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third read – 8 February 2022 *****. I re-read this again because it’s covered in Lecture 20, “Margaret Atwood and Environmental Dystopia”, from Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature. The Handmaid’s Tale is a feminist dystopia, barely dealing with environmental issues such as in her Oryx and Crake, but it could be that’s just an issue with the lecture title. Having recently read the 2019 sequel The Testaments, I knew some spoilers concerning a few of the characters and the alternate his
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Like 1984, Farenheit 451, or Brave New World, "The Handmaid's Tale" looks at a world where humans rights have been perverted, and a frightening new social order has taken hold. The subjugation of women, and seeing them in terms of fertility objects is frightening, violent, and souless. There are pieces of the nightmare that feel prescient, with today's headlines on the war on Planned Parenthood, women's rights marches, and the increasingly stringent abortion laws.
Unfortunately the book did not h ...more
Unfortunately the book did not h ...more
Atwood presents a chilling, nightmarish, dystopian near-future where a religious retro/de-revolution has led to the overthrow of the US government, leading to the establishment of a totalitarian theocracy or "theonomy" where many women are treated essentially as slaves.
The novel reminds us to some extent of similar types of "movements" that have taken place in e.g., Iran ("islamic revolution"), or in connection with the Taliban, ISIS, etc. as well as other religion-inspired movements that have ...more
The novel reminds us to some extent of similar types of "movements" that have taken place in e.g., Iran ("islamic revolution"), or in connection with the Taliban, ISIS, etc. as well as other religion-inspired movements that have ...more
Tou think, nah, far fetched. Then you read the paper.
Sep 18, 2020
Christina
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This is one of those rare instances where I enjoyed the screen adaptation better than the novel. The novel version of Offred felt so much like she was in a survival state that her small moments of rebellion didn’t feel like they would realistically lead anywhere.
Dec 08, 2012
yulia
marked it as to-read
Dec 03, 2013
Gretchen
marked it as to-read
Mar 10, 2017
Ag
marked it as to-read
May 13, 2017
Staci Johnson
is currently reading it
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Jun 03, 2017
Paula S
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May 13, 2020
Kratish4
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