The Testaments: The Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale

Not in a very great while have I been able to finish a 400+ page book in 24 hours, which is precisely what happened with "The Testaments". I love reading and am a fairly fast-paced with a good book, but with my day job and my second "professional hobby" as a sound engineer it's very difficult for me to get in 20-30 pages of quality reading in any given day/night. It sadly takes me close to 3-4 weeks each to read fantasy novels like the A Song of Ice and Fire or Wheel of Time series.However...I basically put my life on pause for this book, as soon as I started reading it (and listening to it, more on that in a bit). Having binged "The Handmaid's Tale" series on Hulu earlier this summer and subsequently reading the original 1985 novel, the way this book adds to its previous media (including, very heavily I might add, the TV series) is absolutely delightful. This is an example where the author has the readers'/viewers' interest in mind, and is not just some bombastic continuation of the story just to sell copies.That being said, the book is broken up into 3 sections, all being told retrospectively some years after the last season of "The Handmaid's Tale":1) Aunt Lydia, from her stance as basically the matriarch of Gilead;2) Daisy, a teenager in Toronto during the prime days of Gilead;3) Agnes, who, if you've watched the TV series, you already know who this character is.This book finds itself in a very unique position not common in sequels because of the mixed background of any possible reader. It could stand alone okay, but not nearly as well as serving as the direct follow up to just the novel. But for the ultimate experience - it does fan service to those who have read and watched "The Handmaid's Tale". Because the show still has a little bit to go (who knows how long) the time distance and the plot points set in "The Testaments" surprisingly do not write each other into a corner, but provides even more anticipation for how the entire timeline of Gilead will be explored. It's like the tightening of a fishing line in a pond - you know something's at the end and you're excited to have caught it, but reeling it all in is part of the experience - and that will be the job of the last seasons of the show.There are some great twists and turns in this book as there is in the preceding media, however it is best to leave all detail out. I am going to admit - being the harsh critic that I am - some of the ending does seem a bit forced especially on Aunt Lydia's part and I was able to predict a few things quite far in advance - but I've consumed all the previous media. A few predicable details did not deter me from reading any further, particularly during the beginning it even had a paradoxical effect: enhancing the experience as I turned the pages...or the seconds of the audiobook.In another unique twist of my own accord - I actually started 'The Testaments' with Audible when I was at work (and I typically despise audiobooks unless I'm on a solo road trip) and this is one of those rare exceptions (to me) where the audiobook might be even more compelling than just the text on a page. The main reason: Ann Dowd, the phenomenal actress that plays Aunt Lydia in the TV series, reads her sections in that familiar piously strict voice of hers that we all love to hate from the Show. Bryce Dallas Howard and Mae Whitman also NAIL their respective characters' "voice" and I was sucked into the beginning 10 chapters while crunching numbers at work and I'm so glad I did. It felt more like a radio broadcast than anything else and is part of why I sped through this book. Even if you've read this already, play the audiobook if you have some hours to kill. You won't regret it.If you're a fan of the Gilead alternate universe (let's face it, no one is a fan of Gilead itself...but you know what I mean) then this is essential reading, obviously. If you've only read the novel, I highly suggest watching the entire series (and if you are in the middle of it, you should finish it). The whole is MUCH greater than the sum of its parts, a rare feat for a "mixed media" type of experience.

