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A review by tori_tbr
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
5.0
I rushed to read this ahead of the release of the series on Hulu. The original is very much rooted in the 80s but older readers or readers from economically depressed areas should still be able to get the mood very well. The description of old gyms as re-education centers stuck with me because my middle and high school gyms were very similar.
The representation of internalized misogyny in Serena Joy as a former televangelist who literally promoted the subjugation of all women into servile roles and losing status and dignity that she herself enshrined only in the ability to be fertile because she was getting older was also an excellent and compelling difference in the source material.
The trope of the bitter former actress/performer being petty and jealous and manipulative to younger women is very recognizable already but putting a dystopian spin on it was just chilling. Atwood is an amazing writer who conveys the tension between women of different statuses masterfully.
This book would have changed my life if I read it five years earlier-before being exposed to Critical Theory, but since I am already "drinking the kool aid" I just got lost in the story while coming across the thoughtful and suspenseful commentary as a sort of easter egg. Admittedly if you don't care about feminism or women's rights, you might not enjoy this book.
The representation of internalized misogyny in Serena Joy as a former televangelist who literally promoted the subjugation of all women into servile roles and losing status and dignity that she herself enshrined only in the ability to be fertile because she was getting older was also an excellent and compelling difference in the source material.
The trope of the bitter former actress/performer being petty and jealous and manipulative to younger women is very recognizable already but putting a dystopian spin on it was just chilling. Atwood is an amazing writer who conveys the tension between women of different statuses masterfully.
This book would have changed my life if I read it five years earlier-before being exposed to Critical Theory, but since I am already "drinking the kool aid" I just got lost in the story while coming across the thoughtful and suspenseful commentary as a sort of easter egg. Admittedly if you don't care about feminism or women's rights, you might not enjoy this book.