The Testaments

happened to Gilead.....
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Atwood can't do much wrong in my eyes, but this book wasn't what I thought it would be. I thought it was extremely predictable. You could just see where she was going with things - there was no shock, no surprise. Even the end was just meh. I did enjoy reading Aunt Lydia's bit of the book though.
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And here hit is: the sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale". Ready to be blown off my socks, I opened the latest book by Margaret Atwood. Testimonials from people who lived in Gilead.

"The Testaments" starts intriguingly, with a first chapter from the perspective of an Aunt. There are two other narrative points of view: a girl who was born in Gilead, and a girl who lives outside of Gilead but who, like the first, has never known a world without this dystopia. It is certainly interesting to read how the Aunts have become Aunts. But the book is not as exciting as its predecessor.

When I first read "The Handmaid's Tale", I was completely sold. That year it even landed at the top of my top ten. Although it is interesting to return to Gilead, the weirdness is somewhat gone. You will not be confronted every other page by a strange ceremony. Towards the end it also gets more the tones of a spy thriller. The language also seems to be less substantiated; although my Creative Writing teacher will probably think very differently!

I miss June's special voice, and I sometimes find the dialogues move too quickly. It remains a good book, it just does not reach the level of "The Handmaid's Tale".