This is my third book of 2010, and my second one from the New York Times Notable Books of 2009 list (click on title above to access a link to see the full list). I have not read a Margaret Atwood book since I read 'The Handmaid's Tale" in 1985. The book won countless awards, and endless acclaim, and I just hated it. The author is an avowed feminist and while the Handmaid's Tale could be viewed as a dystopian cautionary tale, a story of where we can still go back to as women, no matter how far we have come, I viewed it as merely depressing. The Biblical, "women as breed stock" world view is what I walked away from the book with as a twenty five year old and it did not make me want to come back for more.
Since that time Atwood has been short-listed for, long-listed for and won the Booker Prize. It seems that she is a good writer. As it has been about a quarter of a century since I read a book by her, it seemed that it might be time to get back on the horse. Since the Handmaid's Tale came out, I have gotten married, had four children and raised them into near-adulthood. One is engaged to be married himself, in fact.
I was wrong, as it turns out. This is also a dystopian cautionary tale but one where women are now primarily for sexual abuse rather than reproduction. The abuse is not graphic, so in some ways this seems even a little bit better than what occurs in the Handmiad's Tale, something I am sure the reality would not be.
Margaret Atwood is a spectacular writer. The book is gorgeously written. There are hymns and sermons throughout that weave the story artfully into a more succinct tale. It is a thing of beauty, and I am almost certain it will be another 25 years before I read another novel by her. She is not the most depressing talented author with a myopia for the baseness of man out there--not as long as Cormac McCarthy still lives and breaths--but I can only take it in micro-doses.
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