It's tricky to mess with a classic. I think it's mostly because once a piece of art attains "classic" status, almost all of those who have experienced it - in the case of a classic book - read it, now feel like they own it. Books and films in particular have a hard to define participatory effect where the reader becomes part of the story and therefore defines the story and characters according to their own interior perspective and thought process. When it comes to either the most revered classics and/or books that achieve their renown via first person, possibly unreliable narrator who exists in a world not fully sketched out and purposely left hazy as a storytelling device, the more the reader will tend to go ahead and sketch that world out with their own assumptions. This means that said classic book becomes something slightly different for every fan, taking on a particular shape and form that becomes almost talismanic for some, quasi-holy for others. It would be hard to find a book published in the last half century more revered than The Handmaid's Tale, so when we all saw the announcement that Margaret Atwood was bringing a sequel, we also all knew there would much hand-wringing and kvetching no matter WHAT the next chapter focused on. For my money, you couldn't ask for a better continuation of the story.I first read The Handmaid's Tale last year. It had nothing to do with the TV show or cultural resurgence of the story and it's oh so prescient themes. It was just on my bookshelf of "VERY IMPORTANT BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ SOMEDAY" and I finally got around to it. As a 49 year old white middle-class male raised in a middle-class Mid-Atlantic USA type of world I really didn't think it would be a home run for me. I was wrong. I fell down the same hole that so many others have found themselves tumbling through into Gilead and the murky, strange world of Offred. I love the entire thing, including the post-script... thought about it for about two weeks, then moved on with my life. I haven't ever been interested in the TV show. When I saw The Testaments up for order, I figured I should at least see what shape the story would take and I hit the buy button. Now I have just finished it and not only was it what I was hoping for but I don't think anyone could hope for anything better than this, in regard to gaining perspective and context on what led up to the previous book as well as the fallout of the events that take place in The Handmaid's Tale.As mentioned, there will always be some that don't WANT perspective and/or context on a classic, timeless allegorical and prophetic novel. For me though, it was fascinating. Seeing motivations peeled back, repercussions revealed and a legacy played out over a new generation added immensely to the previous story and only made it more emotional and tender to me. Sometimes when a story ends you almost don't want to know what happens to a certain protagonist and sometimes you are just itching to know more. I wasn't sure how I felt about Offred and/or the entire cultural landscape in the Handmaid's Tale, but now that I know more, it all just feels deeper and more meaningful to me.I'm trying hard to not put any spoilers in this review, even light ones, so there's a lot I don't want to say. I will put it like this. If The Handmaid's Tale was a close-up on one character, The Testaments is a panning, wide-shot of an entire culture that encompasses three main viewpoints and ties together in a satisfying and logical way. It does take a few chapters to build up some steam, but trust me when I say, once the story gains momentum - it moves along quickly and flows in some unexpected directions.Sequels written decades later can end up really crashing hard sometimes, but in the hands of such a talented author, you get a book like The Testaments. It meshes perfectly with the previous story while still being timeless and speaking to current society at the same time. Since I'm just one person, that's just my opinion and many will find fault with this book, believing it's either too much or not enough, or not necessary or whatever. But I think it's a great gift from an author to her fans. Unwrap it and enjoy.

Getting to read what’s going to happen Next without having to wait until the end of this year for the 2nd tv series season to start, it’s like a special sneak peak.

A great read, profoundly real. This could be in the works as we speak. Women’s rights are being ripped away from Americans now.

It is true that Margaret Atwood can do no wrong. The presentation of this story is impeccably written and edited. The story is a perfect satire that is a real page-turner. If the were not so satisfying, I would have wanted it to go on. Kudos and blessings to a remarkable woman, who will not be forgotten!

If you liked the handmaid's tale, I definitely would recommend you read this. It's not as good as the original as far as writing style in my opinion. But I found a really interesting to learn about the aunts. And get a different perspective.

I found this book compelling reading. I’d recommend reading The Handmaid’s Tale first. Of course. The Testaments is both an eye-opening prequel and a captivating sequel. Highly recommended.

I chose the rating because I hold to know what is the eventual destiny of hour hero, June?I felt this tale was a possible account, but historically, can we have the truth? We seem to be hovering on the precipice that truth will prevail but only for a second. Based on "cosmic clock."

Spoilers ahead. I enjoyed the book and read it practically in one sitting. But there are a couple of baffling plot points that spoiled it for me. Maybe someone can explain...#1 What was the point of Aunt Lydia plotting to bring Baby Nicole back to Gilead, only to send her back to Canada with the microdot? Why did she need to expose the girl to such danger, and surely she could have got the microdot into Canada by some other means?#2 Would exposing the crimes of the Gilead ruling class really be enough to bring the whole society down? In our post truth age, with world leaders literally breaking the law in plain sight on a daily basis, this seems like a far-fetched liberal fantasy.

What a story....For all Fans of The Handmaid's Tale......1 of the Best Books I have ever ReadCongratulations Margaret Atwood ..You have 100per cent out done your self in the writing of THE TESTAMENT ..It was so good I read it twice in succession and will probably (definitely) read it again....For all fans of The Handmaid's Tale...please read this for your self. If like me, you will cry, laugh and hold your breath in parts, as I did...A truly remarkable and unique way of finding the truth of the story . Thank you Margaret Atwood

