The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel

ペーパーバック: 320ページ Anchor (1998/3/16) ISBN-10: 038549081X のレビュー 読む前にひとつ注意。カバーのあらすじ（のようなもの）は読まないこと。徐々に明らかになっていく事実をバラしているし、勝手な解釈が混じっている。 ブッカー賞候補になった作品であり、カナダを代表する現代作家、SF作家。詩や児童向けの作品もあるそうだ。 ブッカー賞をとるような作品には、非常に難渋なものと、英語自体は易しいものがあるようだが、この作品は中間ぐらいだろうか。すらすら読めるようで、詩的な表現やすぐに意味を取りにくい表現が随所に出てくる。 表現の難しさよりも、最初に気づくのが、語り手が現在形で話をすすめることだろう。その現在形の枠組みの中に、過去形で回想が挟まれる。 さらに、会話が直接話法で引用符なしで書かれている。これも、最初は戸惑った。現在のことかと思って読み進むと、回想シーンの会話文だったりして。 小説、とくにSFのテクニックとしては当然のことであるが、基本的な情報がなかなか明らかにされない。物語の場所と時代、語り手の年齢など、もう少し早めに開示してもよかったのでは。最後まで曖昧にされている部分もあり、最終章でなぜ隠されていたのかが読者に暗示される。もちろん、最終章で書かれていることが、客観的事実であるという保証はないけれども。 wizened, a susurration, shanghai, などめったに見ない単語が出てくるが、これも最終章で明らかにされることの結果だろうか？ 以上の文章構成や小説のテクニックは無視しても、精緻に構成されたディストピア物語として楽しめると思う。もちろん、あらゆる未来物にいえることだが、描かれる社会の構造が、ちょっとおかしい、かみ合わないと思われる部分もある。そうした矛盾点や撞着を楽しむのも、読書の楽しみだろう。 フェミニストの見方としては、当然、語り手さえも批判的に（加害者として）捉えるべきなのかもしれない。言っちゃ悪いけど、七〇年代フェミニズムを擁護する部分が鼻につくのは、わたしが男性だからでしょうか。（念のために言っておくが、語り手は、単純に擁護してはいない。） なお日本人が出てくるシーンがあるが、これは、精緻な物語のなかでは、ちょっと余計というか、意味が薄いと思うんですが、どうでしょうか。

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

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

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

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

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。

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。

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！

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

Great read, quite different to the tv show, really enjoyed

I had purchased this book quite some time ago when a friend of mine mention it to me... I had thoughts of Fifty Shades of Grey which I had purchased because another individual had liked it... Let me say right away that I read less than 50 pages of the latter and stopped reading. On the other hand, when in a discussion with a good friend, I was talking about the latest attempt to control women, looking to stop the use of an abortion pill that was been on the market for decades... At that point, she cried "OMG, The Handmaiden is Happening! After that conversation was over and I was home, I pulled up my copy of The Handmaid's Tale. It seemed like I was led to be reading it now... I knew immediately what my friend meant. At the end, I began to read the Historical Notes, but at first overlooked the date 2195... I went in search of what is referred to as the Gileadean Regime. Which was to have been the time during which a religious group had taken over America... Suddenly I had to agree. The Handmaid's Tale was now moving forward as had begun during the beginning of the decade... See my blog post for relevant videos I found... Women have been talking about this book since 2016, in particular! The main character is a young woman, much like my friend, who has a loving husband and a child. Soon, both of them have disappeared and she never sees them again. As we watch the woman, now given another name, she imagines what might have happened to her family. And she strives to remember the past, what was happening in her life and in the world... She is not allowed to have any contact with that world; she remembers though and hopes she will not lose those memories--of Luke, her husband and her child, a little girl... Once during the book, a picture of her daughter was shared by the wife of the man who now owned her... She wants a child enough that she is willing to bargain with his Handmaid... There are three handmaids for his man. We never know exactly who or what he does. It is irrelevant since they are closeted away and are only seen when sex is to occur. Both of the prospective parents are included in this charade... It is described in the book; it is terrible to visualize... And then after been raped by her owner a number of times, she arranges through his driver to have her visit him in his office. Interestingly, he asks her to play a board game... As time goes by, he introduces a magazine no longer in print, having been banned, and allows her to sit in the room to read it; he sits watching her... and they talk. He shares that he and his wife no longer talk to each other like they once did. He misses that. She now talks mostly with the wives of other owners, as they are permitted to interact only with them... It seems that every woman who is living at the time, has been given a job in their new locations... Marthas, for instance are the cooks, obviously named after the two sisters in the Bible, Martha being the one who quickly prepares a meal when Jesus visits... But there is little to do about religion in this world in which has been created... except what is important to ensure that women know their places... the reason seems to be close to what is being spouted now... white women are not now producing enough children... something had to be done... work was no longer possible. The women needed to be free to be available for those times when it was possible to get pregnant. Nothing else mattered. The entire book is centered into one household full of women--and one older man. Other men may work for the man as well; but the women all had specific tasks. And those who "believed" in what was happening were called Aunts; they were to train, supervise, and, if necessary, punish the handmaids. A cow prod was used. Soon the woman who has a new name is comfortable enough with the head of the house to have him ask her if she would like to have an adventure... She is taken to what we would call a brothel, she is dressed for the occasion from old, use, sex-oriented clothing that has been hidden away after all such activities were forbidden in the world... Only men of the Gilead Regime were members of the Club... And, yes, it was a sex club where the leaders of the group participated in their sexual interests--beyond what were performed with the Handmaids... Sound familiar? As you may already have realized, many of the things that were now forbidden for women in the book have already started occurring, based upon the move by a presidential candidate and his followers. There have been many women caught by the state congresses to stop abortions for religious reasons, it seems. I am one of the many Christians who do not accept that the Christian Nationalist Party has anything to do with God our Father... And, for me, Jesus His Son... If you have had any questions regarding this matter, I highly recommend you start reading...before it, too, is banned... The Handmaid's Tale spotlights exactly what will be happening to any woman if the party candidate (or his down-ballot candidates) are elected into office in 2024. In my opinion, there is no better way to see how religion as a single authority results in America going backward in progressive changes made during the last 100 years. Voting will be eliminated... All books of any kind will be removed... Women will be divided into groups, some of whom will be training young women to have unwelcomed sex with their new owner(s). Wives will be...tolerated...or ignored altogether... We have already seen that rape and incest are not to be factors in deciding about having an abortion. Indeed, no medical issues can affect the birth moving to completion, even if the new baby dies in the mother's arms soon thereafter. She will then be expected to begin again to provide a way to provide heirs for old men whose wives are past the age... This book prophesized it; we have not choice as women--we must speak out against it! I consider this a must-read for every woman, and man who will be left without a wife or forced to give up all children from their marriage... Margaret Atwood watched what was happening. She wrote a futuristic novel to illustrate what she foresaw... I, too, believe, "The Handmaid Tale is NOW Happening..." GABixlerReviews

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

One of the worst book I have ever read such a chore to read and not worth it at all