The Testaments

15.02.2021

The testaments by Margaret Atwood, also known as The handmaid's tale #2. I was really indecisive about reading this book. Yes, I did enjoy the handmaid's tale, even though it wasn't really my thing, I did enjoy exploring this new book genre and dive into Margaret's dystopian world. The testaments, is indeed connected to the first one, but you find out exactly how at the very end. The story is set 15 whole years after the first book. The story was really intriguing, and we had two-no three different point of views. Aunt Lydia, Agnes Jemima and Daisy.

Aunt Lydia is a successful judge. She is divorced and lives an ordinary life, when one day, she gets arrested and later imprisoned in a stadium, along with many other women, while the new revolution and reinstallment of Gilead takes place. Women are stripped of all their rights, they can no longer work, divorce, have abortions, or basically any other rights they've managed to obtain till nowadays. She is forced to endure weeks in horrible conditions and solitary confinement, until she cuts a deal with Commander Judd, along with a few other women. They receive the elite title of "Aunts" and are tasked to create and see the laws and uniforms governing all the women in Gilead.

The other point of view we have is Agnes Jamima's. She is the daughter of Commander Kyle and Tabitha, her mother later dies from an illness. Shortly after, Agnes finds out she is actually adopted. She and two of her friends Becka and Shunnamite go to an elite preparatory school for daughters of Commanders. Once widowed, her father remarries a widow named Paula, that Agnes soon begins to despise. Unable to have a child, Paula hires a handmaid to conceive their child, who later dies during childbirth. At age 14, Agnes is now deemed a woman, and her parents quickly arrange a marriage for her, with Commander Judd, the high-ranking official in charge of the surveillance of Gilead.

The last point of view is Daisy's, she's several years younger than Agnes, and grew up in Toronto with her parents Neil and Melanie. They both own a second hand clothes shop. On her 16th birthday, Neil and Melanie are killed, and Daisy finds out they weren't her real parents. She is taken by Mayday, the resistance operative organization. Daisy then learns that her real name is actually Nicole, the famous "Baby Nicole" is a story about the baby, who was smuggled by her real mother, a handmaid, outside the border, and Gilead has been looking for her ever since. She is given the mission to infiltrate in Gilead in order to obtain valuable information from an anonymous mole.

We have these three completely different point of views, three people's completely different lives. Throughout the story you'll see how and in what way they will cross each other's paths.

Star rating: I give this book a solid four stars, it was fascinating and enticing, but at times I found it a bit slow.