Here is a link to an essay on our Feb book by a professor at CSU Long Beach.
http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/AngelaCarter.html
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Annie: Loved the Book Wished I Were at the First Meeting
I am also bummed that I missed the first book club. I read a Handmaid's Tale last January (I found out I was pregnant while reading it - a bit odd and entertaining). I have been eager to talk with someone, anyone, about it and, of course, I missed it! Maxine and I were in REAL New Mexico with my husband (It is fun trying to get a photo of you and your daughter when no one is around to take it for you...).
Anyhow, I love the idea of the ending. Allowing us to decide for ourselves what happened. I also hate it. I love closure and I acknowledge that is the lazy side of me. I am sure everyone is CERTAIN the ending is one way or another. Was there any consensus as to whether Nick saved her or betrayed her?
The relationship between Offred and the Captain's wife was pretty discouraging, as well. The wife worked hard to appear to have self respect and really didn't. She also seemed to accept the social structure (playing a large role in creating it) and tries to accept a system that requires her to allow a woman in her home to foster a child for her. Yet, she treats the potential mother of her child terribly- obviously uncomfortable with the situation and has no apparent control over it. Did you discuss whether you felt she regretted her role in creating this system? Was there any discussion on how a person gets to a place where they are comfortable taking another's child? Also, come to think of it, I had a problem with the weak, beaten-down woman being older and a former beauty and the protagonist being a younger, fertile beauty. It would have been more appealing to me if Atwood had not sent an over-used message about women being bitter and helplessly angry when they age and cannot offer their beauty or fertility anymore. I think it would have been more interesting if she had addressed how women deal with aging and their self worth, as well. (How many issues can we discuss in one book?!) Seriously, I would like more positive aging messages for women and perhaps this isn't the book but I feel it is important to say.
I also thought it was a shame that Offred's best friend and outward feminist ended up being "punished" in the book. However - maybe I am not remembering correctly - but I think that, if I had to choose, that is where I would have rather been (as opposed to Offred's or the wife's role). At least she could speak her mind more than Offred and have semi-normal female relationships.
The booze fridge and little New Mexico sound perfect. I work at the end of the town and look forward to the next club meeting!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Molly's 2-cent ramble, with asides
I'm sorry I missed the first meeting, but we finally got our kiddo to actually sleep (!) on a regular schedule and I didn't want to mess it up.
I thought Handmaid's Tale, while well written was quite grim. In contrast, I found Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I read for another book group and that dealt with Islamic fascism and wife abuse, to be beautiful and hopeful.
For me, the book is very much a part of its time: post Reagan, with both Andrea Dworkin and Phyllis Schafly increasingly prominent, and reading it reminded me of my bleak years at the end of highschool and first few years of university. At my school, feminism was a with us or against us deal. The more radical women mistook misandry for feminism; when they should have been having the time of their lives, they denied and repressed their sexuality. There wasn't much room for someone like me, who read Susie Bright and Kathy Acker. (After graduation, I bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco and felt much better.)
I read a lot of Margaret Atwood throughout my teens, although Handmaid's Tale is the first book of hers I've read in over 20 years. Many of her female narrators are very similar to Offred; they tend to be passive or introspective, wishing they could be more like their daring or radical friends. However, in defense of Offred, I think she was smart enough to know that it was best to be outwardly conformist (as one of the more educated women in Hosseini's book does). "He who hides well, lives well." (Descartes)
The men in Atwood's books are weasly and weak, unfortunately -- not a lot of strong men in her books. So, Nick was a surprise -- he's the hero (but maybe he rescues Offred only because she's pregnant?) but you never saw it coming. Two cheers for Nick for screwing them over from the inside. (Plus, it was easy to picture Aidan Quinn as him...)
As to whether it could happen here, I doubt it. But then I'm sure all the female educators and doctors in Afghanistan never thought they'd become criminals or be forced to operate in burqas. Years ago, I hired a guy to remove a tree stump -- a bonafide redneck who constantly opined on everything -- and I remember him saying "just you wait, when the revolution comes it'll be guys like me [heavily armed, southern, no nonsense] that'll fuck them over." So, if it does happen, let's hope he and his buddies can keep their word (and get their trucks to start).
I did like the ending; it seemed appropriate to have a symposium on what is (in our reality, as the reader) a theoretical society -- for a moment, I thought I was truly reading an afterward by independent scholars. It was a neat little trick.
As a Canadian I appreciated that there was a university in the great north: Nunavut wasn't officially declared a territory until 14 years after Handmaid's Tale was published; the Dene (Denay) are the first nations people in the area. Oh, and the "Particicution" was a play on a governmental fitness program popular when I was a kid called Participaction -- I laughed out loud, albeit inappropriately, when I read that scene since in phys ed, we often made fun of Participaction and its goofy theme song. Why does everything have a theme song?
::
I'm happy to host the next meeting (I'm all for whoever suggests the book host the event, just for variety). We live at Camino Seco and O.S.T. -- "practically New Mexico" as we've been told, so I won't be offended if it's deemed too far a journey for the majority. However, we have lots of room, lots of parking, and a booze fridge in the garage.
I thought Handmaid's Tale, while well written was quite grim. In contrast, I found Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I read for another book group and that dealt with Islamic fascism and wife abuse, to be beautiful and hopeful.
For me, the book is very much a part of its time: post Reagan, with both Andrea Dworkin and Phyllis Schafly increasingly prominent, and reading it reminded me of my bleak years at the end of highschool and first few years of university. At my school, feminism was a with us or against us deal. The more radical women mistook misandry for feminism; when they should have been having the time of their lives, they denied and repressed their sexuality. There wasn't much room for someone like me, who read Susie Bright and Kathy Acker. (After graduation, I bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco and felt much better.)
