Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

7 reviews

theimposter's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, Suicide, Death, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Confinement, and Classism

annadrinksmilk's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

your favorite plot line in this book tells me so much about you. personally i favored daisy/jade/nicole

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Genocide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicide, Self harm, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Torture

bandysbooks's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I think one of the reasons that it took so long for there to be a follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale is just that it’s such a difficult story to do justice to. I tried to go into The Testaments with tempered expectations and I think that was helpful. This book is definitely solid, but definitely not as haunting as the original. 

The story follows three different POV characters as we learn what happens after Offred’s testimony. I thought this was an effective way to show a lot of progression in a lot of different places without making the book 1000 pages. 

I will say that while it did provide closure, it didn’t have the same emotional impact as HT. I did appreciate the resolution with some of the older characters like Aunt Lydia.

If you’re considering this series, I’d suggest:
Read Handmaid’s Tale
Watch The Handmaid’s Tale tv series
Finish with The Testaments

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Blood, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, War, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Infertility, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Torture

lectricefeministe's review against another edition

hopeful tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Vomit, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Genocide, Infertility, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Violence

bradypus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia

Minor: Abortion

anything's review

challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

walskishere's review

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I think the actual plot was pretty good, solid. How the book was written, though, the writing style, did not seem like a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. It didn't have the same stiff writing. I'm unsure if that's [stiff] how Atwood writes, or if that was to help set the scene for The Handmaid's Tale. The tone was different, but that may have been intentional, as Agnes grew up in Gilead + June/Offred did not.

I guessed pretty much all of the plot/plot "twists". This made it a little annoying to get thru, because I already pretty much knew what was going to happen. I have a theory that it was written so obviously, because it was so obvious that Trump was going to fuck shit up. This was reinforced by allusions to the small and subtle, but horrible changes leading up to Gilead taking over the USA.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Excrement, Genocide, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Homophobia