A Dystopian Novel Love Story
True confession: I have always loved young adult/middle-grade dystopian novels. Okay, always is a strong word, how about this: it feels like I’ve loved dystopian novels before I met them. It all started when someone recommended The Hunger Games just as I was leaving my sleep-deprived-mom-of-babies season and getting back into good books, and it’s grown since then.
Seriously, I love them all — I read the Divergent series and assigned it to my little homeschoolers along with The Hunger Games long before they were technically old enough for it. I read 1984 for the first time on audio and got so into it that I tried to get everyone I knew to read it. I fell hard for The Giver quartet and spent quite a while in the Lois Lowry universe.
Now I’m starting to dip my toes into the next level. Last year I read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood on audio, and couldn’t put it down. Last week I started reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler on audio, and it’s so, so good.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
I’ve started entering what I’m now calling my “Dystopian Novel-loving Phase 2.0” because, after many years of trying, failing, and procrastinating, I’ve finally fallen in love with Margaret Atwood’s classic The Handmaid's Tale. It’s a lovely used copy that’s been on my shelf for years.
I may have bought this copy of The Handmaid's Tale to commemorate my first true Boston bookshop experience back in 2018. (That’s a funny thing I do when I travel — I buy a book or two when I visit new cities and get a thrill years later when I see the sticker on the back reminding me where I bought it.) Or maybe a friend donated her old copy to me, I’m not sure.
I remember wanting to read it so badly but giving up after a couple of chapters and hating myself for it.
Then, this past November, I found myself wanting to read The Handmaid's Tale with fresh fervor. Because I had an itch for dystopian novels. Because Margaret Atwood’s name popped into my mind out of nowhere. But since all of my books have been packed away in a storage unit since we started living on the road again, I couldn’t get my hands on my copy. Until last month, when we visited our storage unit to swap out a few things and I saw my old copy right there at the top of one of my book boxes.
It felt like it had been waiting for me, calling to me even.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
When I opened the cover and started reading the author’s note at the beginning, I knew exactly why.
Margaret Atwood’s words there brought me to tears.
Tears of rage.
Tears of heartbreak.
Tears of wanting to help in some way.
Here’s some of what it said (underlines mine)⤵
It says a lot more than that — a lot more, and the fact that she wrote this novel in 1984 and then wrote this particular author letter for the anniversary edition in 2017 speaks volumes to me. It’s a letter that’s prompting me to try to do more, say more, and be more to stop these dystopian worlds I love to read about in novels from becoming our reality.
I love it when this happens — when reading a simple little novel makes me think, challenges me, and sparks something so deep it has the power to change minds, lives, and maybe even a nation.
Because I used to be someone who participated in using religion as control, dare I say tyranny. Because I used to be someone who gave away her right to think freely and could have considered books like 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale dangerous, even “evil” if the right person had told me to consider it as such. Because I’m no longer that person and I have no longer given that away.
This is why I read.
This is why I write.
It’s why I’m so grateful you are my Dear Reader and we’re here together every Friday reading and writing together.
💛
One more for dystopian novel lovers. . .
As of right this moment, I’ve officially found something new and fun for my next dystopian read. While following book links for this message, I discovered that the new Suzanne Collins Hunger Games prequel Sunrise on the Reaping is available for pre-order today— eek! Now I’m anxiously waiting for March 18th.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
This morning, I can’t help but wonder — do you have a favorite dystopian novel or series? If you do and you’d be willing to share it with me, please do! I’m traveling to another new city in a couple of weeks and I desperately need something to buy there. Shoot me a message.
Happy reading,
💛 Celeste