Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

108 reviews

lay_kone's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, War, Death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Torture, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Trafficking

adastrame's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.25

A very interesting peek into Gilead, this time from the perspective not of a Handmaid, but of three other types of women - an Aunt, a future Wife, and a teenage girl from the other side of the border (Canada). This way way more suspenseful than I anticipated, allover an expertly crafted narrative, but I expected no less from Margaret Atwood.

My only complaint is that it didn't quite make sense to me why SpoilerNicole had to go to Gilead herself. She seems absolutely unfit, and literally anyone else could have done what she did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Misogyny

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It took a minute to realize there were three POV but when I did, the story started coming together so nicely. I really didn’t want to put this down. I’m a sucker for a dystopian, corrupt-government tale, and this, much like The Handmaid’s Tale, didn’t disappoint. I really enjoyed getting a peek into Aunt Lydia’s mind. Atwood’s work continues to be timely and relevant and this sequel to the 1985 Handmaid’s Tale was equal parts fascinating and horrifying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Classism, Gore, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, War, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Sexism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, and Child death

kileyjojo's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This is a pretty good follow up to The Handmaid’s Tale. It wouldn’t make much sense as a stand-alone novel so if interested in reading it, the first should be read.
I didn’t expect to have a lot of sympathy for some of these characters and I didn’t at the beginning of the book, but Margaret Atwood surprisingly makes that possible. This goes the opposite way as well, though. This book is a triple perspective one and I found myself disliking characters that are meant to be flawed but liked. Overall, it’s a great follow up to the first book and definitely worth a read if you’re a fan. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Gaslighting, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Cursing

Moderate: Abortion, Grief, Infertility, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Confinement, Colonisation, Blood, Self harm, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

alexee_m's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse

bethanygracious's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It’s an enjoyable book, but it’s no Handmaid’s Tale. Part of what engaged about Handmaid was the mystery—even after you finished the book. This is more of a tell-all. There are no mysteries to uncover—and certainly none lingering after.

The storytelling is also less sophisticated. Supposedly, these are three testimonies written by three different people—but they all have the same narrative writing style, and it’s all very detailed for someone writing this down. Would Nicole really be that intent on telling us about a teenage crush she had for a few days—whether she wrote this as an adult or as a teen? Would Aunt Lydia really mix her current happenings with what happened at the start of Gilead? Would she confess to her crimes knowing that someone could fine them? 

Also, Nicole’s character is an idiot.  She’s sent into this country where she knows a misstep could get her killed, and yet she mocks everything loudly and goes around swearing. We’re supposed to like this character?

Margaret also seems to be confused about the lifesaving nature of C-sections? If a woman’s life is danger while she gives birth, you WANT them to cut out the baby. The Issue is them not giving her medical care. But if they didn’t give her a c-section, the Handmaid was clearly going to die anyway. 

All that said, I did enjoy it… but not like the original. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

beckallanpoe's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.25

doesn’t do anything the original book doesn’t do, if anything it ruins the world building that the Handmaid’s Tale establishes. I fear that the dogshit tv adaption put dollar signs in Atwood’s eyes and that’s why we had to suffer this boring backtrack of a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Infertility, Abortion, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Violence, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

loxeletters's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was so, for a lack of a better word, fun! Of course it was quite depressing at times, and often infuriating. But since we were mostly "spared" the perspective of handmaids and wives, it was somewhat less grim than the first book. I guess that is also why it had less of an emotional impact on me, though it was still so captivating and immersive that it feels wrong to give it any less than five stars. I enjoyed all three perspectives, and again found the primary source concept fun and interesting. Some more elaboration on the actual downfall of Gilead would've made me happy, but the vagueness gives room to think and speculate, which I always appreciate. Interestingly, I perhaps connected most with Aunt Lydia, since I found her characterisation to be the most fleshed out and compelling. 

All in all, this is not the kind of literary fiction that the Handmaid's Tale was - and that's fine by me. I enjoyed both it's literary and thriller aspects a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Pedophilia, Torture, and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity

crystalb0058's review

adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

erinlee's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence and Sexual assault