The Testaments by
Margaret Atwood
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
4 stars for the audiobook format. Ann Dowd, Mae Whitman and Bryce Dallas-Howard as narrators :)
I was so freaking excited for this sequel and preordered it early. I knew that it took place around 15 years after The Handmaid's Tale but other than that I didn't have any expectations. I was confused upon beginning the book to discover that Offred is not one of the narrators in this novel. Although upon reading Atwood's statements as to why she did this, I understand. In this novel, we hear from three women, Aunt Lydia, Agnes Jemima (whom we [the reader] know to be Hannah, June's daughter) and Daisy. Though the first person narrator of Aunt Lydia, we are introduced to a completely different side of this woman than previously portrayed. Honestly, her character was one of the more redeeming qualities of the book; Her character being the most complex of all presented in the novel. Daisy is a very static character unfortunately. There is a lot more plot in this novel and switching between the different voices, which is very different from the first novel. Also, the tone is completely different almost separating these novels from each other and only connecting them by a thin thread of Offred and Gilead as a whole.
Fans of Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, Homegoing, or An American Marriage would enjoy elements of this book.
**SPOILERS** I think we (as a society) needed this book as a manual for hope. Both novels echo the current climate of the country and after 3 years of this nonsense in the White House, we needed to know that escape from totalitarianism is possible.
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