reading a handmaids tale

[southeastastra]

blimey wtf is this about? it's crackers

I studied it for A level and hated it at the time. A fun read, it ain't.

But the messages within that book are incredibly powerful. As the years have gone by, I've re-read it several times. It's a bloody masterpiece.

I remember thinking it was ridiculous - it was a while ago that I read it.

I studied it at college five years ago. I absoulutely loved it and I got an excellent mark for an essay I wrote on it [smug]

God I remember reading that and the Edible Woman for a level. It's a very creepy book.

I studied this for a level. Alongside 1984 & the colour purple. Made a massive impact on me.

Read this for the first time age 12 then again at 18.

Even at 12 I found it a compulsive read, didn't get it all at that age but enough to get the gist.

Utterly brilliant.

The film was pretty rubbish IMO. Just didn't catch the scary claustrophobia and paranoia of the book.

Hollywood just didn't get it.

I think Housekeeping is by Marilyn Robinson.

yes you are right, i just googled it. i read it years ago and it was excellent.

I am not a huge Atwood fan, but The Handmaiden's Tale is mind blowing
Will have to look up Cats Eye

Agree its an amazing book. A long time since I've seen it, but IIRC I found the film also incredibly powerful (which is unusual for me, I'm much more a book person).

Interestingly for me Oryx & Crake didn't work anywhere near so well, it didn't have the same ring of truth/ possibility.

I loced this book, must read it again as it's still sitting on my shelf. Also read Brave New World and 1984 around the same time.

I'm terrible at remembering the plots of books (and films), I just remember if I enjoyed them or not. But IIRC "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro is on a similar theme and also very enjoyable/

that book is brilliant

a defining moment in fiction, I think and I don't say that lightly

Margaret Atwood is a genius

Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite authors. Handmaids Tale was the first book of hers I read, at about 18. I love her writing.

I read this on my honeymoon, not the most appropriate occasion .

I think it's far and away her best: excellent.

Dd1 read it last year, at 14, and loved it too.

There's an excellent passage in it, when the changes are just happening. I'm only quoting from memory here:
'I thought, already he's starting to patronise me. Then I thought, already I'm starting to get paranoid'.

I absolutely hated Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go' though.

Haven't read 'Cat's Eye' - what's that about?

I loved 'Never Let Me Go'. They were so placid and accepting.

I also loved "Never Let Me Go"

The saddest book I have ever read.

I wept buckets, not something I usually do over a book.

And like Handmaids Tale, it resonates with a "this could really happen" tone.

is a master piece imo. Have taught it for A level several times - so much to discuss

Atwood is a great writer, this book is essential reading
enough said

shoppingbags, it would be interesting discussing it with teenage boys, I imagine?

I would say that probably nearly all the women I know have read it, but I suspect very few of the men.

aha, it was teenage boys I last taught it to at a super boys grammar school. Was very interesting but then I had spent the previous year drumming all sorts of feminist ideas into their heads!