The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

[gilda_elise]

Set in the near future, the book describes life in what once was the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead. Reacting to social unrest, and a sharply declining birthrate, the new regime has reverted to -- even gone beyond -- the repressive tolerance of the original Puritans. Offred is a Handmaid who may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant because she is only valued as long as her ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now.

Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.


Perhaps it’s because there have been so many dystopian novels written since this book was published, I wasn’t as taken as I thought I would be, considering all that I had read about this book. I found the story to be too disjointed, jumping from the present to the past with no indication of such. Often, more than one description is given of the same event, even though it’s the same character remembering it. And the ending is one I particularly dislike, one that leave you hanging, with no real resolution. Don’t tell me what might have happened, tell me what did happen.

It’s an easy read, which helped, and there were no ghouls or vampires in it, which was a welcome relief. Nowadays, they seem to be almost de rigueur in dystopian novels. At least Atwood was able to visualize our bringing down our civilization on our own.




Mount TBR 2016 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book, not to the review.

1. Alexander's Lovers
2. The Border
3. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
4. Green Darkness
5. The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone
6. Rise to Rebellion
7. Return to Sodom and Gomorrah
8. Through a Glass Darkly
9. Lisey's Story
10. The Man He Became
11. The Handmaid's Tale

Comments

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

I know it's an older tale, but why do such stories assume that men get the upper hand? They did historically, for a number of reasons. But not in all cultures, and not at all times in history.

I think I'd like to read a story where feminism got out of control. There already are feminist voices who are stridently anti-male and who vilify the 'Men Are Part of the Solution' thinking of, often younger, women. They police women's thinking for any sign of heresy. For daring to deviate from a supposed feminist ideal, they had no hand in constructing.

There's nothing new about men oppressing women, they already do, they already have. Why would educated, aspirational women allow such a world to come about? Women dealing with terribly repressive regimes all round the world today are fighting back. Why wouldn't we? Whose forbears gained those freedoms for us? Why wouldn't we continue to educate our daughters, to stand up against repression in a million everyday ways?

I don't think it's a book I'll be reading. It doesn't sound as if it has anything to say to me. I'll stick with reading about the real women of oppression, who fought and won, who are still fighting and winning, small victories every day.

Interesting to see what you'll read next :0)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

To be fair, educated aspirational women have allowed some pretty repressive regimes to come about - it's not quite as simply as saying no! Frighteningly, I think The Handmaid's Tale is as relevant as it was when it was written, because it's twenty years or so later, and it's still not impossible that this world, or a twist of it, could one day exist. It virtually does exist in some parts of the world, despite those women being just as intelligent and aspirational as we are here in the west. And I know far too many women over here who feel it's their duty to iron their husband's shirts still, when both have come back from a full day's work outside the house...

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Most of the women I know either a) carry the extra burden and resent it, or b) have a partner who does their fair share (although not necessarily the same tasks, sometimes it's a split). People still hook up with lousy partners, no accounting for human behaviour. But men who don't pull their own weight are considered a liability. You may or may not be stuck with it, but if you are, you're probably not happy about it. I know a number of couples who've split over the issue (or at least it's been a big part of the problem).

I know there are aspirational women fighting for rights I take for granted, but they're fighting history and building a future. Not the other way around. Maybe it's just the 'Puritan' angle. We slung them out once, I guess I just expect the same to happen again! We tend to expect what we got :0)

It is frightening to think my Grandmother was born without the right to vote and my Mother (despite being in work) couldn't take out a loan without her husband's signature. Both things I take for granted. Things have changed in my lifetime too. No one wolf whistles any more, cat calls from building sites are unheard of - as a young woman I used to find that a real gauntlet.

There's sexism aplenty, and the old battles are having to be fought along with the new in some of the immigrant cultures, but things are improving all the time. The next big step will be the internet. It can't be long before trolling becomes an offense. It is if you use any other communication medium. You couldn't say those things via 'phone or letter.

I think the case for equality is won, now we're just dealing with the battles of making it a living reality. And that includes some for male equality too.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I think it's still going to take some time. It's amazing the things the male establishment will do to keep things "right." The company I worked for had to open up all positions to women, even those that had at one time been considered "too hard" for a women to do. Thing is, once a position filled with women, the company would downgrade it. After all, if women could do the work, it couldn't be all that hard to do! I do wonder how much of that has changed.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I agree, especially after just seeing Suffragette. Women would fight, and, to be fair, some women in the book do just that. It's just that most of the book is set when their struggle hasn't paid off yet. But, given the state of things now, how so many younger women seem to not want to fight for the rights they have, I can't say that I can't see something like this happening at all. At least to a small segment of the population, which is what happens in the book.

