Margarat Atwood cleverly asks readers to question the future and the power that some people have over each other in her book "The Handmaids Tale". Offred, the main charector, left much to the imagination, and through-out the book I was forced to relate their circumstances to ours today. This book touched me, it is a very effective and painfull piece of writing.

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 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 the book. Don't cheat yourself out of reading the fantastic book by just reading the Cliff's Notes. But I do disagree with one point in the Notes. In the commentary on Chapter 19 it reads: "Note his words, uttered as if he were Jane, just prior to this point when he can no longer continue playacting: '. . . my harvest must be in smiles, in endearments, in sweet- . . ." I believe that if you read the book you'll agree that Rochester is talking of his 'harvest' of love from Jane, not talking as if he were Jane. He wants her to love him and he says that he's acted as he inwardly swore but farther might try him beyond his strength. Meaning that he pretended to be the fortune teller in order to learn how Jane felt about him and to hint to her that he wishes a less formal relationship with her, hinting at his growing love for Jane. The Notes are good though especially at translating the French which in some cases knowing what it means is crucial to the story. All in all it's a good summary but read the book.

This is an excelent book. I am not in high school...I am in 7th grade and I consider this to be one of the most beautifully written pieces of literature that I have ever read. I have read such pieces as A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectaions, and none seem to measure up to the descriptions of Jane Eyre.

I read Jane Eyre for a class assignment and research paper. After 32 years, this is the first book that I read in it's entirety. It was a bit slow at first. Once I got through the first few chapters it grabbed me. This is wonderfully written and has continued my interest in reading books.

Billy Budd is a short story in which it tells about the life of a young sailor. It mainly focuses upon the life onboard the Indomitable. It tells how he ticks and what makes him work. The words and usage of language describe the story as a college or older high school type of literature. It is very hard to understand at first, but after a few tries you will understand.

For [price], I expected more than this book delivers. The book presents nutshells that inadequately summarize various portions of scriptures from various faith traditions. While not identified to a specific book of scripture, most of this information is available far more cheaply and with greater depth from any of the world religion books on the market by authors Huston Smith, Ninian Smart, or Mircea Eliade or publishers Eerdmans, St. Martins, or Harper San Francisco. For the money charged here, the encyclopedia should visit major topics in the world's scriptures such as the state of human existence, salvation, or the character of the supreme and provide a summary annotated to each tradition's scripture. While the encyclopedia provides other information on sources, the same information is available more cheaply from Joel Beversuis's "Sourcebook of the World's Religions." Overall, I was greatly disappointed.

I purchased the ebook download and the adobe ereader shuts my computer down evertime I tried to download the ebook. I would suggest by the actual cliff notes and steer away from the ebook download. It might shut your computer down. Antoher problem is that I can not finish the download to even read the ebook AND there are no refunds.