This book signified a first for this blog and my Booker reading experience; I listened to it as an audiobook. And it is only the second time a joint winner of the Booker was awarded (the previous time was in 1974 when the prize was shared between Nadine Gordimer ‘The Conservationist’ and Stanley Middleton ‘Holiday’). ‘The Testaments’ shared the 2019 prize with Bernadine Evaristo ‘Girl, Woman, Other’. More on that later.
Prior to listening to this book I listened to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ to which ‘The Testaments’ is a sequel. I think it was definitely a prerequisite, as without the first book, which introduces the characters and describes the dystopian world of Gilead, the sequel would not have made much sense. Which reminds me, I still need to go back and do the same for Pat Barker’s Regeneration Trilogy, having only read the final installment ‘The Ghost Road’ which won the Booker in 1995. And less enthusiastically, I should probably read the final book in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy ‘The Mirror and the Light’, but definitely won’t be completing the trilogy that starts with ‘The Famished Road’ by Ben Okri.
The audiobook of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ was read by Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Offred in the television series that has been developed and ‘The Testaments’ audiobook was also read by a actor from the TV show, Ann Dowd and two others. I hadn’t watched any of the television show, but was vaguely aware of some of the aesthetics from trailers and so this informed my imagination as I listened, especially with the voices of the actors. I think this supported the already thorough and expansive descriptions by Margaret Atwood; to convey a complete and absorbing alternative reality, that swept me up and engaged me through both books.
Listening to an audiobook is definitely a different experience of ‘reading’ and one that doesn’t come naturally to me, despite it often being easier to listen to something rather than physically read when my chronic illness flares up and I have limited energy. Some books work better than others, as I will discuss in a later review, but the narrative drive of ‘The Testaments’ meant that it was just as good as reading it for myself. It’s difficult not to review both books really as they are equally good and are integral to each other. I can see why ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ left readers and fans wanting more, although they had to wait 33 years! Atwood is so clever to use the extreme setting of Gilead to describe conditions that shock, repel and outrage readers, leading to condemnation of these ‘fictional’ circumstances which then expertly forces readers to reflect on real-life occurrences.
It is interesting to see Margaret Atwood win the Booker for a second time (only J.M. Coetzee and Hilary Mantel have also managed this feat) and I wonder whether this fed into the decision to award joint winners. The two winners are very different in their approach although both are incredibly ambitious in the scope of their writing in distinct ways. ‘The Testaments’ has fewer protagonists who explain the extensive altered reality to the reader, while ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ has breadth and depth through the number and diversity of perspectives but is based in the real world – although as the multi-perspective approach highlights – this world is experienced differently and explores multiple truths. But actually it’s not totally necessary to compare and contrast the two books just because they were joint winners, they both deserve to be considered in their own right.
‘The Testaments’ builds a convincing situation for the story and depicts each of the characters so well, leading to a huge investment in their plights. There is intrigue and deception and an underlying sense of unease that pervades the whole novel, underpinned and overseen by the hugely sinister system. The complicated nature of good and bad is explored especially in regards to the Aunt Lydia character and also how, to survive, some people will carry out atrocities. There is also examination of what it means to grow up unthinkingly within such oppressive systems and what it takes to recognise and challenge authority given those conditions.
It has so much to trigger in terms of reflections about surveillance, patriarchal systems, power and dominance, what outside forces can do to help, societal control, ideologies and resistance. And overall Gilead is horrifying because it’s so extreme and yet especially because it has so many parallels to aspects of life now. And it’s all the cleverer to wrap up all these ethical, moral and philosophical questions in a well-written and well-paced plot. I came away from listening with huge respect for what Atwood has created and for its cultural reach, as often, these almost covert attempts to highlight crucial issues in our own society, can be the most powerful as they can trigger debate on a broader scale. As ever, reading (or listening!) and then with cross-overs to TV or film, has the ability to increase empathy by immersing people in the experience of another, those who may or may not have thought about such issues before, which will hopefully raise critical and compassionate thinking and action and have positive effects in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment