The Testaments
Series: The Handmaid's Tale, Book 2
By: Margaret Atwood / Narrated By: Derek Jacobi, Mae Whitman, Ann Dowd, Bryce Dallas Howard, Tantoo Cardinal, Margaret Atwood
Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
Oh gosh, I hate to say it, but some questions should never be answered…
Cuz The Handmaid’s Tale was one of the best-ending books… EVER! We don’t know what happens to our dear handmaid; she’s lost and is special only in that historians have discovered her recordings, have dissected her each and every line, and they discuss it at symposiums. Did Offred make it out of Gilead and into Canada or somewhere? Was her child born free, or was she born in Gilead, taken to some other family to be raised in privilege and amongst all the brainwashing?
So here we have Margaret Atwood answering all those things, kinda sorta, in response to the many, many requests for MORE she’s received over the years. Plus, she tells us, she’s addressing some of the things that are happening in our society today; the political climate has made her do it.
Since I loved The Handmaid’s Tale so much, you’d better beLIEVE I snapped up The Testaments even tho’ it didn’t have the narrator’s listed, so I didn’t know what all was gonna come outta the bag.
We’re taken to both Gilead for the story of young Agnes, and to Canada for the story of young Daisy. The best parts of the book, however, are when we hear Aunt Lydia’s words, and we gain some insight into just how HER mind worked, what her motivations were, the whys and wherefores. Through Aunt Lydia, the book gains some of its: Don’t-exactly-know-what’s-going-on feel that was so good in the original story. Whereas as before we were simply thrust into Offred’s world, in this book, we already know AAAALL about it. So thank gosh for Aunt Lydia and her up and down wheelings and dealings because the stories of Agnes and Daisy are fairly straightforward, and from the get-go we know how it all turns out for them.
The book uses “Witness Testimonies” of both girls as they relay their pasts and what all befell them on their journey to that point. Agnes starts as a kinda sorta confused, maybe a bit brainwashed, girl who comes to question all she’s learned. Daisy in Canada has been raised by politically/socially-minded people who have taught her things such as God is a cultural construct; she’s always been raised to question.
So that’s all well and good, but when the two get together, all of a sudden Agnes is written as a True Believer, and suddenly she wants to do things like pray at the drop of a hat. I mean, I completely understand how, when the two girls get together, we’re supposed to see the massive difference between their cultural, religious, political backgrounds, and I did appreciate how Agnes could balk at having to wear jeans, but to make her so dogmatic so quickly? Well, the writing as such went a little off for me. All was well when the two girls were separate, I enjoyed the differences between Gilead and Canada, could see how each side kinda had their story, and each was sticking to it (And I loved how in Canada, there were protestors who were strongly against having this invasion of Gilead deserters/of on-the-run handmaids pouring into their country. Sound familiar?). But what made it good was how Agnes was written as a young woman with spunk and tenacity—she was willing to take opportunities that presented themselves to get out of bad situations, all with a brave and sassy style. Then wham! She’s iffy, and even a trifle pedantic. I kinda sorta even stopped liking her, which is quite sad indeed in a novel. And Daisy? She’s kinda fearful in the first part, respectful, then suddenly she’s a foul-mouthed young woman, delighting in the utterly blasphemous. This is all so wrong, especially when aaaall of that is glossed over, and the ending is given to us wrapped neatly and tied with a bow. No spoilers; the testimonies tell us they made it to that important step in their lives’ journeys.
And let’s not fault the narration for any discontent. Each girl sounds suitably youthful, tho’ at this point I couldn’t tell you which narrator voiced whom as it was declared at the very end and, dolt that I am, I was on the bus without a pen. I CAN tell you that the individual who did Aunt Lydia was really superb: She added so much to a well fleshed-out character, turning the complex character into a living, breathing, plotting, and manipulative woman. She reeeally did well with that, and as I said, Aunt Lydia is a standout in the book.
Okay, okay, okay. So maybe I don’t have a right to say that there really shouldn’t have been a sequel; I am, after all, a person who completely flunked The Marshmallow Test, like BAD, and cannot go without some sort of gratification. But I tell you, most sincerely, that after being presented with this neatly wrapped-up package?
Oh, Offred, Offred! I do so wish I remained sick and worried for ya…!
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