The Testaments – The Unseen Library

In her latest guest review, the Unseen Library’s editor, Alex, checks out one of the biggest releases of the year, and also sets herself up to do some more reviews for the blog in the future.

Publisher: Chatto & Windus (Hardcover – 10 September 2019)

Series: The Handmaid’s Tale – Book 2

Length: 419 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Unlike the Unseen Librarian himself, who seems to have no problem zipping through several books a week, I tend to buy books faster than I read them. I was very pleased, and not at all surprised, to find there’s a phrase for this in Japanese: tsundoku, meaning one who acquires books with every intention of reading them, but who never gets around to it. Well, it’s high time that I try to kick this habit and delve into my shelf of unread books, beginning with The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.

We received a copy of The Testaments way back in September 2019, before the honeymoon hiatus, but unfortunately the large, heavy hardback wouldn’t have fared well in my suitcase, so although I was keen to read it I was forced to leave it behind. Unfortunately several other distractions (including Eoin Colfer’s The Fowl Twins) meant it wasn’t until the post-Christmas calm that I took the time to finish it off, but I am so glad that I did, because this is a first-rate book that didn’t deserve to wait so long for my attention.

The Handmaid’s Tale reported the experiences of Offred, a Handmaid to a powerful Commander in the post-revolutionary United States, the totalitarian Republic of Gilead. The Testaments picks up the story several years later, and features accounts of three women and their own struggles for survival in Gilead. I won’t go into detail about the plot of the book (I’m sure reviewers with better time management skills have beaten me to it), only to say that it was incredibly engaging and suspenseful. Those who enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale will love to see how the world has changed over the years.

I was absolutely thrilled by all of the world-building in The Testaments. The new regime of Gilead is fascinating, but in The Handmaid’s Tale details are limited to what Offred chooses to share in her narrative, which itself is limited by what Offred knows, given the sheltered and isolated life she is forced to live as a Handmaid. The Testaments, on the other hand, with its multiple narrators, presents a far broader view of life in Gilead. The first narrator is an Aunt, one of the powerful matrons who train the Handmaids and teach the children. In fact, she is none other than Aunt Lydia, the indomitable battleaxe responsible for the indoctrination of Offred who features so prominently in the original book. The second narrator is Agnes Jemima, the daughter of a powerful Commander. Her story is recorded after her liberation from Gilead and provides a fascinating insight into the experiences of a child growing up in the regime. The third narrator is Daisy, a child growing up in Canada. From her we get an outside view of Gilead—how the terrible society is viewed by its near neighbours and how the Mayday resistance seeks to help its people. The three tales are each engaging in their own right, but as they become more and more intertwined the story only gets better.

There are elements of the story that tie into the television adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, but literary purists who have not watched the show will enjoy The Testaments just the same. Since it is a sequel, however, I would say that it will be best enjoyed by those who have read The Handmaid’s Tale or seen at least the first season of the show. The Testaments is a book that was 35 years in the making, but it was well worth the wait.

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.

The Testaments Cover.jpg

For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I take a look at one of the biggest upcoming releases of 2019, The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, the sequel to Atwood’s seminal work, The Handmaid’s Tale.

Released back in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale told the story of Offred, a woman trapped in the oppressive military dictatorship, the Republic of Gilead. Due to her status as one of the few fertile women in Gilead, Offred has been forced into the life of a Handmaid, breeding stock for Gilead’s leaders. The Handmaid’s Tale highlighted the creation of this terrible nation and followed Offred’s attempts to survive in this harsh new reality. The Handmaid’s Tale has subsequently been adapted into a highly successful television series, with the third season starting just last week. Now, over 30 years after its original publication, Atwood has written a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale that continues its story and looks to the future of Gilead.

Set for release in September 2019, only a few plot details have been revealed so far, but it sounds like this could be quite an interesting read.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this brilliant sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, acclaimed author Margaret Atwood answers the questions that have tantalized readers for decades.

When the van door slammed on Offred’s future at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her—freedom, prison or death.

With The Testaments, the wait is over.

Margaret Atwood’s sequel picks up the story fifteen years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.

“Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.” —Margaret Atwood

I think that it is fair to say that The Testaments is going to be a book that a lot of people will be excited to read. The Handmaid’s Tale is massive at the moment. Not only is it a major piece of pop culture currently thanks to the television show but the political and social messages contained within the original book are just as relevant today as they were in 1985, if not more so.

There are quite a few interesting elements in the plot details that have so far been provided. For example, it looks like The Testaments will showcase how the world and Gilead have changed in the 15 years following the events of The Handmaid’s Tale. It also sounds like Atwood is going to explore the inner workings of Gilead, which is quite a fascinating and terrible society, and it will be intriguing to see how such a place could come into existence and remain in place. I imagine that a lot of fans of the book will be extremely interested to see if Atwood will reveal the fate of her original protagonist, Offred. When The Handmaid’s Tale novel ended, Offred had an uncertain future—she was either being rescued by Mayday or being arrested by the Eyes—and the reader is left to guess what actually happens to her. I hope that Atwood will tell the rest of Offred’s story and I wonder if Offred may be one of the female narrators giving testimony.

It is uncertain at this point what role the plot of the television show will have on The Testaments’ story. The events of the original book were all covered within the first season, and the show has since gone off on its own tangent. It will be interesting to see if The Testaments will reflect any of the events that occurred within the show’s second or third season. I am also curious to see whether any future seasons of the show will feature events contained within this sequel book. Either way, fans of the show will no doubt be very curious to check this book out.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood is set to be an amazing book for later in the year and I am very excited about reading it. It will very cool to check out a sequel this long in the making and I will be interested to dive into the world of Gilead and the dark stories no doubt contained within.