The Testaments: A Novel | 
pickI love this & want more! I can‘t wait for The Testaments tv series. Aunt Lydia told her own story & history, and confessed her motivations. The story of Agnes/Hannah (although she does not get the name Hannah as she has in the series) beyond Handmaid‘s Tale, as well as Nicole/Holly (also never mentioning the name Holly) navigating some time as a teenager, & eventually meeting her half sister. I hope the series gives more like Handmaid‘s Tale did.
pickI really enjoyed this. It was very hopeful and empowering without becoming naive. Gilead and the Commanders are as abhorrent as ever. The 3 women telling the tale come from vastly different circumstances which made it a very interesting read.
Why am I trying to read this now? I am concerned. *gestures broadly at everything* 🇺🇸🇺🇸🫡🫥🤯😭
Quick re read after watching the last episode of The Handmaid's Tale this week.
pickSolid buildup, shockingly quick read despite how emotional it all is. I will admit, the ending felt too abrupt…and dare I say too easy?
Like many have said, this felt less like a sequel and more like a coda/epilogue. But certainly a timely one. 🍊
Like…not to sound alarmist but…
This feels like the MAGA end goal, no? Reading this as they attempt to dismantle the Dept of Education this very week.
Sigh.
The struggle with these kinds of dystopia stories is…this absolutely feels familiar. This absolutely feels like it‘s already happening. So is it really ✨ dystopian ✨ ? 🫣 Sigh.
#WithTheBanned is reading Handmaid‘s - and since I rarely re-read, now is the perfect time to get the sequel off my shelf and read. 🫣💖💪🏻
pickTold from three different women‘s perspectives, all with some relation to Gilead. The book is set some time after “The Handmaid‘s Tale”.
As I was reading, I wondered if we would ever have had this novel if it hadn‘t been for the series. But this pulled me in and turning the pages, in a way that “The Handmaid‘s Tale” didn‘t.
As the blurb says: “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
I don‘t remember what I thought the first time I saw letters. But maybe this is an accurate description if you haven‘t seen them before?
This is the story of my life today. And at the moment, I am out of any to give.
#margaretatwood #thetestaments #thehandmaidstale #zerofuckstogive #worksucks #hostileworkenvironment #toxicworkenvironment
It‘s amazing how many quotes popped up on Readwise today that fit with the book I finished this evening.
#TheTestaments #MargaretAtwood #GodIsNotGreat #ChristopherHitchens #sexism #antiwoman #rebellion #religion
pickMy husband bought me this for Christmas in 2019 when it first came out. I haven‘t managed to get to it before now, and how the world has changed since then!#lifemirroringart
I enjoyed this ride, although found the different perspectives a little confusing at first. It read a bit like a YA novel 🤔.
I‘m pleased to have finally gotten to it.
pickI saw a lot of mixed reviews of this book but I really enjoyed it. Although I still can‘t forgive Aunt Lydia…
pickInteresting to get Aunt Lydia's back story and to have a look at Gilead from the wives' point of view but it just didn't have the wow factor that “The Handmaid's Tale“ did.
pickThe audio and it was really good! The actress who plays Aunt Lydia in the tv show also narrated the character‘s storyline in “The Testaments”. Although I loved the audio, and would recommend it for those who listen to audio books, it was harder to tell Agnes and Daisy apart, especially when the storylines converged; earlier in the book, you can tell by the other characters and what is happening around them. Cont in comments...
so-soNot bad, not stellar. The mixed perspectives were confusing. This was marked to show what happened after the first, but I didn‘t feel connected to the first besides that it was still Gilead. It was the same as how this book made it feel like it was about the fall of Gilead, yet that was way in the background. This book focused on the Aunts and the more nitty gritty of the nasty stuff. Still worth a read either way.
Finally got my hands on this book. Amazing thinking it‘s a long waited sequel. Believe it ended up being 30 years later. This feels like a different Gilead point of view. Instead of a handmaiden, now it‘s a girl growing up in a household. With no handmaiden, but three Martha‘s. Bit of a rebellious girl growing here.
pickI really enjoyed this book. Sequels rarely work, in my opinion, so it was so lovely getting a continuation of the story but from the perspective of the new generation both in and out of Gilead.
pickWhile this was still a page turner like the first, I almost felt like Atwood was playing into the TV show, giving us familiar names. I‘m not sure if she wrote it to give the show more ideas or just to say “hey, here the names you are familiar with. Do with this as you please.” And hints that Offred of the first book is actually June in the show. Even though she has said that Offred isn‘t. But absolutely loved what she did with Aunt Lydia.
“You‘d be surprised how quickly the mind goes soggy in the absence of other people. One person alone is not a full person: we exist in relation to others.”
The people you spend the most time with—aka, your BFFs—are some of the most influential people in your life.
#BookQuotes
#xoxoAllTheWayFromIndia
pick“As they say, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
This was one of my favourite quotes from the book because we can see the truth practically happening in front of our eyes right now. I couldn‘t help but make relations from the book to our world right now, and that‘s made this book 10x better.
When reading the book, you can see how Atwood‘s writing has changed over the years, and I must say I quite enjoyed reading this. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
But among these bloody fingerprints are those made by ourselves, and these can‘t be wiped easily. Over the years I‘ve buried a lot of bones; now I‘m inclined to dig them up again.
(Continuation of previous posted quote)
The corrupt and blood-smeared fingerprints of the past must be wiped away to create a clean space for the morally pure generation that is surely about to arrive. Such is the theory.
Only dead people are allowed to have statues, but I have been given one while still alive. Already I am petrified.
1. Tagged and (still) Bel Canto
2. Broken Harbor by Tana French
3. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain
It‘s been awhile since I‘ve read The Handmaid‘s Tale but I‘m going to give this a minute and to see if I can pick up where the other left off.
Knowledge is power
and
History does not repeat itself,
but it rhymes.
pickI‘m obsessed with this book.
I read it with very low expectations because the Handmaid‘s Tale was so good, I‘m so glad I did that because I LOVED this book too.
It answered a lot of questions and gave us many new perspectives of Gilead, plus the three different characters from various statuses were amazing.
Thank you Margaret Atwood for creating this Dystopian world of Gilead.
Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/137956335
“Totalitarianisms may crumble from within, as they fail to keep the promises that brought them to power; or they may be attacked from without; or both. There are no sure-fire formulas, since very little in history is inevitable.”
A BIRD OF THE AIR SHALL CARRY THE VOICE, AND THAT WHICH
HATH WINGS SHALL TELL THE MATTER.
LOVE IS AS STRONG AS DEATH.
I dreamed of Becka. She was there beside me in the front of the truck. I couldn't see her, though I knew she was there. I said to her in the dream, "So you came with us after all. I'm so happy." But she didn't answer.
"Thank you, Becka," I said. "You are a sister to me."
"I‘Il think of you as birds, flying away," she said. "A bird of the air will carry the voice."
"I will pray for you," I said. It did not seem adequate.
"And I for you." She smiled slightly: "I've never loved anyone but you.”
"I love you too," I said. Then we hugged each other and cried a little.
"I wish I had a sister," she said to me one day. "And if I did, that person would be you.”
Becka and Agnes friendship in a book where there‘s barely any kindness means so much.
I sang it to Becka, and then after a while I was able to read it to her. "That's so hopeful," she said. "I would like to think that there are two angels always waiting to fly away with me." Then she said, "I never had anyone sing to me at night. You were so lucky."
Becka and Agnes
