I’m sure a book this well known needs no summary. I mean it has like two netflix adaptations and is taught in various high schools, so I’ll get to it.

I read it during high school, and didn’t have many new insights on it other than how scarily accurate and timely it is.

My friend on the other hand never heard of it, and went in totally blind. She thought it was kinda crazy how they kept calling it a theocracy when it was barely an ocracy, and how horrible it was to be a woman there. The flashbacks did confuse her because Offred would be musing about the present and then slip back into the past suddenly. Then, because she had been avoiding the news because its too depressing, I got to inform her why it’s scary accurate thanks to the Republicans Project 2025-2026 plan.

Then we got into different rabbit like child marriage is legal in 35 states (I thought it was more. Still half is not good), men are very emotionally fragile when it comes to money-they don’t like gold-diggers but they don’t feel manly if they’re not the breadwinner, like make up your mind! Also colds, a single cold can take them out. Then with how timely The Handmaid’s Tale is, how likely is Tender is the Flesh, we both agreed unlikely.

Yeah, that’s it. I’m sure there are plenty of more thorough analyses about the impact of The Handmaid’s Tale and its commentary on society and patriarchy that I’m not willing to write at the moment. Basically, 20 years later, it’s still ground-breaking and that’s a little bit sad.