Duane
Scavenger
Posts: 199
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Post by Duane on Aug 7, 2010 21:52:53 GMT -5
I just read "Handmaid's Tale", by Margaret Atwood. It was a pretty decent dystopian tale about what American would look like for a woman, if a group of Taliban-like religious fanatics took over our society. It's not really action-packed, but is a more cerebral examination of how the main character is able to adjust to her new, more impersonal and restrictive lifestyle. It's not my favorite book, but is a pretty decent piece of literature nevertheless. M. Atwood can definitely paint a memorable environment. amzn.to/bIZXc7
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Post by MegaDude on Aug 7, 2010 21:57:31 GMT -5
Yeah, I love that book. It's been a while since I last read it, but I remember liking how at the very end you still weren't sure if she was escaping or being taken away.
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Post by KevinTheCynic on Apr 28, 2011 0:20:20 GMT -5
Has anybody who has read the book also seen the movie adaptation (or vice versa)? I've seen the movie and I'm interested in hearing if it portrays the story in the book well or not.
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Post by MegaDude on Apr 28, 2011 2:24:30 GMT -5
I vaguely remember seeing the movie. Seem to recall that if followed the book, but I'm not entirely sure.
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Pupnik
Wasteland Warlord
Posts: 260
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Post by Pupnik on Apr 28, 2011 8:34:05 GMT -5
I haven't seen the film but I love the book a lot. It's a very frightening world that she lives in, but at the same time I do find it believable (although I think it would have taken longer to come in than a few short years). I particularly like how things unfold so gradually, so for example at first we feel like the Commander might be a sympathetic character with the freedoms he allows Ofred in his study, but by the end we realise just what a horrible and hypocritical person he is, while Serena Joy reveals herself to be much more likeable than she first appears, to the extent that I ended up feeling rather sorry for her.
Another great one that I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys The Handmaid's Tale is Swastika Night which was written in the 1930s and tells of a future where Nazis are the rulers of the Western world. At the time it was written it was quite surprising that a novel like this would focus so much on women's rights (or rather lack of rights) but it is because it was a female author writing under a male pseudonym, which I understand was not revealed for several decades.
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Post by KevinTheCynic on May 10, 2011 7:30:37 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies and the insight into the novel (as well as Swastika Night, thanks Pupnik!)
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Post by terryd on May 11, 2011 11:31:05 GMT -5
I love me some Atwood. Her PA novel, Oryx and Crake, is a masterpiece.
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