The Testaments: A Novel (The Handmaid's Tale)

I absolutely loved The Testaments. As a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, it exceeded my expectations: richly layered, fast-paced, and deeply satisfying. Atwood masterfully returns to the world of Gilead, not to repeat the past but to expand it, giving us new perspectives and, finally, a sense of possibility. Told through the voices of three women, including the formidable Aunt Lydia, we get an inside look at the regime’s inner workings and its cracks. Each narrative adds depth and urgency, and I found myself racing through the chapters, eager to see how their stories would converge. While The Handmaid’s Tale left us in suspense, The Testaments offers a sense of resolution without losing the sharp critique and moral complexity that made the original so powerful. Atwood doesn’t just revisit Gilead: she reshapes it. This sequel felt both timely and timeless, and I truly couldn’t put it down. For fans of The Handmaid’s Tale, it is not just a worthy follow-up: it’s essential.

Popcorn and candy bars, or filet mignon -- which do you prefer? Of course that’s something of a ridiculous question. If you’re like me, you love both, and they both are excellent treats, not meant for daily consumption. However, sometimes popcorn and candy bars make more sense, and junky food like that is what you want, and at other times filet mignon is what’s needed to make your soul complete. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting from this sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. It was a good read, and I raced through it, but it felt like eating popcorn and candy bars, whereas reading The Handmaid's Tale feels like eating filet mignon. Atwood is undoubtedly in a very different place now (along with the entire world) than when The Handmaid's Tale was written back in the 1980’s, and I have to imagine that has something to do with it, but The Testaments feels very direct and plot-driven, whereas The Handmaid's Tale was more poetic and ambiguous. Some of that may have to do with the story itself -- June’s story in The Handmaid's Tale was created under circumstances that lent themselves to hiding, ambiguity, and even poetry and lyricism, whereas the accounts of the three women in The Testaments are much more direct, having been made either from a place of power, both known and secret (Aunt Lydia) or from a place of relief and retrospectiveness (Agnes and Nicole). Atwood beautifully begins the three stories as independent tales, but slowly begins to intertwine them in sometimes predictable but also surprising ways. Unlike The Handmaid's Tale, there is more of a real conclusion to the story in this book. It’s so definite that I would be tremendously surprised if there was a third book in this series. It also ends with another Gilead research symposium transcript as at the end of The Handmaid's Tale, which serves to flesh out even more of the ending of the story. However, I wonder if Atwood was being a little sneaky here -- did anyone else notice that these Gilead researchers were spending part of their time playing with Gileadean things, such as the Recreational Gilead Period Hymn Sing and the Period Costume Reenactment Day? It struck me as odd, and I have to wonder if this was Atwood’s way of warning us that even seemingly beneficial fascination with, and study of, historical periods can be like playing with fire, risking planting the seeds of repeating history. It just sounded too much like things like Civil War reenactors and all of that worship of the Civil War era, which is still very much with us today. Also, I was glad to see that Aunt Lydia really did have a soul in this book. We have gotten glimpses of that in the TV show, of course, but I always felt that there was more there, and The Testaments gives some pretty satisfying answers to her motivation, although still on the popcorn level and not that of the filet mignon. The passages recounting the way in which Aunt Lydia became one of the founders of Gilead’s version of a convent were some of the most fascinating and satisfying in the whole book. All in all, this book was well worth the read and I enjoyed it immensely.

Overall: An interesting, engaging, fast-paced sequel that fans of Handmaid’s Tale will enjoy. Slightly contrived and predictable but still a very fun read that I could not put down. Hard to live up to the first one, but this one is definitely worth reading and did not disappoint. 7.5/10 Summary: In this sequel, we are following three separate storylines a decade and a half after the conclusion to The Handmaid’s Tale. The main story line in “The Testaments” is a spy-like thriller about a mole living inside Gilead. This individual is working with the Mayday resistance to help bring down the evil empire. The three narrators we follow include: Aunt Lydia (aunt in Gilead), Nicole who is now a young woman of 16 living in Canada under another name, and Agnes Jemima who has grown up in Gilead with foster parents. The Good: I had very high expectations for this book as I would for any sequel of an original book I adored; though this did not live up to all my expectations, it did not disappoint and I really enjoyed it. This is a fast-paced, can’t get out of your head or put it down type of read. I enjoyed the storylines of all three narrators. Several twists I did not see coming so I loved the anticipation and surprise. But overall, my favorite part of this book was the overall resounding theme of hope. In the Handmaid’s Tale, I felt like we were plunged head first into the nightmare that was Gilead whereas in this one, hope or the ability to achieve hope, is the biggest theme throughout all three storylines. The Bad: The main plot line is a bit contrived with a few two many coincidences to be believable. Some clichés and I found several parts to be predictable. Favorite Quotes: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one most travelled by. It was littered with corpses, as such roads are. But as you will have noticed, my own corpse is not among them.” “You don’t believe the sky is falling until a chunk of it falls on you.” “Once a story you’ve regarded as true has turned false, you begin suspecting all stories.” “All that was necessary was a law degree and a uterus: a lethal combination.” “Still, I wanted to believe; indeed I longed to; and, in the end, how much of belief comes from longing?” “It’s better that way, and I am a great proponent of better. In the absence of best.”

I cannot recommend this book enough. A beautifully written masterpiece that perfectly wraps up the events of The Handmaids Tale. I will definitely be reading this one again!!!!

I was very excited about this book, having read The Handmaid's Tale only a few years ago, followed the TV series and watched many interviews with Margaret Attwood including several specifically about the publication of this book. I'm never keen to read a hardback so had waited until the paperback was available. It's just over 400 pages split into 70 chapters of fairly small type. I had some expectations of the plot but decided not to read any of the blurb. From the start this novel pulled in the reader. It is essential to have read The Handmaid's Tale first in order to be aware of Gilead. Life has moved on since the first book and we are now outside, looking in. There are three narrators, one is writing a secret account and the other two appear to be giving some sort of evidence to court. Everything is disorientating and MA wants the reader to be uncomfortable. The relationship between Canada and Gilead is difficult with the story showing the range of opinions in Canada - differences between the free world and the captive world are shown continually with Gilead being portrayed as evil/corrupt. It's fascinating to learn about Gilead from the very different experiences and understand some of it's history. The three females show their perspectives and varying levels of understanding. Aunt Lydia has adapted to save herself. Agnes is starting to question her environment and her innocence is used to reveal many of the horrors around her. Daisy is confused and unsure of her background. MA has a glorious way that she uses words. She has an extensive vocabulary of which she makes good use. The short chapter format could easily be distracting but isn't at all. The chapters are clustered together and alternate between the women giving the reader plenty of points at which they can stop and think about what is happening. The pace of the plot varies in the three accounts. One is very reflective and gives lots of back story whereas the other two are much more action packed. A huge fascination is that they have all been written retrospectively with many hints about the future of Gilead. As I was reading I have no idea the way that the plot was going to go. Towards the end there were a few plot elements which didn't seem to be necessary (infected arm and the inflatable to give two examples) but the ending was very satisfying and I loved how MA ties this book into the previous book so well.

Good book. Received in good condition.

One of the finest reads. The print is legible and cheap

E' un gran romanzo. D'altronde Atwood è una maestra e questo è il superbo proseguimento dei Racconti dell'Ancella, ma si può leggere anche senza conoscere il primo celeberrimo libro. E' un romanzo corale, con protagoniste forti e indimenticabili, che sa creare una forte tensione e portare a molte riflessioni sulla nostra società. L'unica pecca è un finale che risulta un po' affrettato, ma forse perché ci piacerebbe stare di più con questa gran bella scrittura.