Scan barcode
anartfulreader's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Testaments leads on from The Handmaid's Tale but also feels like a very different book. It takes place mainly within Gillead but follows some extremely different perspectives, a girl raised in Gillead, a girl raised outside of Gillead and also Aunt Lydia. These perspectives give so much more to the story of The Handmaid's Tale. Particularly Aunt Lydia's perspective was very interesting as it makes you think about power, how to get it and what you should do with it, leading to questions such as 'what would I do?'. It very much blurs the lines of right and wrong.
Having a perspective from outside of Gillead brings another view. This made it seem even more real as it firmly plants The Handmaid's Tale in a world just like our own.
I found The Handmaid's Tale a very slow novel that mainly looked at different characters, The Testaments went at a quicker pace with alot more happening throughout the book, but none of the character building was hindered and was very interesting to learn about the other positions in the system such as the aunts. Particularly loved hearing about the interactions between the aunts and the way they each played on each other to get whats they wanted.
Ending the book we were left to our own ideas as it was again quite ambiguous and didn't give too much away. It was a brilliant book and again like The Handmaid's Tale really was food for thought.
Having a perspective from outside of Gillead brings another view. This made it seem even more real as it firmly plants The Handmaid's Tale in a world just like our own.
I found The Handmaid's Tale a very slow novel that mainly looked at different characters, The Testaments went at a quicker pace with alot more happening throughout the book, but none of the character building was hindered and was very interesting to learn about the other positions in the system such as the aunts. Particularly loved hearing about the interactions between the aunts and the way they each played on each other to get whats they wanted.
Ending the book we were left to our own ideas as it was again quite ambiguous and didn't give too much away. It was a brilliant book and again like The Handmaid's Tale really was food for thought.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
More...