![]() She is still ruthless, but now we understand that she is also brilliant and self-aware. ![]() ![]() Her account includes her pre-Gilead life as a family court judge, her experiences during the coup, her role in setting up the draconian system - and her current scheme to bring it down. “The Ardua Hall Holograph” is the memoir of Aunt Lydia, the terrible enforcer who broke Offred’s will in the first book. The novel has three heroines, each presented through first-person testimony. This is a thrilling page-turner, filled with clever world-building and razor wit. Just a few pages into “The Testaments,” I saw that Atwood has changed her approach. While some of these are the qualities that won the book so much respect as an unsparing portrait of totalitarianism, I nonetheless decided to go with the Wikipedia plot summary. A grim, oppressive, even boring story, I felt its feminist message was delivered with a heavy hand. Then I recalled that, while I loved the TV show, I was not a fan of the novel. ![]() I wondered whether I should reread “The Handmaid’s Tale” before starting it. Set 17 years after the handmaid Offred climbed into the back of a van, possibly pregnant, unsure whether she was heading into captivity or freedom, “The Testaments” tells us what happened after that, deftly incorporating elements added in the TV series, unfolding both within and outside the fictional dystopia of Gilead. Margaret Atwood, you canny lady! With her 1985 feminist classic “The Handmaid’s Tale” having an amazing second life as a cultural mega-icon thanks to the Hulu series with Elisabeth Moss, the author has picked the perfect moment to publish a sequel. ![]()
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