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/lit/ - Literature

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1307227 No.1307227 [Reply] [Original]

hey /lit/,

anyone else out there read this?

I'm 100 pages in, pretty good thus far.

Anyone else strangely turned on by the submissiveness? I feel a little guilty since its sad stuff but idk I'm kind of into it.

>> No.1307237

Margaret kind of ruins the scenes for me because there's no crying, just kind of like a cold dead submission.

I actually like the idea of a girl actively enjoying sex, like to the point where she's begging for it. I guess it's not so much that I like submission more than nymphomania.

So no, I did not get turned on. It's a great story if you want to make a point; a little too severe to be realistic, but it's a great vehicle for her view of sexuality.

>> No.1307260

Just read it recently. Didn't like it much. The author's prose is boring and repetitive. Same could be said of the story. The world is just a rip off of Dystopian novels before it; nothing new at all. It finally gets OK-ish about 80-90% through then it ends on a low note. Could have made a good statement of the characters were more interesting and the themes explored better.

>> No.1307279

>>1307260
yes, do tell the rest of us how to "explore a theme better," i always like it when authors spell it out and beat me over the fucking head with an all-consuming theme

>> No.1307282

Yeah I guess I should have qualified my previous statement, just got past the sex scene (if theres more than one, sorry), that was just weird and cold. I think its more the submissiveness like kneeling next to the wife like a pet in the ceremony and stuff like that

>> No.1307290

>>1307279


Name a theme in the book that was ever articulated rather than just awkwardly skimmed over.

>> No.1307294

>>1307290

inb4 someone proposes a theme and he proceeds to define what constitutes a theme as something bigger to suit his needs

>> No.1307298

I think that's the whole point of her including little details like that, it's supposed to be clinical, cold, creepy-- it's not supposed to get you off, it's supposed to be awful, cold, terrifying. It’s not straight fiction for entertainment, it’s prognostication on the commoditization of the power of baby-making… I am told her other writing tends to be more lyrical, maybe more fiction for the fun of fiction? I don’t know, I haven’t read her other stuff.

>> No.1307300

>>1307290
theme: commoditization of the female body

>> No.1307307

>>1307290

Theme: Christian fundamentalists are just as bad as Sharia Law Islamic states, they just have less power

>> No.1307311

>>1307298

lol I know it's not erotic fiction or anything, I was kind of ashamed at myself to getting a little aroused at parts

>> No.1307312

>>1307300


The question is: what reason did the author give me to give two shits about that.

>> No.1307314

>>1307307
translated: all religious dogma, it's dogmatic

>> No.1307320

>>1307307


That's not a theme. That's a political statement. And one that bothered me a little. Why didn't she just set the goddamned book in Iran instead of bothering with a poorly thought-out and unoriginal futuristic society?

>> No.1307325

>>1307320

>>1307294

If you haven't noticed, Americans are pretty terrible at global outreach. They'd probably shrug off Iran as some backward sand nigger society. Better to set it practically in their backyard and have it hit more close to home.

>> No.1307327

>>1307312
oh, i'm sorry, you're one of these willfully stupid types...

She was writing to warn against it.
Because it's real bad to do that.
Because that particular act frequently occurs in the real world, and it reduces the quality of life for the people's whose bodies are commoditized. Remember how, in The Handmaid's Tale, the people dealt with a very low quality of life because they were treated as bodies (child-bearing vessels vs. barren, useless shells vs. impotent, pointless phalluses) rather than humans with feelings and dreams? This happens in the world, in nations not so different from your own!

I know, take a breath, I just whipped the pants off your mind and blew it.

>> No.1307328

btw Atwood is Canadian

>> No.1307333

>>1307327

Whatever, her writing still sucks, dude.

>> No.1307354

>>1307333
good opinion there bro

>> No.1307359

>>1307354


Trips don't lie.

>> No.1307438

Yeah, I basically thought it was 1984 for women. I did like some of the criticisms of history though like when the mainly male historians at the end try not to judge because it's apparently not their place. I thought it was better than Oryx and Crake though - I still have no idea what point she was trying to put across with that CP escapade stuff. I mean, I liked snowman and stuff, why make him a pedo?

>> No.1307439

>>1307438

Sorry, 'with women' not 'for women'. Not meaning to be sexist here.