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Genre(s): Fiction, Dystopia

Format: Ebook

The story in The Testaments begins nearly 16 years after the ending of The Handmaid’s Tale. It covers the stories of three women – Aunt Lydia, Daisy, and Agnes, and covers the unanswered questions of the previous novel, as well as the repercussions of Offred’s escape in the present world. The story brings insight into the world of Gilead away from a Handmaid’s point of view, instead covering the other roles that women take, as well as the challenges they face.

I must admit, I was nervous to pick up this book. Having heard so many mixed reviews and opinions on whether it added to the story, I was worried that it would lessen the impact of The Handmaid’s Tale so much that I wouldn’t be able to look at the book the same way. However, I was not one of the many people who have been waiting on answers for decades. I only read The Handmaid’s Tale a couple of months ago, so it was more appropriate now than later to pick up this book from my library.

My first (and biggest) takeaway of this story is that it is very conversational. Although there are only two other books by Atwood I’ve read so far (those being The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake), Ive had a good grasp of her writing style and is something that has me interested in returning to her books time and time again. (At the moment I have The Blind Assassin waiting me for me on my shelf!) I’m very used to Atwood revealing the dysfunctional worlds differently, but in the case of The Testaments, the issues of Gilead are brought to light in a more direct way. Atwood is much more forward with the issues that women face in this novel, in such a way that it feels that this is more of the intent of the book than the story itself. I personally prefer the writing of her other books, but in the same breath, I think that this way of exposing the wrongdoings in Gilead will open the door to conversation about feminism and current issues to its readers, and potentially igniting a much larger discussion from that. Many of the issues brought to light in this book were not close to reality for us, but are reality, so this hit a lot differently. In general I can say that this book was worded less eloquently than usual which is not my preference, but this may have been a choice with a rationale that I understand and accept.

The story itself does answer a lot of questions that were left to ponder from The Handmaid’s Tale, but mainly delves into the other roles that women take in Gilead, as well as how outside communities react to what goes on within Gilead. In terms of the innerworkings of Gilead, this book essentially tackles everything. I’ve found that those who are more receptive of open endings felt that The Testaments took away from The Handmaid’s Tale – however, if you’ve been desperately awaiting more information, you’ll likely be more receptive to what’s revealed.

The story includes three perspectives – Agnes, Aunt Lydia, and Daisy. Aunt Lydia’s perspective was by far the most interesting. However, I was engaged by Daisy’s and Agnes’s chapters as well. I will say that it will likely be much harder to understand the three POV’s when listening on audiobook, as the only distinguishing done between sections is done so with an image, and the character’s names are not brought up often. In the beginning I separated perspectives by what was happening until I knew their names, so this may be harder to track via audiobook.

While I liked the story overall, I didn’t like the progression as much. The big twist of this story was predictable, which made sense in a way, but it was written as if it was supposed to be a mystery to not only the characters, but also the reader. One of the characters knew what the others did not, and I think that this reveal would have been much more interesting if their perspective was used more to reveal this twist, as their backstory is very revealing as well (in a good way).

For the most part, the pacing of this novel was even, but I couldn’t help but feel like the ending was way too wrapped up once the characters got to a certain point. I did like that it was slightly open-ended still, but it simultaneously felt like a convenient place to stop.

Overall, I didn’t feel that the story was a much-needed addition to The Handmaid’s Tale. If I wanted a more closed ending from the first book, I might have thought differently. However, I do also personally feel that The Testaments didn’t take away from The Handmaid’s Tale, but I completely understand those that felt that way. Instead of being an addition to the story, my takeaway of The Testaments was more focused on the issues faced by the characters. There are so many parallels to today’s world that took the forefront compared to everything else – or at least that’s what stood out and resonated with me the most.

Would I recommend this book? That depends on the reader’s expectations. If you anticipate similar prose to her other works and much preferred the open-endedness of The Handmaid’s Tale, you might not like The Testaments as much because it’s very direct and exposes more details of Gilead than anticipated. If you crave details and are looking for a story (and one that feels almost separated from The Handmaid’s Tale at that), I find you’ll like it more.

Final Rating: 3 stars. This book was difficult to rate! The story itself was intriguing (as were its characters), but I didn’t like the delivery or the plot’s speedy progression towards the end.

Have you read The Testaments or The Handmaid’s Tale? What did you think? Let me know in the comments – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

-Julie Anna