Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

32 reviews

dobbywobby's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I love the first book, but I wish this one touched on Offred. She is not a present character in this novel. The book shifts through multiple POV and all characters know of Offred and she is respected and feared, but no one really talks about

how she escaped or how her life turns out. It is mostly Aunt Lydia’s perspective showing how Gilead came to be and how Aunt Lydia grew to be the cruel character she is depicted as in the first book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

celisabell's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I deeply enjoyed knowing more about Gilead's rising and fall. The way the different stories connected gave it a very good flow, and I just couldn't stop reading. It made me want to go back and read the Handmaid's tale once more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual violence and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, and Trafficking

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, Murder, Rape, and Sexual content

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

juliaelkouby's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This book was fascinating and tense. It was a bit slow to start but really picked up in pace towards the end. It really makes you think about society as a whole and human nature. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gore and Pedophilia

abookandaspotoftea's review

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

imreallyraven's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Rape, Incest, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Murder, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death

therobinjoyce's review

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

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

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

anything's review

challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

reb_reads's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I feel like this book, although entertaining, didn't have the same value as the first. I was hoping that Atwood's resurrection of such an iconic text would add to the conversation of its source text and update it for modern feminism but it was still lacking in any sort of intersectional critique. Whereas the original played an important role in the conversation about reproductive rights in the 1980s, non of this was updated for a less white feminist view. It is still an important issue but I was disappointed Atwood didn't go beyond this. Furthermore, the use of Aunt Lydia felt like poor character development and that it actually undermined the work of the first book.  The lack of continuity felt purely like a fan grab for shock factor, rather than creating a new and more genuine character to fill this role. Name dropping June at the end of the book also felt like a moment of fanfiction rather than a complex plot point, and I would have preferred this left ambiguous. The entire plot didn't need to continue to revolve around these two original characters to be valuable to their previous narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

beccic's review

challenging dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexism, Suicide, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Death, and Adult/minor relationship