An innocent yet oppressed person attempts to gain agency and identity while under the influence a ruthless totalitarian regime. Queue the hazy flashbacks to “better times”. Queue the righteous, underdog rebellion organizations that our character affiliates themselves with during their adventure. Queue the violent public punishments that the totalitarian regime inflicts upon the oppressed, carefully inserted to get us all really mad.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed The Handmaids Tale. It carries a legitimate message about gender and religion, how a society fixated on them
operates, and how that society is so similar to ours. Also, I am aware that this book was released in 1985, before the Hunger Games, Divergent, Snowpiercer or any of those other generic dystopic stories existed. Yet that doesn’t change the fact that The Handmaids Tale still fits into that same Xerox mold. I can practically see the mandated overcast skies, the old buildings falling apart, and the sullen faces of those at the bottom of the food chain. Unfortunately, as someone born into a dystopia obsessed generation, it is way too Déjà vu for me to handle.

In Atwood’s defense, I can easily see here writing this book differently in 2016. She would definitely stray away from this overused, blockbuster universe in favor of a more unique setting, allowing bored readers like me to take the narrative more seriously. In fact, a quick Google search reveals that her most recent novels stray away from the mold. The plot summary of her book The Heart Goes Last also reveals a dystopic world, but one that is actually really unique and as far as I know, the first of its kind.