Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

42 reviews

nodogsonthemoon's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, War, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Pregnancy, and Sexism

jaylaccey's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Margaret Atwood is truly a phenomenal writer. She grips you into the world of Gilead and challenges you to think about how this society could possible come to be from the basis of our own. History cannot repeat itself, and it were, we could be looking at a society similar to Gilead. A perfect sequel to the Handmaid's tale, a book that ends with a slight glimmer of hope. The Testaments hand you a glowing jar of hope at the end, begging you to hold onto it, so that it may inspire you to not let an evil dystopia take it away.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Death, Child death, Murder, Religious bigotry, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Classism, Misogyny, Self harm, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

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

james1star's review

challenging dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Did The Handmaid’s Tale (THT) need a sequel? No 
Was this my vision / the best sequel? No 
Was it a satisfactory sequel? Yes 
Is it a good book? Yes 

Margaret Atwood once agains transports us back to Gilead, and Canada, via her incredible use of descriptive and psychological writing. This was an encapsulating novel and entertaining read with great world-building, character studies with a good plot. 

Thankfully we don’t have Offred as a character which really wouldn’t have bode well with me - we left her entering the darkness… or perhaps the light, this ambiguity is one of my favourite parts of THT and picked up on in the historical notes with the icon line of ‘are there any questions?’ Yes we have many! Instead the testaments follows the stories of three women: aunt Lydia, Agnes (this we believe to be Offred’s first child Hannah who was taken from her when captured trying to escape) and Nicole/Daisy (this ‘is’ Offred and Nick’s child who was smuggled to Canada as a baby) and how they each played a role in the downfall of Gilead. The plots and storylines are well written, entertaining and makes you want to read on but they do lack the psychological pull THT had. Additionally, some of the plot twists are kind of telegraphed and the stories all fit together a bit too well and cleanly… made for a tv adaptation? Maybe? I missed the messiness and uncertainty and inner fear that Offred experiences in THT. 

Another difference is how the Testaments is more action-focused and hopeful than the original - it’s the suffragettes to THT’s suffragists if you get what I mean. I liked this for sure and it’s entertaining but I did miss the inner pull and heartache, this separation of mind and body with Offred taking ownership of her mental body is her rebellion in a society where all that matters is her body and this is her power. Whereas information and smuggling is the power here, among other things. This actionness also makes the events and characters less realistic to THT but still ‘speculative’ in ways. 

Of the three perspectives, aunt Lydia’s is by far the best and most encapsulating. That’s not to say Agnes and Nicole’s aren’t - they are and Atwood writes teenaged so well and lifelike for someone in their 80s. I wanted, I needed, I should have hated aunt Lydia. She is horrible and vindictive and did so many immoral things in THT and the Testaments but I couldn’t. I loved her. She’s so cunning, so knowledgeable, so focused, so powerful. She’s a badass. I don’t only like her for her crucial role in Gilead’s downfall but also her demeanour and personality despite being a villain in a sense. But also we got to see her story, how she was forced into this position - this or death and she chose to live, to thrive in fact, to hold power behind the scenes in a country where women lost all the power they had. 

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this book and would totally recommend it. It’s a good book for sure and an adequate sequel to such an amazing literary classic but doesn’t compare in impact - how could it?  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexism, Infertility, Infidelity, and Sexual harassment

chamaeleontis's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Pregnancy, Sexism, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

ericarao's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Death, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Confinement, Bullying, Child abuse, Suicide, and Cursing

Minor: Child abuse and War

luke_823's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pregnancy

starlight63's review against another edition

Too distrubing for me and also very wordy

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent

nneka's review

dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.75

What a page turner! This was an excellent sequel to the handmaid's tale. Atwood truly does have a way with words. The book answered so many (but not all of) the questions that I had from reading the handmaids tale, and really allowed me to reflect on our current society and the small and less extreme similarities that modern society has to Gilead. It was also really good that we had two different perspectives from those raised and not raised in Gilead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Death

tessa_specchio's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

crazy story, really fun to get through and try to solve everything
only things are at some points to so hard to read because of some pretty violent situations as well as a lot of triggering content 
if the content won’t trigger you absolutely read it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Gore

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Violence

Minor: Body shaming, Car accident, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Vomit