Contemporary Books You’ll Love If You Liked The Handmaid’s Tale
In the wake of the #MeToo movement and with more bad news bombarding us every day, a dystopian novel depicting the extremes of a patriarchal society feels increasingly relevant. If you devoured Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and are looking for more novels that explore themes of gendered violence, feminism, and sexuality, here are five contemporary books you won’t want to miss.
1. The Red Word by Sarah Henstra
The Red Word follows a sophomore in college as she is confronted by two entirely conflicting ideologies: the problematic fraternity culture of her new boyfriend and the die-hard feminist perspectives of the women she comes to live with. The novel explores rape culture by looking at the extremes of opposing ideas, and how wanting to fit into each of them will ultimately cost everyone a painful price. The novel is heavy and horrific at times, but it is also smart and cutting and calculated. While it’s not a dystopian, I often wished it were as I read a chilling expose of Greek life that felt a little too on the nose.
2. Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
This new release comes from established journalist Lisa Taddeo and tackles what it means to be a woman and navigate both having sexual desires and being an object of sexual desire. Taddeo intimately follows three real women and their sex lives, retelling each of their stories in lyrical and compassionate detail thanks to almost ten years of reporting. Indulge in the story of a woman who comes to accept that she enjoys sleeping with people who aren’t her husband (with his full knowledge and consent), a young girl who falls in love with a professor and faces the crushing injustice of having her entire community reject her when he is tried for the inappropriate relationship, and a mother who’s husband refuses to kiss her and the lack of affection leads her down a slippery path to an equally complicated affair. Each story is told with rich detail, from the women’s backgrounds to their thoughts, and each of them is filled with moments that are devastating and unjust and fascinating all at once. This exploration of feminine desire is a must-read if you noted the way sexual desire was entirely written out of Offred’s world.
3. Night in the American Village by Akemi Johnson
Another nonfiction work derived from years of extensive research, Akemi Johnson’s Night in the American Village: Women in the Shadow of U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa touches on the violent and complicated history of Okinawa and the resulting sexual, racial, and political tensions that remain in place today. The horror of the scenes described match Atwood’s descriptions of a society ridden with unequal power dynamics and opposing ideologies. Each chapter is centered around a different woman Johnson met while in Okinawa and together their stories weave a picture of gendered violence, conflicting cultures, and the toll history takes on the present day. From the corrupt and blase manner with which sexual violence at the hands of the U.S. military presence is dealt with to the way Okinawan women fetishize members of the military, this work is thorough in its exploration of an island and handles its issue with intensity and care.
4. Henry and June by Anais Nin
While Henry and June is not a contemporary novel, it is a lesser-known work that has stood the test of time alongside The Handmaid’s Tale. Anais Nin was a prolific writer, and this work comes directly from her actual diaries in the year 1932. She falls in love with Henry Miller’s writing as she falls in love with his wife. Despite her own marriage and infatuation with June, she ends up having an affair with Henry. The novel is everything The Handmaid’s Tale is not; it is an exploration of a sexual awakening, a constant question of desire versus moral integrity, and a stunningly written account of one woman’s choice to put herself first in an honest way. The results are equal parts rewarding and disastrous, but the prose remains spectacular throughout the darkest and lightest moments of this work.
5. Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
Perhaps the closest in content to Atwood’s novel, Red Clocks showcases how dire a world would look if reproductive rights were taken away entirely. With five states banning abortion access in 2019 alone, this terrifying work of fiction mimics reality in poignant and upsetting ways. Zumas imagines a world in which abortion is illegal, a Pink Wall separates the U.S. from Canada to prevent women from traveling for abortion access, and single women are barred from having children. The story asks questions about what happens when women are denied the right to choose and imagines a world that isn’t as far off at Atwood’s, but instead feels eerily close.
