The Blind Assassin is a story that winds slowly through the lives of a wealthy Canadian family before, during, and after The Depression.

The majority of the book is told from the perspective of Iris Chase, an elderly woman reflecting and writing about her life and her family. With her thoughts, the book skips between her 1930’s and 1990’s. At irregular intervals, Iris’s reflections are interrupted by clippings from newspapers and from a novel (also titled ‘The Blind Assassin’) which is written by the sister of Iris, Laura Chase.

Though the technical writing in this book was superb, the frequent changes of perspective made the pacing feel off and the characters less sympathetic. The first three-fourths of the book is an extremely slow read that sags with the weight of too many metaphors. Many of the metaphors were quite good, clever even, as they should be. But when there is a metaphor or simile in every other paragraph, they become unwelcome. So much filler designed to increase word count. The last quarter of the book finally picked up the pace and delivered a moving end to the story.

Ultimately, I found myself thinking through most of the book that the science-fiction story told by a character within Laura Chase’s novel was better than the novel written by Laura Chase or Iris Chase. Perhaps this was Margaret Atwood’s intent, perhaps not. ( )

This book makes you work carefully to understand the complexity of the storyline. Not many books successfully do this. Great for people with an analytical mind. ( )

I'm giving this book four and a half stars because I both love it and hate it. To explain that confusing notion, I've made a list of pros and cons:PROS: amazing technical ability on the authors part. really cool structure. great language, very cool writing. impressive control of the story.CONS: characters are all whiny, self centered, and annoying. the plot twist is easy to see coming from two hundred pages before its announced. the plot twist doesn't come until you've invested 500 pages, and even then it's not that shocking. pacing. long. slow. tedious. I'm TORRRRNNNNNNNN. ( )

An exploration of social norms, family values, and life in Canada in the 1930's. Atwood's characters are rich and complex. There's a "story within a story (within a story)" structure here, and my one criticism is that the deeper stories are not that interesting except when they inform the larger one. An enjoyable read, nevertheless. ( )

Translated into Persian, rank 63/1001

Excellent book, although it occasionally dragged. Atwood set up an intriguing mystery in the first few pages, then slowly unraveled the clues over the course of an entire family history. It's truly a heartbreaking story. I can see why this made the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. ( )

The Blind Assassin is a story within a story within a story which made it a little confusing at first, but once I got it all sorted out in my head I liked it more. Although it was well written, this book was too depressing for me to ever read again; it's the tale of an old woman looking back on her sad, messed up life. Everyone in her family is dead, everything she once had is lost. What a great cover though! ( )

really don't believe that Atwood can write a bad book. (There are a few early ones that aren't my favorites but for me i have a different scale for her than for others) This is kind of a mystery, with a little pulp scifi thrown in. It does a little time switching which may be confusing to some but i still love Atwood--beautiful, beautiful storyteller. ( )

Perhaps the most over-rated over-written book by an over-rated writer.

Atwood has greater talent than almost any writer alive but despite the exceptional level of detail and the flowing, poetic. prose, this story is implausible and tedious.

This story could be told in half the pages and it would be better, but still hopelessly maudlin. ( )

What do we leave behind? How will others know us after we are gone? Atwood's The Blind Assassin peruses these concepts. The story is a life examined very similar to books I have recently read like The Almost Moon and Out Stealing Horses.Iris Chase Winifred is approaching the end of her life. She ponders the changes around, how the youth don't appreciate what they have, and the desire to be remembered after they are gone. How will she be remembered?Favorite Passages: When you're young, you think everything you do is disposable. You move from now to now, crumpling time up in your hands, tossing it away. You're tour own speeding car. You think you can get rid of things, and people too--leave them behind. You don't yet know about the habit they have of coming back. P 721 But nevertheless they're irritating, the young. Their posture is appalling as a rule, and judging from their songs they snivel and wallow, grin and bear it having gone the foxtrot. They don't understand their own luck.They barely glanced at me. To them I must haveseemed quaint, but I suppose it's everyone's fate to be reduced to quaintness by those younger than themselves. Unless there's blood on the floor, of course. War, pestilence, murder, any kind of ordeal or violence, that's what they respect. Blood means we were serious. P 61 The picture is of happiness, the story not. Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there's no way in or out. In Paradise there are no stories, because there are no journeys. It's loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward, along its twisted road. P 922 The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ, Moves on; nor all your piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears blot Out a Word of it.Ha, I think that would make them sit up and bark.Some day when I am feeling better, I'll go back there and write the thing down. They should all be cheered by it, for isn't that what they want? What we all want to leave a message behind us that has an effect, if only a dire one, a message that cannot be cancelled out. P 750 There's nothing like a shovel full of dirt to encourage literacy. P 63 Children believe that everything bad that happens is somehow their fault, and in this I was no exception; but they also believe in happy endings, despite all evidence to the contrary, and I was no exception to that either. I only wished the happy ending would hurry up, because-especially at night, when Laura was asleep and I did not have to cheer her up--I felt so desolate. P 237 I'd wanted to leave home, but have it stay in place, waiting for me, unchanged, so I could step back into it at will. P391 The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it. P 508 She does proceed to remark that although god lord, he doesn't cheat--he always sends a true prophet, but people don't listen. In her opinion God is like a radio broadcaster and we are faulty radios...p679 Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. P 749 Her body as usual would get in the way of free speech p 830 We'll choose knowledge no matter what, we'll maim ourselves in the process, we'll stick our hands in the flames for it if necessary. Curiosity is not our only motive: love or grief or despair or hatred is what drives us on. We'll spy relentlessly on the dead: we'll open their letters, we'll read their journals, we'll go through their trash, hoping for a hint, a final word, an explanation, from those who have deserted us--who've left us holding the bag, which is often a good deal emptier than we'd supposed. 885 Lest we forget. Remember me. To you from failing hands we throw. Cries of the thirsty ghosts.Nothing is more difficult ryan to understand the dead, I've found; but nothing is more dangerous than to ignore them p 910 How could I have been so ignorant? She thinks. So stupid, so unseeing, so given over to carelessness. But without such ignorance, such carelessness, how could we live? If you knew what was going to happen next--if you knew in advance the consequences of your own actions--you'd be doomed. You'd be ruined a God. You'd be a stone. You'd never eat or drink or laugh or get out of bed in the morning. You'd never love anyone, ever again. You'd never dare to. P 921 What is it I want from you? Not love: that would be too much to ask. Not forgiveness, which isn't yours to bestow. Only a listener, perhaps; only someone who will see me. Don't pretify me though, whatever else you do: I have no wish to be a decorated scull.But I leave myself in your hands. What choice do I have? By the time you read this last page, that--if anywhere--is the only place I will be. End ( )

