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?

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.