The Handmaids tale

[DumbledoresArmy]

Anyone else planning on watching this at 9pm on channel 4?

I'm wondering how the other 8 episodes pan out and as there's supposed to be a happy ending this will differ from the book... Yes I said it again "the book!"

I don't mind deviations from or even additions to the novel from books, they can work quite well, entirely up to the adaptors, Atwood etc.

I just sort of wish there was maybe some warning, is that the right word?

but I am not sure if it would be right to know all the details, because they weren't allowed to read, news was probably very fake and so on - this is the Handmaid's Tale, not the Wife's Tale or the Commander's Tale, nor anyone else's tale, so we shouldn't know more than she does.

I see what you mean, and that's certainly how it was in the book, but I think we'll get more info in the TV series because I think they're going to show things from other points of view as well. Also there's a second season been commissioned, so unless they stretch out June's story, theyr'e going to have to continue with the other people.

redred it'll be interesting to see how it's elaborated on, maybe Atwood will write a sequel.

I think they'll have to keep June for the second series because Elisabeth Moss is so good and so central. If she wasn't in it there would be constant negative comparisons to the first.
It would be pretty easy to continue her story and because she's lost more than one person important to her, they could easily give her a partial resolution at the end of this series and still leave her with needs to fulfil in the second.

Ooo, I think I read somewhere that she might be writing a sequel! That would be amazing.

Hints about season 2

I imagine the second series might expand on the content of the epilogue, which gave vague hints at June's later life afair.

Warning: link above is ahead of UK timeline for thise who don't like 'spoilers.'

Apparently in the new audio book, MA has extended the epilogue and it strongly hints that she is writing another book

That would be amazing.
It's great to have the story continued by the tv series knowing it's with Atwood's approval, but a sequel would probably mean even more original imaginative elements that would speak to the present day.

Quick warning - there's a spoiler in that article, about Ofglen.

I have often wondered why the wifes and handmaids do not become more friendly ?

Because the handmaids are the ultimate threat to the wives, like the young blonde secretary trope - they have fertility to lure the husbands away with, and if a commander did run away with a handmaid, the wives would lose a lot of their privilege. Theres also a risk that they would "forget their position" and start acting like the lady of the house, pushing the wives aside.

Plus, they are only in the household for a small amount of time, and there would always be a risk that the handmaid was ultra-indoctrinated and would report any careless words from the wife to the authorities for heresy.

Also, I guess it would be like in the old Soviet Union where everyone is encouraged and rewarded to report everyone else. So as the handmaids have nothing to lose by reporting a Wife breaking the rules. And the Wives have everything to lose - no fertility, no income, no power. I'm sure they could be easily disposed of and replaced if they step our of line

Stormtreader....i agree , and think your post sums up so brilliantly the most chilling aspect of the story, which the TV series is able to get accross really effectively, is how easy it is to make everyone distrust everyone, how fear can be the most effective tool for controlling a population. Fear builds distrust and isolates individuals.
A second series...mmm....not sure how i feel ...it will have to expand on the original story , and not sure how i feel about that :)

The wives do have some power, Offred says more than once that she "could get me sent to the colonies!" if she steps out of line.

I've just started reading "the book"

What struck me was the japanese tourists. Does this mean the birth problem isn't world wide?

I thought Sunday's episode (which I watched last night) was excellent - so chilling and atmospheric.

For me, part of the enjoyment is in watching how the book is being re-interpreted for a 2017 audience, hence wanting to compare it. I thought changing the biscuit scene worked very well, because it reflected the theme they're pulling out about 'choice' and co-ercion - June keeps herself psychically together by making the 'choices' that she has to make to stay alive whilst taking whatever opportunity she can to demonstrate to herself that she hasn't been subsumed into the new regime.

'Don't you forget about me' at the end made me cry - it spoke to June remembering her earlier self, Ofglen (the one she'd got to know), Moira and of course Hannah, but it also made me think about Hannah who might well forget about her birth mother, and Janine's baby who would never know.

When I first read the book I was of an age to have been a handmaid, and I think I read it from that perspective. Now my DDs are of handmaid age and I'm watching it thinking about how they would respond in a misogynist, totalitarian regime, and what their lives would be like. Doesn't bear thinking about.

IIRC the birth problem was worldwide, but that doesn't mean the solution had to be.

Wives have power over the household but not over anyone else. In the book at one point a wife gets hanged.

You couldn't be divorced, of course, so if your husband wanted rid of you there would only be one way...

countess i was also going to mention the awful scene with a wife later in the book..but didnt want to get 'into trouble' for a spoiler to those who have not read the book....but remember that scene as very distrubing..it has other important plot points associated to it too but i wont say them...see i would be a useless resistance fighter..i would toe the line and avoid trouble at all costs :)

Ah, I thought it was not really a spoiler because it's about the nature of the world rather than being part of the unfolding of events iyswim.

What struck me was the japanese tourists. Does this mean the birth problem isn't world wide?

In the book, I didn't get the impression that the birth problem was quite as bad as it is in the TV show. It is a while since I read it, but I don't think June's successful pregnancy and birth was shown as quite as miraculous as it seemed in the latest episode.

It is as bad- I have just reread it. All the stuff in the hospital with the empty cots and the nurse saying June's was the only baby that lived of the ones born that night is there in the book.

Oh wow, I don't remember that at all. I'll have to re-read.

Do you remember roughly where in the book? I'm searching my copy and can't find it. There's lots of stuff I didn't remember about birth rates falling though.

really interesting essay by margaret atwood here

www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/books/review/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-age-of-trump.html?_r=0