The Testaments - Book Review


The Testaments is a 2019 novel by Margaret Atwood, the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale (1985). 

The novel has three narrators: Aunt Lydia (who doesn't remember her from The Handmaid's Tale?), Agnes (the elder daughter of the Handmaid growing up in Gilead) and Daisy (or Nicole, the younger daughter of the Handmaid, who was smuggled out of Gilead as an infant and is growing up in Canada with her adoptive parents).

The novel is fast-paced and doesn't waste any time. We are quickly introduced to the current-day Gilead and the rot that has set in society. What nobody knows is that Aunt Lydia is gleaning the evidence of all the wrongdoings by the Commanders and their Wives, and the other men in power. Aunt Lydia - what a transformation she undergoes while remaining true to character. We are given plenty of backstory about her beginning in Gilead and how she came to become an Aunt, the friends she betrayed and the crimes she committed to save herself. She is a tough, conniving character, who knows how to keep the Commanders content while retaining the power. She manages the other Founding Aunts expertly by pitting them one against the other and eliminating her enemies without getting her hands dirty. Without giving away any spoilers, I want to add that for me as a reader, Aunt Lydia (a hated character from the Handmaid's Tale) is the single factor that made The Testaments such an engaging and enjoyable read. Aunt Lydia's lack of scruples and callousness towards the characters who are sacrificed in the pursuit of her larger goal (which is revenge against Gilead) makes her a complex and interesting character. Aunt Lydia will stay in my mind for a long time and after reading The Testaments, I see her in a new light.

The other two characters Agnes and Nicole are also interesting and well-developed. The writing is wonderful and gripping. I thoroughly enjoyed the two days I spent reading this novel.

If there is one thing I could change about this novel, I would've liked more of elaboration of how the Gilead society crumbled after the climax where the incriminating evidence was leaked to the larger world. For a reader, that is the payoff, the reason why the reader has stuck around for ~480 pages, and I think a greater payoff would've made me more content. But I'm perfectly happy to wait for the next couple of seasons of the TV series The Handmaid's Tale (the next two are confirmed if I'm not wrong). I'm sure the TV series will do justice to the novel and be thoroughly entertaining. 

My rating: 5/5 stars!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Slumdog Millionaire or Slumdog India?

Go to the Home Page As I begin writing this post, I realize it would probably be a controversial one. The title of this post - a question that popped to my mind when I finished watching the acclaimed movie. I read and heard several perspectives, for and against the statement. But first, let me elaborate the drift of my statement. A number of patriotic Indians, including me, felt a tad disturbed by the fact that the movie portrayed, with stark realism, the ugly face of our country. Although, there was nothing in the movie that was contestable, that I could say does not happen in our country, as an Indian citizen, I felt quite sad about the storyline which incessantly depicted the sorry state of affairs in our country. No, I don’t have anything against Vikas Swarup. Or Danny Boyle, for that matter. I think it was a pretty interesting concept. The movie was well executed, the acting brilliant and the music, certainly sublime. As mentioned earlier, the movie depicts the underbelly of th
Read more

An Excerpt from my upcoming Book

Go to the Home Page He looked through the glass door of the restaurant. From the booth that he was seated in, for the past ten minutes now, the traffic signal outside the restaurant could be seen. Every time the signal went red and hordes of pedestrians made their way across the road, some away from the restaurant and some towards it, his heart began pumping faster, his heartbeat rising like a crescendo on an exponential curve until it reached Mt. Everest and then fell as though gravitational force had suddenly betrayed Newton. Somehow, the traffic signal always seemed to turn green when he was on the verge of a cardiac arrest. At the moment, the traffic signal was green. His cardiac system functioned normally. Pouring some water into a glass, he took a sip. For the hundredth time, his sight grazed the small paper menus, the blue and white salt-pepper shakers, the overhead hanging bulb holder and the navy blue fabric covering the seats of the booth. He glanced at his watch – there
Read more

Moral decadence of the Modern society

Go to the Home Page What shocks me the most about the Mangalore pub incident is not the brutality with which helpless girls were thrashed; not the fact that 40 men (Imagine!!) barged into a pub at 4 p.m. on a Saturday (It wasn’t even dark yet!! And anyways which partygoer, unless an addicted alcoholic, drinks in the afternoon?) and began beating the young guys and girls inside; not the fact that most of these girls were teenagers and an incident of such violence would, perhaps, leave an indelible mark on their psyche; not that the onlookers managed to do what they do best – be the dumb spectators; not the knowledge that some of these hoodlums may go scot-free after a few days in the jail; not that these 40 men used the name of Lord Ram to justify their moral policing. What bothered me the most, shocked me into shedding my nonchalant attitude and jolted me out of the confines of my comfortable existence was the stance of some people (gathered from the comments that I came across on o
Read more