The Testaments
1 journaler for this copy...
This is a hardcover book. My lovely husband gave it to me on the occasion of our 25th wedding anniversary.
This book has had a lot of advance hype. I am happy to say that I feel it lived up to that and more. As a follow-up to The Handmaid's Tale it answers a lot of questions and as a stand alone novel about the rise and fall of totalitarian regimes it is a hopeful beacon.
The Testaments are the stories of three women associated with Gilead, the misogynistic, totalitarian regime instituted within the United States of America at some future time. Aunt Lydia (who we also met in The Handmaid's Tale) writes about her initial arrest and incarceration and her decision to support the male regime. Daisy is a teenager who grew up in Canada but she is actually Baby Nicole who was smuggled out of Gilead. Daisy only learned that she was Baby Nicole when she turned 16. The third witness is Agnes Jemima, a young girl who grew up in Gilead as the daughter of a Commander and his wife Tabitha. She is being groomed to become a wife. Although she goes to school she does not know how to read; mostly they do needlepoint which Agnes is not very good at.
In time these three people meet. It would destroy a good part of the plot to describe much more but since Atwood herself has said that this book answers the question about how Gilead fell I think I can say that they were involved with the ultimate fate of Gilead.
Just as in The Handmaid's Tale the epilogue is styled as a presentation to a conference and here we get a little glimpse at Atwood's sly humour. Anyone who has ever attended a conference will recognize the setting and then they will understand how Atwood skewers experts and academia who take themselves too seriously.
Truly a great read.
The Testaments are the stories of three women associated with Gilead, the misogynistic, totalitarian regime instituted within the United States of America at some future time. Aunt Lydia (who we also met in The Handmaid's Tale) writes about her initial arrest and incarceration and her decision to support the male regime. Daisy is a teenager who grew up in Canada but she is actually Baby Nicole who was smuggled out of Gilead. Daisy only learned that she was Baby Nicole when she turned 16. The third witness is Agnes Jemima, a young girl who grew up in Gilead as the daughter of a Commander and his wife Tabitha. She is being groomed to become a wife. Although she goes to school she does not know how to read; mostly they do needlepoint which Agnes is not very good at.
In time these three people meet. It would destroy a good part of the plot to describe much more but since Atwood herself has said that this book answers the question about how Gilead fell I think I can say that they were involved with the ultimate fate of Gilead.
Just as in The Handmaid's Tale the epilogue is styled as a presentation to a conference and here we get a little glimpse at Atwood's sly humour. Anyone who has ever attended a conference will recognize the setting and then they will understand how Atwood skewers experts and academia who take themselves too seriously.
Truly a great read.
I just passed this book on to a friend when we met for coffee on New Year's Day 2020. Since we only see each other about once a year I'll mark this as travelling right now.
