The Testaments

Was Margaret Atwood's The Testaments much easier to read than The Handmaid's Tale (of which it is a sequel) because The Handmaid's Tale told such a dire dystopian story which seems far too similar to what we're living in now and The Testaments seemed somehow more hopeful? The Testaments was more "entertaining" and less horrific on many different levels.

The Testaments takes place about 25 years after The Handmaid's Tale. It's told from 3 different perspectives: Aunt Lydia, one of the female elders of the community and from two teenage girls, one growing up in Gilead and the other growing up in Canada. In many ways, this is a typical coming-of-age story, even though the upbringings of the girls is anything but typical. It gives us a much better idea of the workings of Gilead.

I don't want to give too much away and I'm struggling to give you a better idea of the plot of the book without spoiling it for you. Of the two books, The Handmaid's Tale is the one with the larger message, the one that is more scary and the one that really makes you think.

 

The Handmaid's Tale

Every time I thought about picking up The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, I put it down. The premise of the book, limiting the role of women in society to being birth factories, was just too disturbing.

Little by little, over the past few years, I've seen real life imitating art. After the Supreme Court effectively overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, I decided that it was time to read The Handmaid's Tale. Now I wonder how Margaret Atwood was so prescient. The Handmaid's Tale read like non-fiction in July 2022. That is horrifying!

Life is as we (used to) know it at the start of The Handmaid's Tale. Offred has an actual name. She's got a job she enjoys, a husband, a daughter, friends. Life is pretty good. The religious right somehow comes into power. And suddenly women can no longer hold jobs, can no longer control their assets. Families are torn apart. Women with viable ovaries can become handmaids. They will give birth to the children that the infertile wives of the leaders cannot have.

We were staying in our Airbnb in New York when I read The Handmaid's Tale. We had Hulu on our Airbnb tv, something we don't have at home. After turning the last page of the book, I turned on the series. We were in a tiny Airbnb so whatever I watched, my husband couldn't help but watching. After the 3rd episode of season 1, he said he couldn't watch anymore. It was just that disturbing.

I'm not going to get all political in this review so I'm pretty much going to leave it here and not say anymore. Other than to suggest that everyone read this book. We are well on the way to life as told in The Handmaid's Tale. Think about that when you go to vote in November.