Why Read Margaret Atwood?

 Long River Review published a post by Katherine Jimenez, Why You Should Read Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”. I managed to read all the prison library's collection of Margaret Atwood novels, and also managed to get a book of her essays sent in before COVID shut down the interlibrary loan program. I found only one point on which I would disagree with Ms. Jimenez: I recommend starting with either The Blind Assassin or Alias Grace. More on that below. Here is why Ms. Jimenez would have you read The Handmaid's Tale:

In a time when women’s bodily rights are being taken away, a dystopian society like The Handmaid’s Tale is not that far-fetched. In fact, in reading both the novel and watching the series, I realized that Atwood created a world that is terrifyingly realistic. She predicted many events without them having happened yet in 1985, the year the novel was first published. And although the show fictionalized way beyond the novel’s end, I still think the book should be a required reading in every single school out there. It reminds us of just how fragile our government is and how in danger women are simply for their sex.

I agree with her, but would have also suggested reading Atwood's The Testaments. This is the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale.

 Like the Ms. Ms. Jimenez, The Handmaid's Tale is not my favorite Atwood novel. It is not a bad novel - Atwood is too good a writer for that. It is, there seems to be something about her speculative fiction novels that do not seem as light on their feet as her other novels. That is why I suggest reading the other novels first. I should say this is not what I did. I started with The Handmaid's Tale!

sch 4/5