The Handmaid's Tale

I'm a little stunned by the number of people who didn't like this–on a basic level, claiming it was difficult to read; on a more philosophical level, claiming it was improbable. On the basic level, once you get used to the lack of quotation marks and some stylistic choices, this book is such a fast read. As far as lack of plot, I'm baffled by such statements. I've run across literary fiction with far less plot. And as far as the content, well, it's dystopian near-future. As our heroine says, ‘Context is everything.' And I feel like naysayers are forgetting the context of the time period. The rise of fundie Christianity, the backlashes against feminism, the political climate. It's, perhaps, hyperbole, but that is only to make it's point. As a feminist and ex-Christian, I found this novel chilling and not at all that farfetched, considering what is happening even thirty years after this book was written. Sure, we aren't wearing big robes to hide ourselves. But consider how loud and powerful the Christian right actually IS, how government infringes constantly on the rights of women, how victims are blamed when bad things happen. Maybe what happens in the book isn't literally happening now, in our lifetimes; but characters like the Aunts and Commanders explain multiple times the thought processes that bring America to become the Republic of Gilead, that brought women to the terrible state in which they found themselves–hidden way, property, with no rights. And those though processes are seen loudly, clearly, all around us every day here and now. So this wasn't far-fetched to me, not at all. It wasn't dull. It was anger-inducing and horrifying. The fact that some people thought this book absurd is, to my mind, a trifle disturbing.

Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't have nightmares.