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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 14 September 2019
New Atwood novel ‘The Testaments’ revisits dystopian world

By JILL LAWLESS rity. Atwood says she and
Associated Press the publishers were target-
LONDON (AP) — Margaret ed in cyberattacks aimed
Atwood often gets asked at stealing the manuscript.
if “The Testaments,” her se- Publisher Penguin’s tight
quel to “The Handmaid’s pre-publication proce-
Tale,” is set in a dystopian dures were slightly compro-
world. mised when Amazon sent
“Let us hope so,” she says some customers copies
drily. The Canadian author early. Amazon apologized
noted as her new novel for the “technical glitch.”
was published with a fero- The book was launched
cious blast of publicity Tues- with “Harry Potter” levels of
day that several U.S. states hype: midnight festivities in
recently enacted laws to British book stores, a press
limit women’s reproductive conference for internation-
rights. She likened it to the al journalists and a celeb-
extreme control over wom- rity-studded evening gala
en in Gilead, the theocratic broadcast to 1,300 movie
future United States where theaters around the world.
both “The Handmaid’s The novel is on the shortlist
Tale” and “The Testaments” for the prestigious Booker
are set. Prize — Atwood’s sixth time
“If you look at the legislative Canadian author Margaret Atwood speaks during a press conference at the British Library to as a Booker finalist. She
moves made by a number launch her new book ‘The Testaments’ in London, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019. has won the prize once
of different states within the Associated Press (for “The Blind Assassin” in
United States, you can see things,” Atwood said. “(Pol- novel from the TV drama - cultural touchstone. Dem- 2000), along with a slew
that some of them are al- iticians) were talking about may have helped change onstrators at women’s of other awards including
most there,” Atwood said what they would like to do the writer’s mind. rights protests routinely don Canada’s Governor Gen-
at London’s British Library in the United States if they “The Testaments” is set the red cloaks and bonnets eral’s Award and the PEN/
during a publication-day had the power. And now about 15 years on from of the show’s handmaids. Pinter free-speech prize.
news conference. they do have the power.” where “The Handmaid’s Intriguingly, the dominant She’s long been consid-
When “The Handmaid’s Atwood says she long re- Tale” ends with Offred flee- color of “The Testaments,” ered a favorite for the
Tale” was published in sisted revisiting the world ing to an undetermined splashed on the book’s Nobel Prize for Literature.
1985, some readers found of “The Handmaid’s Tale” future. It has three narra- cover and ad campaign, is When British writer Kazuo
the idea of a fundamen- because she didn’t think tors, including Aunt Lydia, bright green. Ishiguro won in 2017, he
talist state supplanting the she could recapture the one of Gilead’s fearsome “There are some new cos- said “I apologize to Marga-
democratic United States voice of narrator Offred, a enforcers, who features tume choices in the book,” ret Atwood that it’s not her
far-fetched. Now, it strikes “handmaid” compelled to in both book and series of Atwood said. “These kinds getting this prize.”
many as eerily prescient bear children for a power- “The Handmaid’s Tale.” of regimes are very big on Atwood was introduced at
with authoritarianism on ful man. The author says the follow- outfits.” “The Testaments” is a news conference Tues-
the rise around the world. The success of the Emmy up tells the story of “the be- sure to be one of the year’s day as a “literary rock star.”
Atwood said she wasn’t a Award-winning “Hand- ginning of the end” of Gil- biggest books, and the Atwood, who turns 80 in
prophet, just observant. maid’s Tale” television se- ead. The TV series that first months leading up to its November, said she is
“In 1985, people were al- ries starring Elizabeth Moss - aired in 2017 has helped publication were surround- “pleased and grateful,”
ready saying these kinds of and renewed interest in the make Atwood’s Gilead a ed by secrecy - and secu- but unfazed. q

The Lumineers create a stunning album in ‘III’

By RAGAN CLARK tion or has faced it them- with the baby playing on ments of hopefulness, but
Associated Press selves. It’s also a narrative the floor close by. it also makes no prom-
The Lumineers, “III” (Dual- that writers Wesley Schultz The songs stand on their ises. While there seems a
tone Music Group) and Jeremiah Fraites know own. Removed from the chance that Junior may
Films, movies, television, intimately. Schultz has a context of the rest of the al- escape the cycle of addic-
books: They all tell stories homeless relative who bum, “Life in the City” is just tion from the generations
that allow audiences to see has battled mental illness that_a narrative of navi- before him in “Left for Den-
glimpses of themselves. The and addiction and Fraites’ gating a difficult and lonely ver,” the ending of the short
Lumineers have told their brother passed away after city life. But within the larg- film is ambiguous, question-
own story in “III,” a 10-track a heroin overdose. er story, it is part of Gloria’s ing if he does get away.
concept album composed Lyrically, The Lumineers use battle, as the city entices It’s an appropriate ending,
of three chapters that fol- searing imagery, painting This cover image released by her with drugs, alcohol and as it mirrors the reality of
lows the fictitious Sparks a picture with each song. Dualtone shows “III,” the latest sex. addiction. There is always
family. The tale is ground- This picture — the life of release by The Lumineers. For their third album, The a chance that the cycle
ed. While the story follows Gloria, her son Jimmy and Associated Press Lumineers employ their typ- will end, but to put a pretty
the destructive path of ad- her grandson, Junior — is visual vignettes bring lines ical sound with piano and little bow around the narra-
diction as it enters the life of even further illuminated to life, such as when Schultz the gruff vocals of Schultz tive would be an injustice
matriarch Gloria in Chapter by the heartbreaking short sings, “A little boy was born pushing to the front. The to the subject. The Lum-
I, the struggle faced by the film that accompanies in February/ You couldn’t tracks are not overly pro- ineers bring moments of
family is one recognizable the record. All in all, the sober up to hold a baby” duced, giving a raw, emo- hope, but they recognize
to anyone who’s had a breadth of the project is and you watch Gloria fall, tive feel to each song. the lingering darkness of
loved one deal with addic- remarkable. The stunning clutching her wine glass, The storyline itself, has mo- addiction.q