The Handmaid's Tale - Any good?

[Flamesparrow]

Title says it all really.

Saw the film the other night, and was wondering if the book is any good (Borders vouchers burning a hole in my pocket )

In my opinion it is. Really didactic and heavy-handed.

A lot of Atwood's books are quite upsetting, but I find that she works better when she stays away from SF.

I think about the Handmaid's Tale a LOT
I can remember some of the prose so well
but I haven't read it post children, not sur eI could bear it

Unquenchable Fire is about having kids, too. It's just a more interesting, subtle story.

What is it about? Never heard of it.

The Handmaid's tale is one of my favourite books, I have read it about once a year since I first found it.

It's a story about a future world in which most women have fertility problems. Surrogacy is normal, and surrounded by some odd rites.

(I think I mind people liking bad Margaret Atwood, as she is "that Canadian author", the only Canadian author that English people know of as Canadian.)

i like all Margaret Atwood though haven't been able to face trying Oryx and Crake yet after the reviews made it sound heavy going.

for other feminist sci-fi stuff, "Woman on the edge of time" is fairly unforgettable. Ursula le guin does some interesting stuff too.

nqc - Alice Munro, Carol Shields, both also well known canadian authorss.

sounds depressing to me

i am stunned that anyone can describe the handmaids tale as dreadful. i just think it's brilliant.
i first read it an university and as someone said ,now i have had children find it even stronger .
as i said previously, i can imagine this kind of thing happening- especially with the current bush government. scary.

OO it is about a relgious dystopia - it is set in the future in the US where the country is ravaged by ecological disaster and the religious right have schieved power and subjugated the women. Most women are unable to have children and those that can are "handmaids" - given to powerful men to breed.
it is a kind of post feminist, post apocalyptic sci-fi cautionary tale.
a laugh a minute

I run a university English book club and have put THT on the agenda for next month.
Will report back on what my students think.
Haven't read it since having ds and am dreading it a bit. Think I will find it even more upsetting.

Dreadful (only read it all the way through as it was a present).

another great Cdn author - Ann-Marie Macdonald, she has written Fall on your Knees and The Way the Crow Flies

Sure, fennel, but when people say "that Canadian author", they always mean Atwood.

I like Michel Tremblay, Margaret Lawrence, Rohinton Mistry ... there are loads.

I think part of my objection is, if you want to talk about where society may be going, in such a transparent way, why not write an essay? It doesn't really stand up as fiction.

Wow... didn't think that this would make such a long thread!!! I now have to buy the thing just to see who I agree with

Thought it was scary as hell, but worth a read though!!!!!

Message withdrawn

Cat's Eye is blinding!!!

Alias Grace is amazing too and very disturbing.

I must read this, I loved Cat's Eye and The Blind Assassin

Haven't read the Blind Assassin, is it good?

I highly recommend Alias Grace, it's a sort of murder mystery. Grace is a young Irish immigrant girl who narrates part of the novel from prison where she is locked up (as criminally insane)for the murder of her employer and his wife...it's a very intricate story and really draws you in. The characters are really vivid, especially the young doctor who is treating her. It's typical Atwood in that it's very polished and all the background and detail are perfect. I could not put it down.

Her writing is amazing isn't it - so perfectly detailed and vivid, I often have to stop to digest her images. There's a thread somewhere about The Blind Assassin - not everyone liked it, but if you're an Atwood fan you'll love it I'm sure

It's the way she writes - she stops to savour a word and play with the sound and meaning of it - that's true confidence in a writer I think, as well as a real love of language. It's like watching somebody eating a choc-ice really slowly

Ok... so I'm now buying THT and Alias Grace or Cats Eye???

Which of the second ones should I get?

I like this site - you all tell me books I've never heard of!!!