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firecat (attention machine in need of calibration) ([personal profile] firecat) wrote2005-11-28 03:47 pm

A non-answer to why I hated The Handmaid's Tale

Several people asked why I hated The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

I'm afraid I'm one of those people who tends to forget the details of books, movies, and such. As time passses, eventually I can only remember the mood I was in when I read/watched/listened to it and a general affection or dislike of it. The only thing I can remember about The Handmaid's Tale is that it depressed me in such a way that just depressed me.

To unpack that: A lot of books depress me but I like them anyway because I think the author has gotten at some essential truth that I don't often see gotten at, and the fact that we share this viewpoint gives me hope and makes me feel not-alone, even if it's a depressing viewpoint.

I didn't get that sense with The Handmaid's Tale - which isn't to say the author didn't get at any essential truth (given how many smart feminist people like the book, she must have), but just that I didn't pick up on it at the time I read it.

[identity profile] phinnia.livejournal.com 2005-11-28 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I had a similar reaction to that book - but then, I don't think I've read anything of hers that I /did/ like. She just doesn't do anything for me.

[identity profile] leback.livejournal.com 2005-11-29 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the elaboration!

[identity profile] dawnd.livejournal.com 2005-11-29 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
I, too, found the book depressing. For me, it was the sense that it was all too possible. A tweak to reality here, a shift in thinking there, and voila! dystopian future. *shudder*

[identity profile] clawfoot.livejournal.com 2005-11-29 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
I never liked the book, either, but that's mostly due to having read an essay on the topic by my brother-in-law, which basically pointed out that Atwood's only real point was that life would be hell for women... if life were specifically designed to be hell for women.

I wish I still had a copy of that essay, because my brother-in-law has such an incredibly witty, caustic style of writing.

[identity profile] necturus.livejournal.com 2005-11-29 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
Atwood's portrayal of fundamentalist theocracy doesn't seem completely authentic to me; nevertheless, I found the book very chilling when I read it, particularly as I recognized its setting as a place where I used to live.

[identity profile] raphaela.livejournal.com 2005-11-29 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
I did not enjoy the book. As I recall, it made me squirm in a most unpleasant way. I know it was supposed to be a cautionary tale and one that gave highlight to women's rights by way of stripping the heroine of the most basic of them, but it didn't work for me.

I think The Left Hand of Darkness tackled the same issues from an entirely different perspective with entirely different results. A friend of mine (the Philistine!) pointed out that Atwood gets a better response because Leguin uses "too many words".

[identity profile] tiger-spot.livejournal.com 2005-11-29 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
I like Margaret Atwood's style, but I never really feel satisfied after I read one of her books. I always have at least one niggling irritation about some very basic part of the setting.

The problem, I think, is that I read a lot of science fiction. Margaret Atwood carefully denies writing any science fiction, and she's right -- she's always a half-step to the left of plausibility. That bothers me.