I read the book around 1990 (about 5 years after it first came out) and I don’t remember all that much about it. I know I was disappointed, in part because I didn’t think it was credible that any significant part of the US could degenerate into a theocracy in which women’s freedom would be so severely curtailed. And, to be honest, I still don’t find it entirely plausible, in spite of the facts that Mike Pence is VP and Justice Brett Kavanaugh sits on the Supreme Court, getting ready to eviscerate the right to abortion. My disappointment with the book didn’t stop me from watching the film (scripted by Harold Pinter and starring Natasha Richardson). To the best of my recollection, I didn’t find the film quite as bad as The Comfort of Strangers, which was also written by Pinter and starred Richardson. I haven’t watched the tv show but I might reread the book.

@artkavanagh you should take a closer look at the US ... start with the bottom right states and their essential banning of abortion ... consider the move towards reversing roe wade ... which will require the Supreme Court - but note how it is loaded ... that’s just the start - but it is the thin end of the wedge because these states are run by angry old white men who will do anything to hold on to their power - even by the fawning support of the misogynist in chief ... no it isn’t as bad as the hand maids tale ... but the journey ain’t done.

@JohnPhilpin I certainly don’t think there’s any reason to be complacent and I worry particularly about the lasting effects of Trump’s judicial appointments over the next 35–40 years, but the right wing has been behaving recently as if it’s spooked and digging in for a last-ditch battle. The significant thing about those “angry old white men” is that they’re old. It’s normal for people who are used to exercising power to want to extend that power beyond their own lifetimes, but I believe that those guys will become a spent force more quickly than we (and they) expect. I could be wrong, of course. I often (usually?) am 😉