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 whom and why to the very end of this compelling book. --Vicky Lebeau This review refers to the hardcover edition of this title.
Review
‘…Superb reading by Lorelei King enable(s) a smoooth, easily distinguishable transition between readings from Laura’s novel, the present day of Iris’s life; and memories of her dead sister. More important, is the ability of King to allow the listener to hear the author’s voice and her message instead of that of the reader.’ Kim Bunce, The Observer.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
32 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I always felt that Margaret Atwood would never be able to beat 'Alias Grace' for sheer brilliance and inventiveness but that is exactly what she has done with this novel. 'The Blind Assassin' is a difficult book to read in the early stages but nevertheless compelling. We are thrown between past and present as carelessly as the protagonist, and fluctuate between feelings of sympathy and irritation throughout. I mentioned to a friend whilst I was a good way into the novel that it was great but not as good as 'Alias Grace' and that was how I felt until the last 50 pages - in those pages I witnessed the greatest ending in a book ever and one that had me weeping. Not only did the end of the book move me but I was also upset that I could not continue to read it. They say that the sign of a good book is that you don't want it to end and for possibly only the third time in my life I could so empathise with that cliche. This book has to be read of that there is no doubt!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
'one of the most brilliant and unpredictable novelists alive'
Absolutely outstanding and brilliantly written novel. Four strands of writing are interspersed: the present day narrative from elderly Iris Chase, a widow struggling with getting... Read more
Published 27 days ago by sally tarbox
A tale within a tale
This is my favourite Atwood book. The story within a story is especially wonderful - it conjures up the most delicious love affair - and the flitting back and forth in time, slowly... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sandie Dent
A second reading doesn't disappoint
It has been a few years since I read 'the Blind Assassin' for the first time and I was really looking forward to reading it again. Read more
Published 5 months ago by H. Lacroix
Not a page turner
After hearing grerat things about Margaret Atwood, I find The Blind Assasin disappointing. It has an ok plot but the actually writing is totally over done. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Nic Z
Deserves to be held up as a major work
The love story at the heart of the Blind Assassin is wonderful and moving. It is a love that we would all be lucky to experience and yet it is doomed and there is fatal fall-out... Read more
Published 7 months ago by SACB
Blind assasin Hits The Mark
For myself it was a steady start that built up into a terrific story , with equal characters that built up in the mind as the pages went by . Read more
Published 9 months ago by lart phauson
A difficult read
I found this book difficult to read. It is slow, it meanders and it is confusing. For example, it is difficult to tell (perhaps deliberately) which sister is with Alex at each of... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Donald Hughes
Fabulous read
This is a truly fabulous novel. If you like to lose yourself in a good story this is definitely the book for you. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Hayles
far from her best
This is a disappointing book, the first of Margaret Atwood's that I have read that I would describe as such. Read more
Published 22 months ago by The Amazon J
A disappointing read (except the sci-fi)
Having read and enjoyed Alias Grace I plumped for this one - a Booker Prize winner.
I'd been looking forward to reading it for quite some time but unfortunately did not... Read more
I'd been looking forward to reading it for quite some time but unfortunately did not... Read more
Published on 21 May 2010 by LadyHazy
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