{"id":37255,"date":"2020-03-17T20:39:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T00:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37255"},"modified":"2020-03-17T20:39:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T00:39:55","slug":"review-of-the-testaments-by-margaret-atwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37255","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Testaments<\/em><\/p>\n

by Margaret Atwood<\/p>\n

Nan A. Talese, Doubleday, 2019. 419 pages.
\nReview written February 26, 2020, from a library book
\nStarred Review
\n2019 Booker Prize Winner<\/p>\n

The Testaments<\/em> is a sequel to The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>, which I\u2019ve actually never read. (Though I remember it was a Book of the Month Club selection long ago when I was a member. At the time, I didn\u2019t like books where religious people were the villains.) I have watched the TV series, though, on library DVDs. Normally, I wouldn\u2019t let that substitute for reading a book, but while the series was riveting, it\u2019s an extremely unpleasant story, and I didn\u2019t actually want to absorb myself in it again. I did have enough information to completely understand what was going on in this sequel. This book will be more enjoyable if you\u2019ve read the original book or watched the series, though.<\/p>\n

This book is told from three perspectives, all three writing about what happened in the past (which is why it\u2019s called The Testaments<\/em>). One perspective is that of Aunt Lydia, an important person in the administration of Gilead, in charge of women\u2019s matters. Along the way, we learn about Aunt Lydia\u2019s background and how she came to power.<\/p>\n

The other two perspectives are the daughters of Jude, the Handmaid who tells the story in the first book. (They don\u2019t tell you that right away, but it\u2019s not difficult to figure out.) One of them was smuggled out of Gilead as a baby. She only finds out about her background when the couple she thought were her parents were killed by a bomb. The other was the little girl taken from Jude when she was first captured while fleeing Gilead. She, too, must learn that those she thinks are her parents are not really her parents. In fact, when her \u201cmother\u201d dies and her \u201cfather\u201d takes a new wife, the stepmother wants her out of the house, so plans to marry her off at thirteen.<\/p>\n

I do have some arguments with the idea that Gilead would have gotten enough people behind it to pull off a new country and a new repressive government. But that\u2019s simply the assumption here. In this book, the girls grow to be young adults, and the reader learns both what it\u2019s like to grow up in Gilead and what happened to the characters after The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Margaret Atwood\u2019s prose is riveting. I began reading this book on a sick day. I did two things that day \u2013 slept and read. And I didn\u2019t go to sleep for the night until I\u2019d finished the book. Even with three perspectives, the plot doesn\u2019t lag at any point. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

margaretatwood.ca<\/a>
\nnanatalese.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Fiction\/testaments.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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