Margaret Atwood to release a written sequel to The Handmaids Tale

[CamillasTampon]

www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-29/the-handmaids-tale-sequel-three-decades-later-novel-atwood/10566114

What are the chances of this making some kind of comment on the gender debate?

She believes TWAW, though, doesn't she?

Oh no. That is disappointing...I thought she had more brains than to believe in that.

I've thought before that there's scope for a 'gender' version of THT, with brave & stunning TIM wives.

One of my favourite authors.

Well, she’s a great author, but I’m a little disappointed she’s doing this. It’s because of the success of the TV show, no doubt. Can’t really blame her for cashing in, I suppose.

I’ll still read it. Have to - I’ve read all of her books!

In the original Handsmaids tale, she was clear that everything was traditional and all people who deviated from straight male or female were sent to the colonies.

So this is likely to be an alternative storyline rather than a sequel then.

Oh come on, Margaret Atwood doesn’t believe woman is a feeling. Really? She wrote the ultimate dystopia where women are exploited for their reproductive capacity. She knows what a woman is. Doesn’t she?

I read something where she said trans people upset traditionalists because it breaks down gender roles or words to that effect.

In America & Canada, this is much more a right vs left issue. If you're GC people see it as you're siding with Trump!!

I would read it too. MA is a great writer. Even if it's not as good as the original, it would still be worth reading.

The ending of the book was ambiguous, it wasn't certain that Offred was pregnant, it wasn't clear if she escaped to Canada or was recaptured. I would be interested to see where she goes with it, given that the TV show had Offred recaptured.

Here's that quote from MA (1st para of interview here www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/margaret-atwood-when-did-it-become-the-norm-to-expect-a-porn-star-on-the-first-date-1.3408922)

EmpressAdultHumanFemale I've been thinking the same thing. A futuristic dystopia where all men are men, and all visible women in society are TIMs. Baby girls are reared like livestock in secure centres and grow up to become surrogates. Baby boys are given to TIMs to raise.

Women and girls who protest/ try to escape are executed, but not before extracting their reproductive organs to research transplantation into TIMs.

Boys have personality tests during childhood. Those deemed to be "female" are transed. And so the cycle continues...

I had high hopes of Charlie Brooker coming up with something like this in Black Mirror but I suspect he may be too woke.

I love her work, partly because she explores feminist issues. She doesn’t call herself a feminist. That’s interesting because her books have made me think about feminism, particularly The Handmaid’s Tale.
She thinks trans women are women. I disagree with her.
So what? I don’t have to agree with someone on everything to get along with them and I don’t have to agree with everything a writer thinks to enjoy their writing.

Atwood has spoken up for free speech so whether she believes TWAW or not she doesn’t seem to subscribe to #nodebate.

Above all she’s a novelist, not a polemicist. Her characters are three dimensional human beings, not symbols. I don’t think any of her novels can be reduced to allegory in the way that Animal Farm can.