I read a lot of Margaret Atwood throughout my teens, although Handmaid's Tale is the first book of hers I've read in over 20 years. Many of her female narrators are very similar to Offred; they tend to be passive or introspective, wishing they could be more like their daring or radical friends. However, in defense of Offred, I think she was smart enough to know that it was best to be outwardly conformist (as one of the more educated women in Hosseini's book does). "He who hides well, lives well." (Descartes)
The men in Atwood's books are weasly and weak, unfortunately -- not a lot of strong men in her books. So, Nick was a surprise -- he's the hero (but maybe he rescues Offred only because she's pregnant?) but you never saw it coming. Two cheers for Nick for screwing them over from the inside. (Plus, it was easy to picture Aidan Quinn as him...)
As to whether it could happen here, I doubt it. But then I'm sure all the female educators and doctors in Afghanistan never thought they'd become criminals or be forced to operate in burqas. Years ago, I hired a guy to remove a tree stump -- a bonafide redneck who constantly opined on everything -- and I remember him saying "just you wait, when the revolution comes it'll be guys like me [heavily armed, southern, no nonsense] that'll fuck them over." So, if it does happen, let's hope he and his buddies can keep their word (and get their trucks to start).
I did like the ending; it seemed appropriate to have a symposium on what is (in our reality, as the reader) a theoretical society -- for a moment, I thought I was truly reading an afterward by independent scholars. It was a neat little trick.
As a Canadian I appreciated that there was a university in the great north: Nunavut wasn't officially declared a territory until 14 years after Handmaid's Tale was published; the Dene (Denay) are the first nations people in the area. Oh, and the "Particicution" was a play on a governmental fitness program popular when I was a kid called Participaction -- I laughed out loud, albeit inappropriately, when I read that scene since in phys ed, we often made fun of Participaction and its goofy theme song. Why does everything have a theme song?
::
I'm happy to host the next meeting (I'm all for whoever suggests the book host the event, just for variety). We live at Camino Seco and O.S.T. -- "practically New Mexico" as we've been told, so I won't be offended if it's deemed too far a journey for the majority. However, we have lots of room, lots of parking, and a booze fridge in the garage.
Friday, January 18, 2008
What we discussed
Here is a report from the very first meeting of the mama book club. We were sorry that some of you couldn't make it, but nonetheless had a great time. We even managed to stay on task about half the time, when we weren't discussing our children's eating and sleeping habits. I found it interesting that we posed a lot of questions about the book, and never fully answered any of them. I am hoping that we can continue the discussion here. Who was present? Kelly, Bridget and Edie, Rachel and Ila, Erin and Santiago and myself and Joe.
Is this a feminist or antifeminist book? Yes, Margaret Atwood is a feminist, yet, the "old" feminists are not portrayed very well in the book, the main character is passive throughout her life, and her fierce friend Moira ends up a prostitute. Why is the main character so passive? Is M. Atwood implying that we are all complacent in the atrocities that go on? What happened at the end? Why did she choose to end the book that way? (We felt a bit let down by the ending) Why are the only female characters who are named Moira and Janine (and the aunts? Are those their real names?) Incidentally, apparently you can infer in the beginning that the narrator's name is June.
Some of the questions that came up:
Any thoughts on this?
How plausible do you find this scenario? We found some obvious parallels to the U.S. in the recent years. Do you find the book hopeful or hopeless? We thought that it was hopeful: that no regime can keep people down forever.
Any other issues anyone wants to raise?
We have decided to meet again on February 23, and to read the book that Molly recommended: Night Circus by Angela Carter (whom I haven't read, so I look forward to reading her). Other recommendations for the near future: Reading Lolita in Teheran and Eat, Pray, Love. We haven't decided who will host the next meeting, but that will be easily decided. I can definitely host again.
Two more things: 1) Wikipedia has some nice information about The Handmaid's Tale, especially if you were confused by how Gilead is run (and why is it called Gilead anyway?) 2) Did you know that The Book Stop opened on 4th Ave, they have a great selection, and never any customers inside? So next time you are on 4th Ave, pay them a visit. Maybe they have Angela Carter books, too.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
book review from 1986
The NYT review by Mary McCarthy is available online, and is a very interesting little time capsule (I wonder if McCarthy still avoids credit cards?):
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEEDC143DF93AA35751C0A960948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
(For those who aren't finished reading the book, beware that there are a few spoilers in the review.)
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEEDC143DF93AA35751C0A960948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
(For those who aren't finished reading the book, beware that there are a few spoilers in the review.)
Strangely relevant...
Hey gals
I came across this article in the times last week and it seemed interesting and relevant to our current book choice (it actually even mentions the book):
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/outsourced-wombs/index.html?ref=opinion
Looking forward to next week!
I came across this article in the times last week and it seemed interesting and relevant to our current book choice (it actually even mentions the book):
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/outsourced-wombs/index.html?ref=opinion
Looking forward to next week!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
The inaugural post
Hello, literary mamas!
The inaugural meeting of the mom and baby book club will take place on Saturday, January 19. We are reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. We will meet at our house. I will email you directions soon. In the meantime, I hope that you are making progress with the book. I flew through it.
I thought that it may be nice to have discussions about the books here. I have never been in a book club before, so have obviously never moderated a book club meeting. Therefore, as I am struggling to come up with questions for discussion, I encourage you to start posting questions, thoughts, ideas, about The Handmaid's Tale, totalitarian societies, radical feminism, the choice of reading, the next book we should read, what kind of food I should prepare for our first meeting, how we will entertain 10+ small children while trying to do something intellectual...
Feel free to invite any of your friends (not necessarily moms) to join the blog, if they wish to do so.
I look forward to meeting you all!
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