> Books that are simply bad books and in addition to being bad take an aggressive, political bent. (eg: the handmaid's tale)

Weird example. The Handmaid's Tale is quite good.

Edit: wow, downvotes for stating a book is quite good. HN at its worst.

Edit 2: in fact it's so bizarre, also seeing other commenters here downvoted for saying Handmaid is a good book, that I struggled to see the reason for the ire. I'm not from the US, mind you, so it took me a while to add 2 and 2 and remember Atwood and Handmaid are in the current political climate of the US an anti-Trump stance. So that has to be the reason. Saying Handmaid is a good book implies you're anti-Trump and therefore invites downvotes (but also upvotes from the other camp, I'd guess). Wow.

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john_strinlai 37 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

i find that whenever walking into an HN post about books (or, oddly enough, anything regarding dark matter or dark energy), you are in for an absolutely wild ride of voting.

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SV_BubbleTime 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Was it? It was a thinly veiled world-building exercise on the subjection of women in Islam… then it ends. Nothing really happens.

The book and show have little in common, and holy hell the show got up its own ass more often than not.

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the_af 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I didn't mention the show, isn't this thread and article about books?

> It was a thinly veiled world-building exercise on the subjection of women in Islam… then it ends. Nothing really happens.

The Handmaid's Tale wasn't about Islam but about religious Christian fundamentalism and, by Atwood's own words, an extrapolation of trends she saw in the US.

It's a good book, it seems contentious to list it as a "bad book" as a given, and expect people to agree with you. It's an acclaimed book and well received by other authors.

> Nothing really happens.

Bizarre take.

In structure it has a lot of parallels to 1984, the protagonist is trapped in an oppressive regime seemingly without escape, some authority figures are ambiguous, there's some hope but it can turn into a trap, and finally a sort of open end (both Winston's and Offred's fates are implied but unresolved, though Offred's is more ambiguous) and a an epilogue explaining the regime and its implied downfall.

Do you also find 1984 as a novel where nothing happens?

	▲	SV_BubbleTime 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Nice interpretation, but maybe you should read some of her interviews. It’s about if Christianity didn’t reform and acted like Islam. It’s a fundamentalist religion story… and which is the only major religion to not go through a reformation? This is exactly my point you people are trying to make warnings and hysteria about fundamentalist religions… while bending over backwards to defend a fundamentalist religion that today subjugates women, and is the last remaining source of slavery in the world.