Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

9 reviews

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

irisandfoxglove's review

emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I found the book really engaging and an enjoyable read. I’ll note it works really well as an audiobook, which isn’t always the case.

I don’t understand why Becca met the fate that she did. Also, I cried when they mentioned the statue with the forget me nots at the end. She is a character I was sad to not see more development of, especially when reading the secret files. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Torture, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Child death, and Emotional abuse

readbycarina's review

adventurous dark tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Death

Minor: Infidelity and Pregnancy

sophiesaurus91's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Sexual violence

Minor: Medical trauma

isabellesbookroom's review

reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

I really enjoyed this book. It gave a lot of information for the world of Gilead that wasn’t in handmaids tale. It was a bit predictable but I didn’t mind. I would recommend if you loved handmaids tale. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Rape, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Medical trauma

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

beauytoy's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma and Rape

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