The Testaments by Margaret Atwood WITH spoilers

[Pokemontv]

Who is up for a discussion ? What did you like ? What did you hate ?

I think they have probably planned the arc over multiple series so they won't have written themselves into a corner, they will know exactly where she is going - whether we will like it is another question though!

One of the writers gave an interview this week saying they are going to need more time to try to figure out S4 in light of the book.

Which seems to imply they will struggle a bit. But that makes no sense in some says as surely Atwood would have tipped them off? She's been writing it for years!!

I enjoyed the book and devoured it very quickly! But I think I enjoyed it because there was a nice, neat ending.

In the days since, I’ve become a bit less satisfied. I feel like I’ve gorged myself on sugary crap and have woken up hungry for real food.

The return and then departure of Nicole was too easy. Given the strictures of Gilead - especially as depicted in THT and the first tv series - I cant believe it would have happened like that.

And I want to know what happened to June! How did she escape? What about Luke and Moria? And what about Nick?

Maybe Neil and Melanie were Luke and Moira. More likely, though, they handed Nicole over for safe keeping as they were already known by Gilead. There's mileage for that part of the story in another series, also Nick's story.

^I enjoyed the book and devoured it very quickly! But I think I enjoyed it because there was a nice, neat ending.

In the days since, I’ve become a bit less satisfied. I feel like I’ve gorged myself on sugary crap and have woken up hungry for real food.^

@BIWI - Thank you - this sums up exactly how I feel. For years, I've thought I wanted a happy ending for June but now that we have it, I feel cheated.

I don't think Neil and Melanie were Luke and Moira. It is heavily implied that both died in the original THT - although obviously TT has put pay to lots of things there and is following many aspect of the TV Show, but I feel this would have made made more explicit if it were the case; or at least a clue dropped to have readers debate it. it did wonder if Ada might be Moira but dropped that idea as the book went on.

I also wonder what happened to baby Mark during the revolution and fall of Gilead. I hope he ended up safe and happy.

Italic fail above.

Also surprised that there were no mentions at all of the Waterfords in TT. Not even in passing.

it did wonder if Ada might be Moira but dropped that idea as the book went on.

I thought that too at first, but then I remembered that book Moira had the tops of her fingers chopped off. Daisy/Nicole would have noticed that and "told" us.

(Is it possible that I am making the finger chopping?)

Also, can anyone remember which symposium transcripts appear at the end of the first book? I am wondering how much information, or knowledge, was lost during the digital blackout. (I am at work and can't recall if that it was it was called.)

Did Moria have the end of her fingers chopped off?! I don’t remember that, either from the book, or from the tv series

I think you might have dreamed that, @Andylion! In the book her feet are beaten with steel cables to punish her for escaping.

Well, that is strange. Maybe I should use this imagination and write a book of my own.

I finished reading last night. As others have said, it's left me feeling rather unsatisfied, possibly because it all seemed rather too "neat".

I am not convinced that the reunion between Agnes, Nicole and their mother June actually did take place. We have literally just been told that Nicole thought that Becka was with them in the rowing boat and had heard her on the beach. And then she says when she woke up in hospital that her mother was there. Was this an hallucination? It had been made clear earlier in the book that a reunion wasn't guaranteed. I think it's ambiguous.

Re: no mention of Waterford. They weren't mentioned by nine, but Commander Waterford was briefly referred to by Aunt Lydia I believe, in relation to purges being carried out, which fits with the Historical Notes in THT.

The symposium in THT was the 12th; the one in The Testaments the 13th. Held two years apart.

^Waterfords not mentioned by name.

I wonder whether I'd have enjoyed The Testaments more if I hadn't seen series 2 and 3.

It was as if the TV show was a spoiler for the book.

It was obvious very early on to TV viewers who the two younger voices were, and the link between them (plus Samira Ahmed gave away a massive clue during her interview with Atwood - she said there is a "link" between the girls ). The "twist" when Agnes reads her bloodlines file would only work if you hadn't watched the TV programme or not watched the interview.

