One down, ??? to go

I have completed my first book from my list: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I know this must be complete sacrilege to basically everyone in the world, but I was a bit unimpressed. Everyone, especially my older, science fiction-obsessed sister, always says "Oh, you have to read The Handmaid's Tale", "Oh, it's so great, it influenced everything", blahblahblah.
Well, I can definitely see where it was influential, but it had such a ... 80s? vibe to it that it was hard to take it completely serious. I don't mean 80s as in they were wearing purple overalls (which they were). I don't think I can explain that further, but it was just something off that was bothering me. I might have to re-read it to be able to explain it better (or at all), lol.
If it didn't have so much hype surrounding it, I honestly think I might have liked it a little better. So, I guess the problem I had with it is that it didn't live up to that hype. I'm a bit concerned about having 2 or 3 more books by Atwood on my list, but I'm definitely open to reading more of her. I read a summary of Cat's Eye and it sounded worth reading (I feel awful saying it like that). I guess I got a little carried away looking at her Wikipedia article and all of the books she's written.
Overall, I would definitely say The Handmaid's Tale was a good, really good even, book. It just wasn't great. This is going to sound strange, but I think the reason I may not be so over-the-moon for the book is that I take the storyline for granted. Religious fanatics take over and impose their ridiculous laws on women. The ground women lose just grows and grows until all women are separated into, basically, four groups: Wives, Handmaids, Marthas, and Aunts (also a couple other, but I'll leave it like that), all to serve the men and produce children. People are subject to the new laws, which are a ridiculous (I don't know why I keep using this word today, not just on here) interpretation of very specific bible passages, especially the story of Jacob, Rachel, and Bilhah. (I'm being sparse with detail intentionally, in case you're getting frustrated with my writing, I know reading back that I am.) There are so many things you read or watch on tv that are heavily influenced by ideas introduced (maybe?) by this book.

So, ending this long-winded babble about The Handmaid's Tale, I think the book was good. Well-written, good story, and, the most over-used phrase when describing books: thought provoking.