The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Come and discuss this modern classic on Feb 23rd.

[mmack]

I know that a lot of the regular posters here in Adult Fiction really love this book. I've been meaning to read it for years and it's probably the modern classic that I'm most excited about. Is anyone else going to read it for the first time this month?

Can I join in? I recently picked this book for my book group as I wanted to re-read after 30 years(!). I was afraid it might have dated, but I found it as fresh and scary as before. The historical notes I could have done without, though. I sort of see why they were there - giving Gilead a historical perspective - but also there was too much Atwood sending up academics. I think I'd have been quite happy if it had ended with Offred being led out of the house to an unknown fate.

When I first read it I didn't find the premise very believable - me and my feminist friends were changing the world! Now I feel less optimistic and wonder if the future could hold anything like this - as the present does for many women in the world.

I agree that the premise is easier to believe now than it would have been in the 80s. I read somewhere recently that there are more peopled aged 60 or over in the US today than there are children under 15. If that trend continues it's not hard to imagine that governments will start to get interested in fertility in some kind of official capacity. Maybe some countries will eventually have some kind of 2 child policy for all couples. It's a scary thought.

"When I first read it I didn't find the premise very believable - me and my feminist friends were changing the world! "

That's interesting, Cooroo. I think when I first read it in 1985, when it came out, it felt very possible actually in the United States. Partly because of Reagan, the reaction against 70s feminism, the strength of the religious right - but also the nuclear threat, and the idea of Gilead as a post-nuclear war society.

Whereas now, I guess I'm much more aware of the oppression of women in Afghanistan, Saudi that is going on now, the changes in women's position in Syria, etc which gives the book a rather different set of overtones.

Has anyone else also read Native Tongue and the sequels by Suzette Haden Elgin, which is another US set anti-feminist future dystopia?

Just found this piece by Margaret Atwood writing about the book, which I'd not seen before.

The Margaret Atwood link was very interesting, Tavker. I lived in the US for a few years and was really surprised by how intertwined politics and religion were over there. A Baptist church near where I lived held an all night prayer vigil for George W. Bush the night before the state's Republican primary. The Tea Party would probably approve of some aspects of life in Gilead.

Another thing that struck me about that interview is that MA says she did not include in the book anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time. I thought the saddest parts of The Handmaid's Tale is that Offred lost her little girl and had no hope of getting her back. It's heart-breaking to think that that actually happened to thousands of Irish unmarried mothers only 50 or 60 years ago.

I first read this in 1995 when studying it for A level. It was my introduction the Atwood and I thought it was fantastic. My A level teacher used to wax lyrical about her.

I only have vague memories of the book now and of umpteen essays about Gileadean society, but some of the images are still vivid in my mind: the pats of butter Offred hides and uses to moisturise her skin, the words carved into the wardrobe: 'Nolites te bastardes caborum dorum (that might be wrong), the scene when Offred is lying between the Commander's wife's legs being fucked (I was shocked and embarrassed when the teacher read it aloud,) and the gruesome and sinister hanging scene with the blood stains on the bagged heads.

Having read the thread, I really want to read the book again. I think I will probably see it afresh.