The Testaments - The Library of the Uncommons

448 pages

English language

Published Aug. 23, 2020 by Penguin Random House.

ISBN:: 978-1-78470-821-4

(4 reviews)

When the van door slammed on Offred's future at the end of The Handmaid's Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her--freedom, prison or death.

With The Testaments, the wait is over.

Margaret Atwood's sequel picks up the story more than fifteen years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.

In this brilliant sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, acclaimed author Margaret Atwood answers the questions that have tantalized readers for decades.

1 edition

Nesdy reviewed The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale, #2)

Review of 'Testaments' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

The influence from the show is clear in this, and I really liked that. Even though it is its own thing, it feels complimentary to the TV show, I feel like fans of the show would take a lot from this too and viceversa.

I liked the protagonists in this much more than Offred in the original. Offred's narration is very detached, which is understandable, she's also trying to protect herself from feeling or thinking too much about her situation, but that doesn't make for an engaging reading experience. I felt a stronger connection to these characters.

<spoiler>I think the three different POVs are very smart, since you have the girl who's been raised in Gilead, the girl who's been raised outside of Gilead and one of the founding Aunts, so you get very different perspectives on the situation. I loved Aunt Lydia's POV, she's such a complex character, and …

The influence from the show is clear in this, and I really liked that. Even though it is its own thing, it feels complimentary to the TV show, I feel like fans of the show would take a lot from this too and viceversa.

I liked the protagonists in this much more than Offred in the original. Offred's narration is very detached, which is understandable, she's also trying to protect herself from feeling or thinking too much about her situation, but that doesn't make for an engaging reading experience. I felt a stronger connection to these characters.

<spoiler>I think the three different POVs are very smart, since you have the girl who's been raised in Gilead, the girl who's been raised outside of Gilead and one of the founding Aunts, so you get very different perspectives on the situation. I loved Aunt Lydia's POV, she's such a complex character, and I love that the novel is very neutral towards her: yes she's done terrible things, but it's not all black and white, in her own way she is also a victim and a survivor. </spoiler>

The writing is once again very engaging and I read it quite quickly.