The Blind Assassin
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Amazon.co.uk Review
"It's loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward," writes Margaret Atwood, towards the end of her impressive and complex new novel, The Blind Assassin. It's a melancholic account of why writers write--and readers read--and one that frames the different lives told through this book. The Blind Assassin is (at least) two novels. At the end of her life, Iris Griffen takes up her pen to record the secret history of her family, the romantic melodrama of its decline and fall between the two World Wars. Conjuring a world of prosperity and misery, marriage and loneliness, the central enigma of Iris's tale is the death of her sister, Laura Chase, who "drove a car off a bridge" at the end of the Second World War. Suicide or accident? The story gradually unfolds, interspersed with sketches of Iris's present-day life--confined by age and ill-health--and a second novel, The Blind Assassin by Laura Chase. Allowing a glimpse into a clandestine love affair between a privileged young woman and a radical "agitator" on the run, this version of The Blind Assassin is an overt act of seduction: the exchange of sex and story about an imaginary world of Sakiel-Norn (a play with the potential, and convention, of fantasy and sci-fi).
With the intelligence, subtlety and remarkable characterisation associated with Atwood's writing (from her first novel, The Edible Woman through to the best-selling Alias Grace), these two stories play with one another--sustaining an uncertainty about who has done what to who and why to the very end of this compelling book. --Vicky Lebeau --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Atwood has never written with more flair and versatility than in this multidimensional novel. Adding sardonic wit and characterisation that takes you into the ambivalent intricacies of a personality, this is a novel of extraordinary variety and reach. A brilliant accomplishment (Peter Kemp, SUNDAY TIMES )
The fertility of Atwood's imagination is something extraordinary...The only thing familiar about The Blind Assassin is its technical accomplishment and exhilarating emotional power. Everything else is sparkling new. This is Margaret Atwood at her remarkabl (Kathryn Hughes, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
Margaret Atwood is one of the most brilliant and unpredictable novelists alive. (Kate Kellaway, LITERARY REVIEW )
With every year and every novel, Atwood's subjects get bigger...her new novel is so rich thematically and so convincing psychologically... THE BLIND ASSASSIN may indeed prove to be that most elusive of literary unicorns: the woman's novel. (Elaine Showalter, NEW STATESMAN )
The fertility of Atwood's imagination is something extraordinary...The only thing familiar about The Blind Assassin is its technical accomplishment and exhilarating emotional power. Everything else is sparkling new. This is Margaret Atwood at her remarkabl (Kathryn Hughes, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
Margaret Atwood is one of the most brilliant and unpredictable novelists alive. (Kate Kellaway, LITERARY REVIEW )
With every year and every novel, Atwood's subjects get bigger...her new novel is so rich thematically and so convincing psychologically... THE BLIND ASSASSIN may indeed prove to be that most elusive of literary unicorns: the woman's novel. (Elaine Showalter, NEW STATESMAN )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite simply moving,
This review is from: The Blind Assassin (Paperback)
This was my first Atwood book, I am glad to say that I was not disappointed. This was writing at its best. The reader is drawn ever so subtley into feeling for the characters (Iris and Laura) and wanting to discover their respective fates, and why their paths unfolded so...A book I did not want to end. I believe that Alias Grace is even better, difficult to believe though....wonderful.
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Margaret Atwood at her best,
By
This review is from: The Blind Assassin (Paperback)
It's a relief to find the Booker Award is not just some kind of retrospective justice for the failure to reward The Handmaid's Tale - and an even greater relief to find that the multiple narrative format of the novel is neither confusing (after the first dozen pages) nor pretentious. The extracts from newspapers and magazines which chart the public life of the Chases and Griffens provide a grounding in fact as well as a wickedly amusing satire on snobbery and provincialism. 'The Blind Assassin' itself, the novel that created Laura Chase's posthumous reputation, operates on twin levels of realism and fantasy and equally the main narrative in the person of her sister Iris unites past and present (1999). Atwood manages throughout to maintain a subtle and convincing mix of sympathy for, and detachment from, her characters, allowing irony to flourish alongside involvement. The reader is even flattered by the creation of mysteries which he/she is lured into solving before they are officially unveiled: 'But you must have known that for some time', Atwood writes disarmingly after uncovering the central deception. Of course we did: aren't we clever? Not quite as clever as Ms Atwood, though.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Blind Assassin - a book worth persevering with,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Blind Assassin (Paperback)
The Blind Assassin is a book that is definitely worth persevering with although it might be a disappointment to Margaret Atwood fans who are expecting another Robber Bride or Cat's Eye. Unlike these two books, it can't exactly be described as "page turner". The pace in the beginning is slow and the main characters come across as cold and are quite difficult to relate to. The more you read however, the more compelling the characters and plot become and the ending will really keep you guessing. I wanted to give up on this book after a few pages but was glad I persevered to the end.
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