The Handmaid's Tale UK C4

[App1eCakes]

Couldn't find a thread about this already. I read a review of this in the Guardian today and saw it will be on TV on C4 on Sunday.

I'm really looking forward to watching it even though the book is so disturbing. And the reviews of the show have been very positive so far. Anyone else?

No spoilers please for anyone with fancy shmancy access to US episodes (even if we know what's happening 'cause we've read the book...)

I'm a little conflicted about what thread I should post on so I will copy and paste this.

It's very true to the book so far (the film was a little flimsy on the details). There are truly horrific things yet to come. This series is not a quiet stroll to the shops for oranges.

I still feel the utter fear I got when reading this as a young 20s woman. And I'm now in my fifties and probably a 'Martha'.

Great strong production and the acting is A*.

Oh yeh just seen that. DH couldnt believe how awful that scene was which it was it but I said it was similar to stonings in other countries. It's all based on stuff that actually happens isn't it.

I thought it was very good, harrowing but good, looking forward to next week, I've just seen there are two threads should we all just merge on one thread, even though I've read the book I don't want spoilers from people who have already watched it, bloody good acting by the way from the cast

Three threads now

Yes to no spoilers. I'm not expecting a happy ending but I've not read the book although had some idea of the storyline

Excellent wasn't it.

It was excellent. I don't watch telly usually because I get bored, but this was gripping.

I tried reading this when I was 20 but found it too hard to get used to the language so I was really looking forward to this. I can't stop thinking about it - so hard to watch and gripping at the same time. The thought that the pill and abortions could evolve to making women largely infertile isn't too far from the realms of possibility in my mind.
I know it's early days - but how are they going to keep the handmaids going? They are breeding for the rich but surely they need to breed handmaids too for future generations? Is this covered and I'm jumping the gun?

Read the book as part of my A Levels many moons ago and loved it. Really enjoyed 90% of the new series, brilliant acting, however felt cheated at the Particicution scene. To me that was a major interaction in the book between Ofred and Ofglen and one that stuck with me. Seems to have been lost in translation somewhere...

I've watched up to episode 6 so no spoilers from me either!
I just think it's both brutal and beautiful. The casting is spot on, the way they flesh out the story to cover so many episodes is almost perfect.

Quick question re the the book if people don't mind: is 11 too young for the book? I'm minded to let her read it given the books she's most interested in - she's a huge Jaqueline Wilson fan and is drawn to rather gothic, bittersweet stories with a feminist outlook. No chance of her being allowed to watch the series right now though!

Definitely too young at 11, imo. I read it at 14, iirc, and it was a bit much even at that age.

I binged the first 3 last night and I'll watch the rest available tonight and tomorrow (not in the UK). I think it's brilliantly done. The acting is superb and the look of it is just slightly off - enough to look realistic and almost contemporary, just wrong slightly. The use of music gives the same impression, I think.

One thing I thought I didn't like, but which has totally grown on me: in the book, it seemed to me that everyone was so much more isolated - they barely spoke to one another. Seems to me right from the start in this adaptation, that they do try to communicate, albeit in a guarded and suspicious way. In fact, I've come to think this is much more realistic and believable. I think TV Offred is much more real to me, whereas book Offred is almost a cipher (this is echoed by the way the book is framed, which I won't spoil for non-book readers, and may not be relevant anyway).

I'm also loving the additional context, as a PP said - understanding how they got here step by step just reinforces the creeping horror of it.

I was in my 20s I think the first time I read the book, and re-read it recently in my mid-40s, with two daughters of my own. God, but it's a hugely different experience now!

No 11 is way too young.

Quick question re the the book if people don't mind: is 11 too young for the book?

Yes, 11 is way too young to read the book.

Loved the first episode last night, it was brilliantly done. Read the book for A Level and absolutely loved it.

I know it's early days - but how are they going to keep the handmaids going? They are breeding for the rich but surely they need to breed handmaids too for future generations?

That hadn't dawned on me when I read the book, but DS1 is reading it for A-level and asked exactly the same question. If the adopted daughters of the high-status families turn out to be fertile, then presumably they would be allowed to procreate in the traditional way, providing that they hadn't fallen foul of the complicated moral code of Gilead.

Apparently Margaret Atwood had a cameo role in last night's episode. In the scene with the girl's in a circle, being made to tell Janine that her rape was her fault, MA was the Au t who walloped Offred round the head to make her join in.

I have been trying to work out how far ahead the story is set. The flashback scenes look pretty contemporary - nothing particularly futuristic - but I don't think it took many years for the rise of Gilead to happen - just going by the houses and the cars, which don't look much different to today. I'm thinking maybe 5 years, not much more?

Would it ruin it if I were to start reading the book now? Really want too.

No Ineed it wouldn't ruin it for you. This is a novel that needs to be read. You won't regret it.

I would love it if they had the Martha's story line in it. Which would be stretching out the book, it's alluded to but not expanded.

It's Offred's tale, her story, seen from her perspective, especially in the book, but this series can expand to other characters.

It was excellent wasn't it. The only thing that spoiled it for me were all the bloody advert breaks (almost every 5 minutes at one stage!) so I've found them online to stream instead. Just binge watched up to episode 8. Cripping stuff, and as others have said, sinister when you consider how much religion is linked to government in the USA and they way things are going.

Oops I didn't realise there were two threads. I just watched episode one and enjoyed it greatly, it's many years since I read the book though

Sorry if there's another active thread!

Is the commander not supposed to be older? I always pictured him and his wife as in their 60s/70s