Book · 1985
The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
A handmaid is assigned to breed for a fertility-collapsed theocracy and starts plotting her way out.
What does Reddit think of The Handmaid's Tale?
568 mentions over seven years, split unevenly. r/suggestmeabook leads with 280, mostly the reflex pick in dystopia-recommendation threads next to 1984 and Brave New World. r/printSF holds 262, and that thread runs different: a running argument about genre snobbery, with commenters pointing to Atwood's own refusal to call her books science fiction. r/Fantasy chips in 24, usually citing the novel as proof that dystopian fiction tracks real politics. Nobody argues the book is bad. The fight is over which shelf it belongs on. One suggestmeabook commenter shrinks Atwood's whole career down to it: 'Most people I talk to only know Atwood because of handmaids tale.' Sentiment holds flat and steady across all four subs. 474 separate commenters, 568 mentions, largely the same handful of points repeated.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Reproductive control as totalitarian machinery
- · The genre-snobbery fight over whether SF counts as literature
- · Real-world political drift mirrored in fiction
- · Dystopia-recommendation staple alongside 1984 and Brave New World
- · Atwood's reputation collapsed into a single title
Common praise
- + r/suggestmeabook commenters reach for it in the same breath as 1984 and Brave New World whenever someone asks for dystopia recommendations.
- + The r/Fantasy thread ties its politics to real history, arguing the rise of political Christianity since the late 1970s makes the premise track rather than invent.
- + One suggestmeabook commenter uses it as the sole landmark for Atwood's whole bibliography, saying people only know her 'because of handmaids tale.'
Common criticism
- − r/printSF frames Atwood's refusal to claim the science-fiction label as genre snobbery, resentment aimed at the book getting literary cover other SF doesn't.
- − The pick shows up so often as the reflex answer in suggestmeabook threads that some mentions read like autopilot rather than argument.
- − None of the sampled quotes actually unpack the prose or plot; the citations name-check the title and move on.
Who it's for
Pick this up if you want the dystopia comparison everyone else in the thread already uses: suggestmeabook regulars pair it with 1984 and Brave New World for a reason. If genre arguments interest you more than plot, follow r/printSF's fight over whether Atwood counts as science fiction. Already worked through Oryx and Crake and wondering where else to go with Atwood? This is apparently the one title casual readers actually know. If you've already covered the standard dystopia shelf, nothing in these threads suggests it goes further than 1984 already did.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Handmaid's Tale?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“I'd say its different based on the medium. Fantasy *books* are still fairly niche because not everyone reads. But fantasy *shows and films* are not and haven't been since the early 2000's when Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter were adapted for the big screen. Since then we've obviously had GOT an…
“I also believe you would enjoy Brave New World and 1984! Another good book is The handmaid's tale!
“Sci-Fi/Fantasy picks. A lot of popular YA fiction tends to follow the "young girl who becomes the hero" plot line, but try these lesser known books: *The Traitor Baru Cormorant* is about a young girl who works her way up political ladders from the bottom to create change within the political syste…
“This question gets asked here multiple times a week and the problem is that what is scary to one person isn't to the next, not to mention there are different types of horror. Based on what possibly scares YOU here are some suggestions. **End of the World** *The Gone World* by Tom Sweterlitsch - A…
“Fairly sure all of these are "one and done" however it's possible a couple have snuck sequels out on me. If that's the case though, at least they all FEEL like they are one and done! *Piranesi* is a quick read. About a man who lives in a mysterious house/castle. The house is just as much of a char…
“That's the most recent big one, I think. It's a fantastic example of genre snobbery, where a more "literary" author wants to play with SF ideas but doesn't want to be labeled explicitly as SF because they think that means rayguns and rubber aliens. Earlier examples included Margaret Atwood not want…
“Oryx and crake. Most people I talk to only know Atwood because of handmaids tale.
“Other people in the thread are noting that reality is the source. I just want to add on that the works you mention since the 1980s are probably in part influenced by the rise of right-leaning political Christianity beginning in the late 1970s in the United States as well as the growth of political I…
Convinced? Pick up The Handmaid's Tale
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with The Handmaid's Tale — counted from the comments, not curated.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell
A minor bureaucrat rewrites history for a living until the Party decides his private thoughts are the real problem.
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
In a future where babies are grown in bottles and unhappiness gets treated with a pill, one man refuses to take his soma.
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
A father and son push a cart of scavenged supplies across a burned-out America, repeating that they're "the good guys" long after anyone else stopped believing it.
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel
A pandemic collapses civilization and a traveling troupe keeps performing Shakespeare in the wreckage twenty years later.
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Three friends raised at an English boarding school slowly learn what their lives are actually for.
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
A fireman whose job is burning books starts wondering what's actually in the ones he's paid to destroy.
The Handmaid's Tale — frequently asked
Is The Handmaid's Tale still worth reading in 2026?+
Yes. It's pulled 568 mentions across r/suggestmeabook, r/printSF, and r/Fantasy over seven years, and the volume hasn't faded: 2025 matched 2019's total of 90 mentions. It's the default answer whenever someone asks for dystopia recommendations, grouped automatically with 1984 and Brave New World in one 239-upvote suggestmeabook thread. Interest didn't spike once and die; it dipped to 66 in 2023 and climbed right back.
What does Reddit think of The Handmaid's Tale?+
Reception reads flat and consistent across every tracked sub. Nobody in the sampled threads argues the book doesn't deserve its reputation. The actual argument is about classification: r/printSF's top quote (↑165) calls out Atwood's refusal to claim the science-fiction label as 'genre snobbery,' which is the closest thing to a fight across 568 mentions and 474 commenters.
Is The Handmaid's Tale just a suggestmeabook default pick, or does anyone actually discuss it?+
Both. r/suggestmeabook accounts for 280 of the 568 mentions, mostly as the reflex answer next to 1984 and Brave New World. But r/printSF (262 mentions) and r/Fantasy (24 mentions) go further: one r/Fantasy comment (↑97) ties the book's premise directly to the real rise of political Christianity in the U.S. since the late 1970s, and r/printSF's top quote turns it into a case study in genre snobbery.
Should I read The Handmaid's Tale before or after 1984?+
Order doesn't seem to matter to Reddit. The two show up together constantly — one 239-upvote suggestmeabook thread recommends both in the same breath alongside Brave New World, with no commenter arguing for a specific sequence. If you care about the genre-classification argument more than reading order, start with r/printSF's discussion instead.