I haven’t seen any of the TV show. Within the first third of the book I had realised who the girls must be and that Aunt Lydia was the Mayday informant. I then spent the rest of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop and give some kind of unexpected twist, perhaps like the one in Blind Assassin, because I couldn’t believe that the resolution of the narrative would be so straightforward.

I finished it last night.

I know she’s supposed to have been writing this book for years, but it read like she had cobbled it together at the last minute to cash in on the current popularity of THT.

Nicole’s voice was unconvincing.

The whole thing was too rushed, too far fetched. Some passages were ridiculously plot driven: and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened... and then we all loved happily ever after.

AL’s backstory was convincing and I was interested in the idea of the Pearl Girls. There were hints that Agnes was going to have some memory, some connection to her mother, but I was disappointed by the ending.

was obvious very early on to TV viewers who the two younger voices were, and the link between them
It was obvious anyway. June was pregnant at the end of THT and Daisy was 15 in The Testaments which was set 15 years later.

It also seems rather incredible that Agnes wouldn’t have any memories of her real parents given her age when they were all captured.

All in all this has left me with the feeling that the tv series are now being used to fill in the gap between the two books.

It also seems rather incredible that Agnes wouldn’t have any memories of her real parents given her age when they were all captured.

I don't think it is incredible (though I admit I can't remember how old Agnes was at the time).

She was picked up and passed on to another family. Everyone was conspiring with the fable that her parents were her parents. No one else around every reminding her of 'do you remember'. No photos. Often memories aren't memories but reinforced by photos, retelling etc. She remembers the most impactful event but can't place it.

Most people don't really remember much stuff before the age of ~5-7.

Don’t you?! I do. Some stuff very clearly!

She was picked up and passed on to another family. Everyone was conspiring with the fable that her parents were her parents. No one else around every reminding her of 'do you remember'. No photos. Often memories aren't memories but reinforced by photos, retelling etc. She remembers the most impactful event but can't place it.

But that comes back to the question of whether the TV series is included as canon, which Nicole's inclusion suggests that it is. In which case June's been back to visit Hannah at the age of - what, about 7?

I really enjoyed it, particularly the development of AL and how she decided to play the system to survive, and the power balance with the other leading aunts.

She seemed a plausible choice to end up in that role with her legal background and previous experiences of supporting women in voluntary roles and a brief stint in education. There's the fanatical and mysogenistic dismissal of how she may actually feel motivated about the system and being blind to how she ultimately stabs them in the back.

I didn't think it needed the crueler aspects of Gilead society spelling out except those that were directly relevant. Like Jezebels exisiting under the radar, the worst aspects of society such as the dentist's abuse of girls continues brushed under the carpet, and Judd's series of young wives.

I liked the references to the Marthas informing about household life to the Aunts which reminded me of the underground network of S3. The commanders really are ignorant of what the women get up to while apparently abiding by the constraints of their controlled world.

But that comes back to the question of whether the TV series is included as canon, which Nicole's inclusion suggests that it is. In which case June's been back to visit Hannah at the age of - what, about 7?

Oh yes, that's another thought I'd had whilst reading. I wondered whether Agnes might recall a visit from June, her mother. Interestingly, the Bloodlines Genealogy didn't give her previous (real) name of Hannah.

I think I'm struggling with whether the TV show should be regarded as canon.

I know one of the questions about the Testaments before it came out was whether it would follow the events of series 2 and 3, and the answer to that was no.

Which is obviously true, but it feels as though we now know exactly how the TV series is heading (unless they do diverge, which I think is unlikely). The book spoiling the TV series .

I was expecting (and think I would have preferred) a book totally separate to the TV series. Maybe telling the stories of a Wife and a Martha. And Aunt Lydia. I'm glad we've got her back story.

One of my favourite lines in the entire book: "He's so deep underground he needs a breathing tube"

MA has said nichole was hers, not the tv show's

MA has said nichole was hers, not the tv show's.

That’s interesting.