The Testaments

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Atwood, Margaret, Adult Book / Fiction / Dystopian / Atwood, Margaret
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale.
Statue -- Precious flower -- Hymn -- The clothes hound -- Van -- Six for dead -- Stadium -- Carnarvon -- Thank tank -- Spring green -- Sackcloth -- Carpitz -- Secateurs -- Ardua Hall -- Fox and cat -- Pearl girls -- Perfect teeth -- Reading room -- Study -- Bloodlines -- Fast and thick -- Heartstopper -- Wall -- The Nellie J. Banks -- Wakeup -- Landfall -- Sendoff -- The thirteenth symposium.
"In this brilliant sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, acclaimed author Margaret Atwood answers the questions that have tantalized readers for decades. When the van door slammed on Offred's future at the end of The Handmaid's Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her--freedom, prison or death. With The Testaments, the wait is over. Margaret Atwood's sequel picks up the story more than fifteen years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead."--provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

not a masterpiece, but still very good! submitted by 21621031390949 on August 3, 2020, 12:08am Although not quite the literary or intellectual equal of "The Handmaid's Tale," this is an entertaining page-turner that I read with relish. Although I generally stay away from dystopian novels, I wanted to see what Atwood would do as a sequel. If you can accept that this book isn't going to push you further in your political awakening, this story is worth the read.

Great Read submitted by grimest on January 4, 2021, 11:26am Excellent and involving read. Great follow-up to Handmaid's Tale

Loved this submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 12, 2021, 9:48pm What a wonderful conclusion to The Handmaid’s Tale! Though I have watched two seasons of the TV show, this book clearly stands alone from that and dovetails primarily with the original book. I love the characters (even while hating some of the characters) and Atwood proves that she’s still got writing chops. (I mean, why wouldn’t she, but the original Handmaid’s Tale *was* published in 1985, and a 35 year gap is quite a while!) The multiple viewpoints were a great technique to tell this particular story, and added just the right touch to the whole picture. Well worth the read, but start with the original book first.

Wonderful submitted by jillmortimer on June 27, 2021, 9:05pm I blew through this! I love The Handmaids Tale book and TV series-this was an excellent edition! I enjoyed both the organization of the book as well as the satisfying ending.

Better Than The Handmaid's Tale submitted by sarah fishburn on July 10, 2022, 3:11am While was glad I read The Handmaid's Tale, I really loved The Testaments. By including three POV - those of Aunt Lydia, Agnes, and Daisy - I got a much broader sense and understanding of both Gilead and the Free United States in Canada. In The Handmaid's Tale, there was a fair amount of exposition, then the (often unspoken) thoughts and emotions of June (unnamed throughout most of the book), with a bit of flashback material, but primarily occurring in her present. Aunt Lydia's written exposé in The Testaments provides so much more detail about the origins and structure of Gilead. Agnes' "witness" material describes what it was like to grow up as an "adopted" (read: stolen) child of parents in the Gilead hierarchy, thus providing the reader with a greater understanding of the philosophy and theory in the creation of Gilead's fascist government. Daisy's story expands on the everyday world of the asylum seekers. Because the timeline is 15 years after The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood is able to present the "Big Picture" and, to an extent, give her characters (and the reader) a degree of closure.