I'm currently reading "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

[NMMNG]

It is very appropos with the current Administration, the abortion bans and debate over Roe v Wade. There are noticable parallels throughout the novel to right-wing thought and Bush Administration/Fundamentalist propaganda. For those who haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

[Ayesha]

1. I think this book review

...should have been posted in the non-fiction section.

[NMMNG]

2. It is scary

how many novels seem to be turning out to be works of prophecy :scared:.

[Sequoia]

18. "The best way to predict the future

is to invent it." Alan Kay (write it, script and film it, same thing)

[khashka]

3. Rough going Buffy!

Margaret Atwood is a stellar writer, but Handmaid's Tale is sickening, distressing, enlightening and horrifyingly prescient.

She was really writing a warning. What in Sci-Fi terms is called an "If This Goes On" story. Take current trends and extrapolate.

Sadly it no longer feels like speculative fiction, more like "slice of life" fiction. Things ain't that bad yet, but it feels like that's where we're headed....


Khash.

[NMMNG]

5. Indeed

*****Spoiler alert*****














The part where the government implements fascist policies after an attack they blame on the "Muslim fanatics".


The way the Bible becomes the basis for governmental policies (we aren't there yet, but the Fundies are trying like crazy to get us there).

The way Christianity is the "official" religion and all others are exiled or put to death (one state is trying to make Christianity its official state religion as we speak).

Indoctrination centers/camps (these exist already--"ex-gay" camps and "boot camps" for teens anyone?).

Etc., Etc.

:scared:

[japple]

25. Maybe this book is where the neocons got all their

"good" ideas. You're right about it being seriously disturbing, but we're not there yet, and I really think things are starting to turn around. I believe there are more and more folks awakening to the truth every day.

[bowens43]

4. Unfortuanetly many Americans

see this book, not as a warning, but as a goal that is within reach. Make no mistake, this is where fundamentalist Christianity is trying to take us.

[NMMNG]

6. Yes.

The right-wing seems to see The Handmaid's Tale/1984 as instruction manuals. x(

[MountainLaurel]

8. Absolutely

:scared:

[ClintonTyree]

7. I read it several years ago.......

and it hit me pretty hard then. I recommended it to my daughter and just about everyone else I came in contact with. It certainly IS a good read and it's hard to not find parallels with today's climate of fear in our country. It's a short book but the contents speak volumes. It COULD, and in some fashion IS, happening in our society today.

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. Margaret Atwood is

one if my favorite authors, but I've got to say A Handmaids Tale scared the bejezzuz out of me when I read it several years ago

[khashka]

10. Hey Buffy!

You might like Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin, as well.

She supposes an America where women have had all rights taken away. All rights. And she shows women fighting back by creating their own language. A language that doesn't exclude men but simply describes what women feel and need and the unique experience of being female in a culture that degrades women.

I'm rereading it right now....


Khash.

[RebelOne]

11. There is also a movie made from the book. n/t

[NMMNG]

12. I thought that there was

I was planning on renting it if it turned out to be the case. I'd love to see what they did with the story.

[JitterbugPerfume]

13. the movie is good , and worth seeing

but it is not entirely true to the book (if memory serves) It has been a long time since I read the book or watched the movie


they show it periodically on Sci fi

[eleny]

14. I held my breath so many times while reading it

[br7598]

15. Great book!

It is definately an eerie read.

**Spoiler warning**

I remember the part where the people were always hanging from the wall with a picture of a fetus around there neck. The hospitals had to burn the medical records because the doctors and nurses would be hung for performing an abortion, even in the past when it was legal.

The worst part though was when she talked about how they slowly moved into that culture, piece by piece, and very few people made a fuss. Then one day here debit card didnt work because all her money was turned over to her closest male relative. By then it was too late, and they weren't even allowed to leave the country. Thats scary to me because I see our culture losing things piece by piece, and there are only a few people making a fuss. Kind of gives you chills.

I am in Texas and we are currently having a huge fuss over the book being taught in high school. The christians and republicans (big surprise) are upset and want it pulled. The school board just ruled last week that the book would stay, thanks to a bunch of dedicated teenagers who spoke at the debate.

[InkAddict]

16. I was left with too many questions about what had happened

Enjoyed her "The Blind Assasin" much better.

[Scout]

21. haven't read Blind Assassin yet...

have you read Oryx and Crake? Excellent read.

[Maud]

17. Couldn't stand what the neocons were doing so I wrote my own book

After Bush was elected the first time I was so upset I started writing a novel about what life is going to be like in this country after the conservatives have achieved all of their objectives. It's taken me four years to finish the damn thing and I just had it published with iUniverse. Unfortunately much of what I've depicted in the book is already taking place. The Founding Five isn't a very happy tale and I don't know how many people will ever read it. Once thing I do know is I sure hope the events I've described in the book never become reality.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

19. I'm willing

:)

My library doesn't have a copy though, and my piggy bank is almost empty, but it's on my list. :)

[Scout]

20. I should read it again, it's been a long time.

But I'm too scared. I remember enough to know it will seriously creep me right out.

What would your handmaid name be IRL?

I'd be Ofgreg.

Actually, I wouldn't end up a handmaid, I'd end up a Martha or in the wastelands. Maybe I could have the courage to be an Auntie, but secretly in the resistance and end up helping bring down the evil regime from the inside. Yeah, that's the ticket! (It could happen.)

[NMMNG]

23. I wouldn't be a handmaid I'm sure

I'm a vile lesbian atheist. They'd no doubt banish me to the wastelands if they let me live at all. :evilfrown:

[leeroysphitz]

22. I gave this book to my wife to read.

I'm distressed to report that it is, even now, languishing upon her night stand while she is finishing up Kate O'Beirne's latest literary laxative "Women Who Make the World Worse..."

I'm contemplating divorce or at least the faking of my own death as a means of escape from the situation.

"The Handmaid's Tale" is a frightening book. I got the same sinking feeling while reading it that I've gotten from real events in my life where I suddenly realize things are going very wrong and there is nothing I can do about it.

[NMMNG]

24. Ewwww, how can she read that anti-woman bile?

If that's the sort of book she likes I doubt she'll ever read The Handmaid's Tale. Those books are diametrically opposed to one another philosophically.