Title: The Testaments
Author: Margaret Atwood
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 423
Rating: 4.5/5
This is the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, which is one of Atwood’s best-known works and which was my favourite book of the year when I read it. I remember it so vividly that I can remember reading it while on holiday with my mum near the Forest of Dean.
I was expecting good things from this one and I was a little hesitant to pick it up because I wasn’t convinced that it was going to live up to my expectations. I needn’t have worried, though. Atwood is a cracking writer, and she’s at her best when she’s writing from a position of anger, which is exactly what she’s doing here.
I think it’s also interesting to consider the context of when this was published. The Handmaid’s Tale had been enjoying a resurgence due to a combination of the TV show and the Trump presidency, and then the Testaments came out at just the right time. I suspect that Atwood had been thinking about writing it for a while but had been waiting for world events to give her the impetus to get it done.
The result is a fantastic novel that holds up well on its own. In fact, I’m pretty sure that you could read this without having read The Handmaid’s Tale, although you’ll get more from it if you do. It basically continues the world building that Atwood started and finishes the job that she started forty odd years ago.
It’s one of those rare, powerful books that I’d recommend to everyone, if only because it holds a mirror up to reality and invites us to answer the question, “What if?” I’ve heard some criticism directed towards Atwood’s dystopia because people find it difficult to believe it could ever happen, but what they miss is that it already has happened. Not in one place and at one time, but spread out throughout history.
In today’s world, there’s no excuse for ignorance when it comes to the way that women have been historically (and still are being) treated. Books like The Testaments are super important even if it’s only to be provocative and to ask questions that we have to answer as a society.
And so if you haven’t already picked it up, I’d definitely recommend reading The Testaments, as well as The Handmaid’s Tale. Pick them up in either order, as long as you make some time for them.
