Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

13 reviews

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

bradypus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia

Minor: Abortion

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