The Blind Assassin
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Margaret Atwood takes the art of storytelling to new heights in a dazzling new novel that unfolds layer by astonishing layer and concludes in a brilliant and wonderfully satisfying twist. For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The
… More »Margaret Atwood takes the art of storytelling to new heights in a dazzling new novel that unfolds layer by astonishing layer and concludes in a brilliant and wonderfully satisfying twist. For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin , she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious. The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a- novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin , it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist. Told in a style that magnificently captures the colloquialisms and clichés of the 1930s and 1940s, The Blind Assassin is a richly layered and uniquely rewarding experience. The novel has many threads and a series of events that follow one another at a breathtaking pace. As everything comes together, readers will discover that the story Atwood is telling is not only what it seems to be--but, in fact, much more. The Blind Assassin proves once again that Atwood is one of the most talented, daring, and exciting writers of our time. Like The Handmaid's Tale , it is destined to become a classic.
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Add a CommentExquisite!
I enjoyed the writing style, but the story line went from all-over-the-place could turn out interesting to boring somewhere about halfway through the book.
Very slow, I can usually read a book in a day or two, this one took 2 weeks, I kept falling asleep. did finish it. Not near as good as Kate Morton's book, could not put those down.
I usually adore Ms. Atwood's writing, and eagerly consume each of her words, however, this novel of a story within a story was rather tedious and dry. It lacked her usual wittiness, or rather, it lacked much of Atwood's charm.
I am a self-confessing Margaret Atwood fan. Her development of the characters in this novel is the best I've read in her works. They are vivid and she gives them time to unfold through the sometimes confusing (aren't they always?) flashbacks that shape the action of this novel.
The first selection for an online book club sponsored by Atlantic Magazine. 1book140 is "an international book club inspired by the One Book, One City programs. Every month we all choose a book to read. The following month we read it. The discussion takes place largely on Twitter, though we will also link to people's blogs and Tumblr and Facebook pages as well, and provide regular summaries of the conversation at TheAtlantic.com."
Not an easy novel, but I think it's worth the effort. Basically, this is a novel within a novel, very dense. Definitely one of Atwood's more complex works.
Tough to get into it but after about 200 pages started to be interesting. 659 pages Ended up quite enjoying it.
June, 2006
Her least interesting novel. Beware novels in which novelists appear as characters. That it won the 2000 Booker Prize I suspect had more to do with her being nominated three previous times than with the quality of this book.