“The Testaments” Proves Margaret Atwood Still Has What it Takes to Enthrall Readers

“The Testaments” (Photo Credit: Penguin Books)

By Kadija Doumbia

While Margaret Atwood’s, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” remains successful both in bookstores and on screen, its sequel, “The Testaments,” also continues to gain mass critical acclaim, selling over 120,000 copies since its release two months ago. Fans of dystopias and realistic horror novels, or even casual readers will likely find this book a worthwhile read, and those who waited anxiously with high expectations of the book will not be disappointed.

In both, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “The Testaments,” handmaids and other women are second-class citizens in the Republic of Gilead, expected to bear children for the infertile wives of powerful men, in a world ravaged by toxic wastes from nuclear fallout. 

Conventional styles suggest reading “The Handmaid’s Tale” first works best, but reading “The Testaments” as a stand-alone novel promises fun as well. The sequel conveys the hopelessness its protagonist Offred feels about her new world and carries a more positive tone, focusing on the promising future Agnes and Daisy represent.

“The Testaments” continues from the ending scene of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” where Offred escaped Gilead with Nick alongside a group of men posing as “The Eyes,” the states’ secret police. The plot picks up 15 years after and follows the story of two half-sisters named Daisy and Agnes who were raised in completely different worlds.

Atwood gives the sisters an agency that Offred did not have as a Handmaid; their personalities and environment gives life to the story and reveals the characters’ differing attitudes and actions. While Daisy grew up in Canada with her adoptive parents among women who benefit from human rights and privileges, such as reproductive freedom, Agnes knows no liberty living in Gilead, the same society as her birth mother.                  

One of the most surprising moments of the book takes place in chapter three, where readers are given an inside glimpse into the life of the mysterious Aunt Lydia.

Throughout the series, Aunt Lydia, who is responsible for disciplining and training the handmaids on childbearing duties, served as a source of terror more than an instructive figure. Her character exists to prove that women, too, are complicit in their own oppression within Gilead.

In “The Testaments,” she describes herself, “I’m a bugaboo used by the Marthas to frighten small children - if you don’t behave yourself Aunt Lydia will come and get you! I’m also a model of moral perfection to be emulated.”

Aunt Lydia is one of the most powerful women in her society, and seeing the world through her image within the novel is a fascinating experience. Her legendary status is addressed when a statue is erected in her honor, which both terrifies and flatters her.

At almost 80 years old, Margaret Atwood has demonstrated through “The Testaments” that she still has what it takes to turn fictional accounts into hot topics of the 2010s. Indeed, Atwood won her second $50,000 British pound Booker Prize for Fiction in London on Oct. 14 this year, sharing the award with Bernardine Evaristo, who released her novel “Girl, Woman, Other.”

Margaret Atwood (Photo Credit: Wikipedia )

With her latest fantasy of a dystopian world with a realistic twist on our present-day world, it’s no wonder the book has gained such traction in such a short time. “The Testaments” is an emotional rollercoaster readers won't want to miss.