Book Club Discussion Questions for 'The Testaments' by Margaret Atwood
Doesn’t it already feel like 15 years have passed since 2020? Well, Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments takes place 15 years after The Handmaid’s Tale, and the novel uses different characters and a different perspective to take on some of the same issues. Let’s take a deeper dive into these issues with our latest book club discussion guide.
Discussion Guide
Did you read The Handmaid’s Tale or watch the Hulu show before reading this book? If so, what were some of the starkest differences?
Why do you think the author Margaret Atwood decided to write a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale about 34 years later?
What key messages was Atwood trying to give to her readers?
If you read both, which book did you like better?
The book narrative rotates between three characters: Aunt Lydia, Daisy/Nicole, and Agnes. What perspectives did each bring?
What role did Becka play in the story? How did she affect the fate of Gilead and the characters in the story?
Why did Nicole see Becka on the shore when she and Agnes finally made landfall in the inflatable?
What parallels do you see between Gilead and the U.S. today? (Or the U.S. in the past?)
Was this dystopian story one of doom or one of hope?
What are you reading next?
Cameron Bruns Ewing is the managing editor of Just Us Gals. She works in Sales at HubSpot while also pursuing a degree in environmental sustainability from University College Dublin.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
