The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I cannot help but find it significant that I completed reading this brilliant novel on the day we in my country celebrate the birth, and life, of one of our greatest sons, Dr. King. It is our nation's only officially recognized "National Day of Service," on which date each of us is urged to think of ways to serve the greater human community.

Atwood is too modest to hold up her book as a service, but it most certainly is. The more cynical among us might prefer to think of this sequel -- 35 years in the making -- as a "cash grab"; however, I suspect that the Atwood estate was in a pretty good position going into her choice to embark upon this journey.

I won't re-tell any of the book's story, not only because I don't want to spoil the experience for those who haven't read it yet, but because "The Testaments" is about so much more than just its story. For me, personally, it has energized me in my middle age, much as its predecessor, "The Handmaids Tale," did for me and so many of my fellow 20-somethings.

This is not so much a review, as it is a thank you note to Ms. Atwood. I admit to being among the anesthetized who would prefer to spend two hours in a hazy wormhole of cute kitten videos on Facebook than watching the news and the daily outpouring of lies our politicians dole out at unprecedented rates.

"The Testaments," along with "The Handmaid's Tale," is one of those rare works that manages to shake its readers by the collar, and remind us that if we do not pay attention to the daily assaults on our freedom, we may very well wake up in chains. She says it more eloquently than I ever could:

“We’re stretched thin, all of us; we vibrate; we quiver, we’re always on the alert. Reign of terror, they used to say, but terror does not exactly reign. Instead it paralyzes. Hence the unnatural quiet.”

My father, the late Hanno Fuchs, encouraged me in a letter years ago, in his sometimes intentionally vague way, to "keep telling the story." To circle back to Dr. King, via Ms. Atwood, I believe the story he was referring to was the story of Love conquering Hate, and of every man's, and every woman's, need to be free.


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