Glad I read it now and not at school.....

[Zoe Stutz]

I wasn’t given the op to read this at school but apparently some of my friends were and didn’t get on with it. I can totally understand why since the subleties underlying the systematic control of women would be missed by most school age kids. Sadly a little more pathos is necessary which only comes with age and experience to really get under the fingernails of this extremely disturbing look into a possible future occuring in ‘western’ society. I confess I’ve watched the tv series 1st and now read the book and the 2 are quietly different in narrative. The oppression of the men in the tv series is much more obvious, the book attempts to show how the women control the women but in either case it leaves me with that taste of bile in the throat reserved for the very most distasteful ‘tales’ be they true or fiction. I didn’t sleep very well after June said in the 2nd series ‘men are afraid women will laugh at them, women are afraid men will kill them’.

[Misty Blue]

I feel the same way - I'm glad I read this book as an adult and wasn't forced to read it by the school system. I remember in our 11th grade AP English class we were given the chance to chose (from a list) which books we wanted to study, and the Handmaid's Tale didn't peak my interest at the time sounding really long and dry. A lot, and I mean A LOT of my classmates decided to pick it though, having heard the mention of " a bunch of weird sex scenes". Seriously guys.

Instead I read this book some 7 years later after graduating University with a degree in Human Rights, which I felt was a prerequisite that made the book a much different read for me at the age of 22, compared to what it would've been for me at the age of 15 when I was still figuring out how I felt about the world. I also read Oryx and Crake first which gave me a sampling of Margaret Atwood, and led me willingly to The Handmaid's Tale because I just wanted another good book from the same author.

If I had the chance to recommend this book to people now, I would say wait until you're ready to read it if it's something on your list, even if that means waiting years. I've watched the TV show as well, and I think a lot of it is so vastly different it wouldn't hurt to watch the TV show first, though that's probably up for debate.