I did read this first as a teenager and it was one if the few books that really disturbed me. On an adult read, Imdefinitely understood more that eluded teenage me -- but, somehow understanding more made it even more disturbing. Old lady me (with decades of seeing gender politics, discrimination, how so many are silenced/abused/kept-down, sex as damned-if-you-do/damned-if-you-don't/wrong-however-done/give-up-power, rape culture and rape apologists) see what continually rears up even in today's headlines and politics where you see the seeds of exactly what Atwood imagined ... I think a re-read today would scare me shitless or exhaust me.
I did read this first as a teenager and it was one if the few books that really disturbed me. On an adult read, Imdefinitely understood more that eluded teenage me -- but, somehow understanding more made it even more disturbing. Old lady me (with decades of seeing gender politics, discrimination, how so many are silenced/abused/kept-down, sex as damned-if-you-do/damned-if-you-don't/wrong-however-done/give-up-power, rape culture and rape apologists) see what continually rears up even in today's headlines and politics where you see the seeds of exactly what Atwood imagined ... I think a re-read today would scare me shitless or exhaust me.