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The Testaments Audiobook – Unabridged

Margaret Atwood (Author, Narrator), Ann Dowd (Narrator), Bryce Dallas Howard (Narrator),

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in Dystopian Science Fiction

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Brought to you by Penguin.

Winner of the Booker Prize 2019.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood is read by Ann Dowd, Bryce Dallas Howard and Mae Whitman with Derek Jacobi, Tantoo Cardinal and Margaret Atwood.

Margaret Atwood’s dystopian masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a modern classic. Now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel.

More than 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.

Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.

As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.

‘Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.' (Margaret Atwood)

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The Testaments

Margaret Atwood (Author, Narrator), Ann Dowd (Narrator), Bryce Dallas Howard (Narrator)

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Product details

Listening Length	13 hours 18 minutes
Author	Margaret Atwood
Narrator	Margaret Atwood, Ann Dowd, Bryce Dallas Howard, Mae Whitman, Derek Jacobi, Tantoo Cardinal
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	10 September 2019
Publisher	Penguin Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07KXZHRBF
Best Sellers Rank	39 in Audible (See Top 100 in Audible) 1 in Dystopian Fiction 1 in Dystopian Science Fiction (Audible) 2 in Literary Fiction (Audible)

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Andie

Finally....

11 September 2019

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I read it in a few hours. Who could put it down, after waiting all this time? It was incredibly tense, of course, and at the start it’s jolting to realise whose thoughts you’re hearing. I have always desperately needed to know more about Aunt Lydia, for reasons that say more about me than the book or the author, and it answered that need entirely, on so many levels. The other characters felt less sharply drawn but I assume that is by design. You’re in their minds, experiencing the world inside and outside Gilead, so you’re sharing their level of maturity and understanding, which is terrifying in it’s own way. (Of all the women and girls in Gilead, we’d heard the least from/about the girls being raised in it; the ones with no memory of before.) And as for that world...well, Atwood’s great skill is letting a little detail (the right details) go a very long way in your head, which is where the true horror of Gilead lives. This book gives you a resolution, yes, but it’s chilling how tenuous it seemed, right to the end. I put it down when I was done, but I don’t feel “safe” yet.

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Still terrific

27 September 2019

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Atwood is as sure-footed as ever in this sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. The conservative theocracy of Gilead is as harsh as ever, but like all totalitarian regimes, is starting to come apart at the seams. It’s helped on its way by the Machiavellian tactics of Aunt Lydia, one of the Founders (and a judge who came from a trailer trash background in her pre-Gilead days) who sardonically relates a good part of the book. Other sections are narrated by a Canadian girl who discovers that she is Baby Nicole, the iconic posterbaby who serves Gilead as a symbol of its fight to survive. She was smuggled out of Gilead and Gilead wants her back. Other sections are narrated by well-brought up Gilead girls destined for early marriage and attempted baby-making. Through them we learn what life is like for women in a theocratic patriarchy where girls cover up lest they inflame male lust (remind you of anything?) and are not taught to read and write because what’s the point? Their poor little female minds couldn’t cope. In preparation for marriage school it’s more fitting that they learn flower arranging. Divorce is illegal, so when a high ranking man feels like a change, wives tend to have accidents and strange fatal illnesses. No, all is not well in God’s chosen country. There’s the odd spot of paedophilia and incest too. Combined with the injunction to be purer than pure it’s no wonder that some girls discover a vocation to become an Aunt. Sadly, they’ll have no children, but mercifully, they won’t have sex. And they’ll get to read and write, and have more power and autonomy than a Wife. Handmaids, of course, are simply necessary sluts in a society with a pathologically low birth rate.

So Lydia gets to work to bring Gilead down. She enjoys subtle jousting with Commander Judd, who is also her ally. She risks her life in working with the Mayday underground resistance (or terrorists, depending on your point of view). Circumstances lead Nicole to voluntarily re-enter Gilead as a plant. It’s dangerous stuff and makes for compelling reading. Lydia’s sections are the most fun to read because she has an Atwoodian sense of humour, prompting the odd laugh out loud chuckle, and is under no illusions about herself. She has done some horrible things to survive but she’s a tough nut. The novel ends with a post-Gilead conference where historians debate the merits and interpretation of historical materials. As they do. This is Atwood at her best and will no doubt grace our screens in due course.

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Bittersweet instalment ...

5 January 2020

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

It’s finally here! After waiting for nearly 30 years Margaret Atwood continues her dystopian masterpieces... Importantly, read ‘The Handmaid's Tale’ before reading this wonderful sequel. Although the TV series is a wonderful adaptation, the book is an essential read to fully understand Atwood's follow-up masterpiece.

"The Testaments" is an incredible account of what happened in Gilead after the end of "The Handmaid's Tale." The next chapters of this dystopian society are told from the viewpoints of three different women. Firstly, we meet Agnes is growing up in the home of one of the privileged Commanders, unaware that she is adopted until her "mother" dies and her stepmother wants Agnes out of the house.

Then we meet Daisy who is a happy teen living in Canada, unaware she is living not with her parents, but with two operatives of the Mayday Society that rescues women from Gilead. And then we have the most powerful voice which is that of Aunt Lydia, a judge in her former life before Gilead forbade women to have careers outside of their roles for allowed for women.

It's so bittersweet to finally be writing a review for ‘The Testaments’ however it really is worth all the rave reviews and of course the coveted Booker Prize...
Highly, Highly recommended.

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5 star		79%
4 star		12%
3 star		4%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%