UKC

Winner of a clutch of major Emmys last night (best drama, best director, best actress, best supporting actress) and richly deserving thereof. Highly recommended if downright gruelling at times.

In reply to BnB:

I really enjoyed (perhaps the wrong word considering large parts were genuinely harrowing) it but went to watch the last episode, recorded on Freesat and it only recorded the first 7 minutes (I think it was during a heavy thunderstorm).

Its no longer available on All4 - does anyone know where (ahem) one might acquire the final episode perhaps?

In reply to yorkshireman:

Have any of you read the book too?

I always meant to read it, but could never quite face it.

In reply to Dan Arkle:

I've seen the feature film from 27 years ago, if that counts for anything

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Me too - but it was on crackly VHS - my girlfriend at uni was doing the book for her course.

As for the book, I understand that the TV series has extended/improved the story based on the original 'universe'. Could be one of those examples where it's better than the book maybe?

In reply to BnB:

One of the best books I've ever read, and one of those rare occasions where the TV adaptation is possibly even better. Not easy viewing at times but very thought provoking.

And bear in mind that it was all done before Trump came to power, it has proved remarkably prescient. There was one quite minor scene in particular - the day when all the women were told they could no longer hold jobs - that really stuck in my head. Outside there was an armed militia maintaining order - but as one of the women said "I don't think they are the police". Fast forward to Charlottesville.

In reply to yorkshireman:


I wasn't aware that there had been a film.


It was a very good book. Might have to check out the TV series.

In reply to hokkyokusei:

1990, directed by Volker Schlondorff and starring Natasha Richardson and Aidan Quinn. It was relatively high-profile for this sort of thing, mainly because Richardson was a rising star (and part of the Redgrave dynasty)

In reply to yorkshireman:


The book is a modern classic. I thought the TV series was good, but no it isn't superior to the book.

In reply to The New NickB:

Atwood has a magnificent brain. One of the most interesting speakers I've heard. She explained once that there is no form of persecution, no incidence of oppression of women, no perversion of religious text, no punishment meted out in her apparently fictional book that was not already prevalent in the real world at the time of its writing.

There are many harrowing examples but I particularly admired the scene in the operating theatre where the antisepticism of modern surgery meets medieval Hudud.

A quite brilliant and coruscating condemnation of our world and brought so frighteningly close to home in the TV dramatisation, which Atwood herself oversaw. I hope she's very proud of the result.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Agree fully with Chris. Very good book, pretty decent film version (with slightly too optimistic ending) and superb recent series. I am very interested to see where they go with the next series since they have reached the somewhat open end of the book, although it could deteriorate into an action thriller if not careful.

Putting 'handmaid's Tale episode 8' into google gives a lot of results although they do mostly look a bit dodgy. After the awards yesterday though I reckon Amazon or Netflix will have it available soon.

Alan

In reply to BnB:


I agree with that as well. I reckon that Handmaid's Tale will have the same status with future generations that Brave New World and 1984 have had in the last 50 years.

Alan

In reply to BnB:

Atwoods trilogy or Oryx and Crake was also a cracking read. The 1st book especially

In reply to BnB:

Watched the series then read the book in the hope I would find out what happens next. I was disappointed in that but not in the book.

In reply to BnB:

Great summary.

What made the TV adaptation so successful for me was that it stuck to exactly the same principles as the book - everything they added to flesh the story out was something which is happening to someone in the world right now.