Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

35 reviews

lectricefeministe's review against another edition

hopeful tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, and Classism

uhm_kai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Profound but horribly real. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

lily1304's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

This is very different from the Handmaid's Tale. One of the strengths of the Handmaid's Tale is its lack of detail - lots of aspects of Gilead are shadowy and vague, which makes it feel like a bad dream, and the fact that the narrator has no idea what's happening politically inside or outside Gilead makes her even more hopeless and powerless.

The Testaments was clearly written partly to satisfy fans' questions about Gilead, and it has a much more traditional dystopian-adventure style than the Handmaid's Tale. You can see the three womens' stories and motivations slowly weaving together to a distinct climax. It's both a strength and a weakness - it's probably more of a page-turner than the Handmaid's Tale, but it doesn't have the same power.

The Testaments introduces the Pearl Girls / "Pearls of Great Price", or Gilead missionaries to Canada and other countries. They seemed like an intentional dig at Mormons, who are known for their pairs of missionaries around the world, and who have a book of scripture called the Pearl of Great Price. I'm not a fan of many aspects of Mormon practice and culture, but it seems extreme and unnecessary to associate them with Gilead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, and Alcohol

nneka's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

What a page turner! This was an excellent sequel to the handmaid's tale. Atwood truly does have a way with words. The book answered so many (but not all of) the questions that I had from reading the handmaids tale, and really allowed me to reflect on our current society and the small and less extreme similarities that modern society has to Gilead. It was also really good that we had two different perspectives from those raised and not raised in Gilead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Death

tessa_specchio's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

crazy story, really fun to get through and try to solve everything
only things are at some points to so hard to read because of some pretty violent situations as well as a lot of triggering content 
if the content won’t trigger you absolutely read it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

karol99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Torture

chronicallyplotting's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Phenomenal tribute/ending to the Handmaid’s Tale. I love the closure Atwood has given us. The surprises with each character. You will find yourself wondering where things are going until the very end. Hard to put the book down. You will morn characters. Cheer for characters. Hate characters. So many emotions. Fans of the Handmaid’s tale you won’t regret reading this. And The Hulu series has not touched anything this book is covering as it is 15 years after the Handmaid’s Tale book left June.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

abookandaspotoftea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

therobinjoyce's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

"As they say, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes"

Margaret Atwood does it again with this thrilling sequel to The Handmaid's Tale.

I have no words to express how much I loved this book. The chopping between testaments from Aunt Lydia, Jade, and Agnes was wonderfully done and really invested me in the tales from Gilead and the lives of the women withing it.

The plot twists were epic and had me reeling, and the whole book from start to finish was gripping, chilling, and dastardly dark. Showing the true power of man's reach and the possibilities of what could happen if the world we live in is allowed to mimic history.

A well-deserved five star rating for such an exceptional book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

megsthomas's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Torture, Violence, and Suicide attempt