Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

30 reviews

maeveroyal's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

bloopyfloopy's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Death, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Rape, Pregnancy, Infertility, Confinement, Body shaming, and Adult/minor relationship

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

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

alannah_m's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

I started this book saying if Piexoto was back at the end I would personally fight Atwood....


....guess it’s time to square up



For anyone who says this isn't a cash grab- c'mon. I'm always happy to give people the benefit of the doubt, but this really didn't need to happen. Weirdly I did enjoy this book for what it was, which was 'bad' YA-style dystopia a la Hunger Games, but there were a lot of flaws, and I question its Man Booker win. The plot was lazy and even harmful in it's clear allusions to the Elisa Lam case, and the ending (no spoilers) somehow retroactively spoiled THT for me. Also, (just a pet peeve) Atwood really fails to capture the voice of teenagers- it very much comes across as what news reports think 'the youth' sound like. HOWEVER, in contrast I really liked the Aunt Lydia sections; I wish they'd stood alone as a shorter book.

Pet Theory for this book: this book didn’t have enough depth for me to have theories

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Trafficking, and Violence

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

vicanarc_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

This is not a prequel book. And that's not the author fault but rather the marketing's, because i've started this book thinking  it would go into how Gilead started, and while it is mentioned, that's not the point of the book. So, if you're looking for Gilead's lore, you'll be disappointed.
After all, this is not too different from "The Handmaid's Tale", except we see differents POVs.
The book was okay, but while I want to love Atwood with all of my heart for being such a crucial feminist writer, this is my third book I read from her and they were all just mediocre for me. I hate to admit she's not the auther for me.

We get a redemption arc for aunt Lydia I didn't like. Can some characters just be evil, please? Can i just hate dangerously mysogynystic people without feeling bad?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Violence, and Xenophobia

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

rosies_book_shelf's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture