.blogspot.com/2017/05/review-handmaids-tale-audible-original.html
Re-posted in honour of #Audible1
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