It was always going to be difficult to reach the same heights as the Handmaid’s Tale.The only way I can think to describe it is to say the book seemed to me a little as though it had been written by Jessica Fletcher, of Murder She Wrote. Who had been binge watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Since its initial release in 1985 ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ has become a modern classic, further strengthened by the success of the TV show and current political tensions in the US, where there’s a growing sense the dystopian future depicted in the novel really could come to fruition. So, stakes for a sequel were always going be high even for the talented Margaret Atwood, who has an uncanny ability to get under the reader’s skin mainly by writing… well, not very much at all. It wasn’t the action that cemented the tale in most readers minds, it was the distinct lack of it. Take away a person’s autonomy, their freedom and their ability to make decisions, and what’s left? In Atwood’s original tale, a resident of Gilead’s lower classes. Most notably the handmaid’s of the title, who have absolutely no control over anything, least of all their bodies and what others do with or to them.And so to ‘The Testaments’, a sequel of sorts, to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. Taking place some 15 years after the original, ‘The Testaments’ is a well-written adventure story that expounds on the world of Gilead by introducing us to its three narrators; Agnes, a young woman who has never known anything else but the Gilead regime; Daisy/Jade, a Canadian teen who isn’t aware of her connection to Gilead and its people, and thus spends much of her time vocalising her hatred of the country; and lastly the eponymous Aunt Lydia. Briefly mentioned in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ yet certainly managing to make her presence felt, in ‘The Testaments’ Aunt Lydia comes to the fore in ways only readers of the original could have hoped for. Well, almost…For the most part I enjoyed ‘The Testaments’, particularly Aunt Lydia’s narrative. Here is a women who has lived in a pre-Gilead world, yet fully understands the role she plays in keeping the regime going. She may not agree with everything – or anything – its leaders do, but she is far too savvy to let that get in the way of her own self-serving actions. She’s a complex character; by turns affectionate, empathetic, brutally violent and ruthless, her behaviour is both difficult to understand and completely understandable given the world she is living in. In fact, so compelling a character is she, had the whole book been nothing but Aunt Lydia’s narrative, I would have been more than happy.However, with the good comes the not so good and the main reasons why I couldn’t bring myself to give this a 5/5 rating. Firstly – and the biggest one for me – is how many questions this book manages not to answer! ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ ended on a dramatic cliff-hanger, but it’s one that remains frustratingly unresolved here. There are the smallest allusions to it and possible connections with Offred, but none are enough to quench the overriding feeling that, come the end of the book, a key element of the original story is still missing. And although we get a good insight into Aunt Lydia’s life before and during the Gileadean regime, it was never quite enough for me. It’s clear that by the time of ‘The Testaments’ she is an extremely powerful person in a position of high authority, but she fails to share with the reader why she was specifically chosen for the job. It’s alluded to briefly at the beginning when she and a select number of her colleagues are led unceremoniously to the baseball stadium for ‘processing’ but unless I missed it, it’s never expounded upon.Connected to this lack of explanation, is the absence of information about the Gilead revolution and how the Sons of Jacob came to power. Again, it was briefly mentioned in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ but is pretty much excluded from ‘The Testaments’ despite featuring three narrators who all have very different experiences and recollections of Gilead's conception. Aunt Lydia has a multitude of opportunities to relay these details in her diary entries but never does, despite possessing intimate knowledge of Gilead, its regime and the lives of its leaders. Once again, it’s all touched upon at the end of the novel, but not enough to satisfy those of us who read ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and had questions!Then there’s the fairly nonsensical way in which Daisy/Jade is employed in Mayday operations. It’s never fully explained why she becomes involved - beyond a tenuous link to Mayday and Gilead via her parents - and the convoluted way she becomes part of proceedings remains the most unbelievable part of the book for me. Everything comes a little too easy for her despite how immature and petulant she is. Then towards the end, her whole storyline skirts dangerously close to a YA novel trope where the irritating teenage girl with no concept of personal responsibility is put into an undeserved position of importance and yet still manages to save the day.All in all ‘The Testaments’ is still a decent read despite the frustrations mentioned above. I don’t think it will ever achieve the modern classic status of its predecessor, especially given the popularity of the TV show and the direction that’s taken the original source material, but it still has its place in the ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ universe. It’s just a good idea to read ‘The Testaments’ with slightly lowered expectations because, despite what the publishers would have us believe, you won’t get all of your burning questions answered.

At heart this is a sensationalist adventure story where a pair of teenage girls and an older woman conspire to single-handedly bring down Gilead's totalitarian regime. Along the way is a sentimental uncovered-identities-and-reunion story and even a hint of teen romance though, mercifully, Atwood doesn't go there. Importantly, the nuances of Handmaid are missing, the ambiguities have all been cleared up and ticked off nicely.I enjoyed this as a page-turner but it really doesn't stand up well against the original which was a potent depiction of powerlessness. This time round the girls are somehow too kick-ass. I read another review which described this as like Atwood writing fan-fic of her own text - that nails it!Manage your expectations with this one.