We found this an important if difficult and challenging contemporary classic, finding both the book and the iconic TV series arising from it to be powerful works. If anyone would like to write a sentence or two about the book, please email me janet.bayliss@esneft.nhs.uk – so we can post to the book group part of the ESNEFT book group website
We found this to be a challenging read with a lot of unanswered questions, with a similar reaction from those of us who had seen the TV series, which is now in its sixth and final season. The first season and some of the second of the television adaptation followed the story in the book, with the series often helping to clarify some unclear parts of the book (Margaret Atwood was involved in the production of the series). For a summary of the book, I can't do better than quote in full from one of my colleagues who is something of an expert:
I first read this book in my twenties, and I found the story left a lasting impression on me. Later, I re-read it several times (which I don’t often do), and I’ve found that the power of the story and its message haven’t diminished. However, my understanding and interpretation of the story have changed with my life experiences.
I appreciated the hope and fierce will to live embodied in June. She is such a compelling symbol of resistance against misogyny, patriarchy, and the oppression imposed on women and children. I also noticed parallels with Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris, which was our World Book Night read last year. In both stories, there is a thread showing couples being separated by war or crisis, uncertain whether they will ever see each other again. There’s a deeply human need to form new relationships and attachments to make everyday life bearable and to find new meaning. How many places in the world are currently in crisis, where people don’t know what tomorrow will bring and displacement is a daily reality?
The TV series made changes in the first season to allow the story to grow and stretch over multiple seasons. I quickly forgave the scriptwriters, as the series allowed the story and some of the originally two-dimensional characters to develop more fully.
Margaret Atwood is an incredible author. She often says that in her science fiction and dystopian works, she only writes about things that have historical precedent or are already scientifically possible. She makes the human stories accessible, even in seemingly impossible situations and surroundings.
Comments were made that a lot of books read recently were bland, but we felt that I haven’t been entirely honest with you by comedian Miranda Hart, about her long standing battle with Lyme disease wasn’t one of them. Once again, the ‘Seven Sisters’ series of historical tales by Lucinda Riley came in for a positive mention, along with books by Tess Gerritsen, who has been responsible for several thriller series including the books about Rizzoli and Isles (the detective and medical examiner) which are rather good police procedurals.
Other possibilities included The babel by R.F. Kuang, a work of speculative fiction with an alternative version of the city of Oxford at its centre; and The storyteller’s death by Ann Davila Cardinal, where several generations of a family are blessed or cursed with strange powers. For non-fiction, we felt that Rain by Cynthia Barnett was worth consideration for its poetic, mystic descriptions of rain and water, but perhaps not Mythos by Stephen Fry, which retells the Greek myths and was found to be unexpectedly waffly.
Several of the above are on Libby, check them out at the ESNEFT Libby pages.