The Testaments: A Novel (The Handmaid's Tale)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE - A modern masterpiece that "reminds us of the power of truth in the face of evil" (People)--and can be read on its own or as a sequel to Margaret Atwood's classic, The Handmaid's Tale. "Atwood's powers are on full display" (Los Angeles Times) in this deeply compelling Booker Prize-winning novel, now updated with additional content that explores the historical sources, ideas, and material that inspired Atwood. More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results. Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third: Aunt Lydia. Her complex past and uncertain future unfold in surprising and pivotal ways. With The Testaments, Margaret Atwood opens up the innermost workings of Gilead, as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.
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Community Reviews
Although I enjoyed diving back into Gilead and seeing its collapse, the ending was too clean and perfect. Itâs unrealistic to imagine these two characters finding each other and being the catalysts for the implosion. And the villain who got redemption didnât deserve it. Iâm supposed to believe she was just playing the long game?!?!
Can’t compare to the depth and powerful social predictions of the Handmaids tale. She brushed over so many key questions!
What happens to Gilead in the end?
I saw a brief interview with Margaret Atwood in which she said something to the effect of having to write this sequel because of what’s happening in our world and here in the US now, thirty-five years after the publication of The Handmaid’s Tale. She also stated that everything in the books or the show has a precedent in human history—it HAS all actually happened.
Must as I found the ending of the first book uncomfortable and not completely satisfying, so too did I with the sequel. I’m one of those readers who likes my plots tied with neat little bows at the end of the book, or at least to know that a subsequent book will tell me what happens next.
Atwood’s strength is in her ability to make the reader decide what happens after the book ends. The Testaments do not take up immediately where Handmaid’s Tale ended; it is told from the divergent yet entwined perspectives of characters we’ve already met with the huge, almost palpable, exception of one character you would expect to hear from in this book.
These two books should be required reading in all high schools, and I believe anyone who hasn’t read them should do so as well. They are a cautionary tale, and the fates they caution against are actually starting to happen in tiny ways. If we don’t stop the snowball from rolling down the hill first, Gilead could become reality. We can’t let that happen.
I saw a brief interview with Margaret Atwood in which she said something to the effect of having to write this sequel because of what’s happening in our world and here in the US now, thirty-five years after the publication of The Handmaid’s Tale. She also stated that everything in the books or the show has a precedent in human history—it HAS all actually happened.
Must as I found the ending of the first book uncomfortable and not completely satisfying, so too did I with the sequel. I’m one of those readers who likes my plots tied with neat little bows at the end of the book, or at least to know that a subsequent book will tell me what happens next.
Atwood’s strength is in her ability to make the reader decide what happens after the book ends. The Testaments do not take up immediately where Handmaid’s Tale ended; it is told from the divergent yet entwined perspectives of characters we’ve already met with the huge, almost palpable, exception of one character you would expect to hear from in this book.
These two books should be required reading in all high schools, and I believe anyone who hasn’t read them should do so as well. They are a cautionary tale, and the fates they caution against are actually starting to happen in tiny ways. If we don’t stop the snowball from rolling down the hill first, Gilead could become reality. We can’t let that happen.
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