THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood, 2020-01-17

THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood, January 17th 2020

"The Testaments" by Margaret Atwood is the long awaited sequel to "The Handmaids Tale".

"The Testaments" is a good read but not a great book.  In the final acknowledgement section, Margaret Atwood states the reasons for writing the book.  One reason is the request from fans to answer questions.

I am sorry but some of these questions are not answered; in particular the reasons for the rise of Gilead.

I would love to read stories from the perspective of a Martha, an Eye and a Commander.

There were two paragraphs in two different chapters that I had to re-read.  These two small sections were clunky and contradicted themselves within the paragraphs.  If I quoted them here, then I would be spoiling it for potential readers.  This made me feel annoyed as it was as money was the prime objective to sell more books.

There are small sections that are in the television series.  By the way I was over the television series with Offred survived as like the many deaths Coyote in "The Roadrunner" cartoons.

I liked the structure of the book with the narration from three perspectives.  The naming of each narrator is gradually revealed.  Thankfully the symbol at the start of each section gave the hint with a picture of a Pen, Handmaid and a Girl.  To say anything further, again, would spoil the journey.

I enjoyed the cliff hanging end to each section that meant you had to read the next character/s chapter/s before resuming a thread.

I kept notes as I was reading the book, and predicted four major events or relationships.  Again I do not want to spoil the book.  The knitting together of the characters was like an embroidery sampler that neatly concluded as predicted.

"The Testaments" obtained a 7.5/10.