Have you read Alph, by Charles Eric Maine? It's set in a future where there are no men, and how the reintroduction of one man after hundreds of years changes things. Maybe not quite what you're looking for, but interesting, nevertheless.

[catalenamara.livejournal.com]

Being raised in a fundamentalist culture, and being raised in the same county as Colorado City, I remember this book giving me absolute chills when I first read it. But that was when it first came out, and like so many other genres, dystopian novels often don't age well. Awhile back I tried to read one of those 1970s era post-apocalypse novels and was surprised to realize how dated it was - in a genre in which I hadn't expected the themes to be dated.

I have no idea how I'd respond to that novel now. But with groups with ideas like the Promise Keepers had still at the fringe of the culture, and with a relatively recent comment by a Silicon Valley bigwig about how women should never have been given the right to vote, it may well still be relevant.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I can't totally reject the idea, especially considering what's going on here on the Right. And it's amazing how many younger women aren't fighting to hold on to the gains that have been made. Their ways are insidious, but men have kept the deck mostly stacked against us.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I remember reading this way back when, shortly after it was published, I suppose, and thoroughly enjoying it. I've actually been meaning to re-read it as well, but I thought it was on my bookshelves and it isn't. I remember being very impressed by it, and worried, and all the other 1980s feelings that you had about the male/female situation back then. The most poignant thing, I think, is that it's probably as relevant today as it was back then - and we're twenty years further in the future...

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I had no argument about what she wrote, more, how she wrote it. I didn't care for her style of writing, but the idea is an intriguing and frightening one. Given the loss of reproductive rights in so many states, it's not a stretch to think that we could lose other rights in the future.

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

It's so long ago I read it I really can't recall much about it at all now - I do remember not liking it though, though I don't recall why. Possibly it was too gloomy a tale for me?

[hsv-fangirl.livejournal.com]

I read this long ago. It chilling, but a good read, different which I like. The movie was well done too.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I saw that there was a movie made. I may have to look into borrowing it from the library.

[hsv-fangirl.livejournal.com]

Natasha Richardson and Robert Duvall are in it. Fay Dunaway too. I liked it. :)

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

The library has it, so I'll be seeing it soon!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

It is that. I didn't have a problem with that (things aren't always going to go well with us,) but through most of the book there is almost a sense of hopelessness.

[bradygirl_12]

I've never read it but I got the impression it was sort of a response to the growing power of Christian fundamentalism in the '80s.

It aggravates mw when younger women claim they're not feminists but happily enjoy things like the vote or being able to take a loan out without a husband's or father's signature. Early in their marriage my mom made more than my dad when he was starting out but she still needed his signature on an application for a credit card!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

It does seem as if younger women have no idea how things were before. There's only six years between me and my older sister, yet our outlooks, and what we expected from life, were radically different because of the strides made in those few years. I guess having seen how it was, we're more likely to be able to envision being that way again.

[bradygirl_12]

Just look at women in other parts of the world and see how easy it is to get entire nations to go along with oppressing them.

[caffyolay.livejournal.com]

I thought this was utterly chilling when I read it a few years ago, and even more scary... all too plausible. I thought it was interesting how the woman in it accused her boyfriend of not *really* caring when it all started because, being male, he wouldn't be affected, and actually, secretly, quite liking the whole idea. To be honest, I think quite a few men secretly feel that way about keeping women as second class citizens, even now. And that's just the western world, we won't even start on the treatment of women in under-developed countries. It's a huge and complicated subject.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

You're probably right about a lot of men maybe secretly–or not so secretly–liking the idea of a keeping a woman "in her place." But I think it would be a hard thing to get over, culturally and evolution-wise. With most species, the size between males and females isn't so great, so I imagine there has to be a reason for that. Culturally, I think a lot of it is tied up with religion. As long as there was an Earth goddess, women were okay. Once men realized that they, too, had a part in reproduction, all bets were off. Earth goddesses disappeared, and god became a man. And then, of course, it was a woman who lost them Eden.

[tinny]

I have read that book.

I agree with you that it was too open and too disjointed and while it made me vaguely uneasy, it didn't really pack a lot of punch.

I find that most really famous old books of that kind are surprisingly short. Too short for me.

(p.s.: I ordered, received and finished August Ice. Really liked it, but that as well could have been a lot longer if it had been up to me. :D)

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with often being disappointed with famous old books, even ones that I read as a child or young adult and enjoyed. I'm almost afraid to reread Frankenstein, which I found amazing.

Oh, yes, August Ice could have most certainly been longer! *g*