Uneasy, readers turn to classic dystopias

[MsAmerica]

This mentions five classics, and I was pleased to see I've read all five. How about you?

I like the signs, “Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again!” and “The Handmaid’s Tale is NOT an Instruction Manual!”

Uneasy About the Future, Readers Turn to Dystopian Classics
By Alexander Alter

www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/business/media/dystopian-classics-1984-animal-farm-the-handmaids-tale.html?_r=0

That's a really interesting article, thankyou! I've read three of the books mentioned myself, The Handmaid's Tale and both Orwell ones. I actually got my book club to read 1984 last year having been given a theme of "a classic novel" on my turn to nominate a read: I was not very popular for doing so!

I haven't read the Lewis one, It Can't Happen Here, but I'll look out for it as I suspect it easily can.

I like hte signs too.

Visit America has a new advertising slogan

"We aren't Mordor, even if we have Sauron Trump in charge"

Oh, Murine, how sad that choosing 1984 should make you unpopular. In an ideal world, they should have been grateful for you to have steered them to such a basic classic!

Why on earth would 1984 have that effect? Did they think Smith was the bad guy? (I swear Blair and his Government cronies thought that.)

Everybody said it made them feel depressed! I hadn't read it since I was 14 and, unsurprisingly, got so much more from the reread. I was disappointed by the reaction of the others, I'd put a lot of thought into my choice!

Yes, I would expect lots of talk about prescience, parallels and genius from a book group reading of 1982. How disappointing!