Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

54 reviews

ahixon1's review

dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Trafficking, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Biphobia, Abortion, and Homophobia

avocadotoastbee's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

3.5

The Testaments is not really what I was hoping for.
In the acknowledgements, Atwood says that The Testaments answers questions left by The Handmaid's Tale and shows what happened after the novel. In my opinion, however, it doesn't do that at all.
Don't get me wrong, there was definitely more information about Gilead and what led to its downfall, although it is never really said how Gilead collapsed.
Another thing that really bothered me was that it basically stuck to the extended storyline and characters from the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale. I would have liked the book much more if it had been narrated by other characters and abandoned the plot of The Handmaid's Tale's nameless narrator (June) completely, or at least partially.
All in all, I think Margaret Atwood did a great job of building this dystopian world (some of which, unfortunately, isn't that far from the reality we're living in right now), but The Testaments didn't meet my expectations and was predictable, and kind of unnecessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Incest, Classism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Infidelity

Minor: Murder

annadrinksmilk's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

your favorite plot line in this book tells me so much about you. personally i favored daisy/jade/nicole

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Genocide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicide, Self harm, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Torture

leonormsousa's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Abandonment, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, War, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Grief, Torture, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

thejuliette's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Trafficking, Torture, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Murder, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Medical content, Infertility, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Child death, and Mass/school shootings

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

theallmightyme's review

challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Murder, Incest, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide attempt

bandysbooks's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense 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

4.0

I think one of the reasons that it took so long for there to be a follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale is just that it’s such a difficult story to do justice to. I tried to go into The Testaments with tempered expectations and I think that was helpful. This book is definitely solid, but definitely not as haunting as the original. 

The story follows three different POV characters as we learn what happens after Offred’s testimony. I thought this was an effective way to show a lot of progression in a lot of different places without making the book 1000 pages. 

I will say that while it did provide closure, it didn’t have the same emotional impact as HT. I did appreciate the resolution with some of the older characters like Aunt Lydia.

If you’re considering this series, I’d suggest:
Read Handmaid’s Tale
Watch The Handmaid’s Tale tv series
Finish with The Testaments

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Blood, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, War, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Infertility, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Torture

abbs17's review

adventurous emotional funny informative mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.5

Enjoyed it more than expected. I really liked it mote than the first book.

Struggled with the different characters to start but once I got a few chapters and got to know each narrator it was easy to differentiate. I enjoyed how the book was written, that the usual darkness and tense will they get caught scenes in books with tripes like this weren't used yet it was still gripping.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and War

Minor: Murder and Violence