Loved this book - the narrator's character is captured so well and it is very atmospheric - not her best work but still fantastic! ( )

This is Atwood’s most popular novel and I can finally see why. It’s beautifully written, complex, allegorical and otherworldly. It follows the interior of lives we ourselves cannot imagine living. It’s romantic and horrific at the same time. The events unfold slowly and we have many things to piece together ourselves in order have the full story. The writing is delicate, precise and requires one to pay attention; to turn things over, to muse. I think that’s why I couldn’t finish it when it first came out. One needs to be relaxed with these characters and not expect them to act in ways out of the time, culture and upbringing. A modern woman can fall into a frustrated and impatient trap expecting that (like when young women get all mad at Eliza and Jane in P&P, imposing their 21st century wills and attitudes). A reader also has to be relaxed with the story itself and let Atwood play it out. Don’t rush things. Part of the payoff is the atmosphere; the change of narrative lends itself to confusion if things are rushed.

Spoilers start here so if you haven’t read it, do yourself a favor and do that before you continue with this review.

Ok. So it wasn’t a great reveal for me at the end when Iris admits she is the author of The Blind Assassin and not Laura. It is Iris having the illicit romance. I don’t know exactly when I figured it out, but sometime during the first half of the novel. It struck me how Daisy Buchanan-like Iris is in TBA. How she draws attention back to herself always. Little things like asking why her lover wants to see her upset or how he feels about some aspect of her. I’m reminded of the scene where Daisy calls attention to her hurt finger out of the blue. I can imagine Iris’s voice being deliberately low, forcing him to lean into her and pay attention. So very different from the mousy doormat she presents in real life. The sneaking around must be the absolute limit of her bravery and independence because this is the only way she shows any.

The story within the fictional Blind Assassin is a science fiction piece that her lover spins for her; an episode each time they meet. Iris is sometimes offended at what he gives her, but is accepting. At other times she gives him suggestions and wants him to concentrate on the romance angle of the story, which he leaves out when it finally makes it to print. She is dismayed at her gift being so ignored. At times the invented words in the alien’s language were distracting. Snilfard is distinctly Seuss-ian, while oorm and wibular have a Gorey-esque aspect about them. Was it meant to be character revealing? Was Atwood just having a bit of fun? No idea.

Iris is not an entirely likeable character, but I didn’t actively dislike her as much as I must have the first time I attempted to read this (in 2000 or 2001). This time, I didn’t project my 21st century sensibility on her. Instead I just read about her and evaluated what she did by what she had done in the past. I felt sympathy with her plight both in the present time of her story and her flashbacks to her former life. While from the outside it appeared that Iris and Laura had it easy as children, the reality was very far from that. This continued into adulthood for both of them. One thing that bothered me was Iris’s lack of drive when it came to protecting her daughter and granddaughter. Her blasé treatment of them doesn’t check up with the internal anguish she professes. In the end, there was basically no upshot to her having or not having either girl and I would have cut it out if this were my story. Iris’s end-of-life revelations could have as easily been written to posterity as to some estranged granddaughter.

Laura is a bit more of an enigma. I think she was a little slow. The fact that she never went to school until a teenager allowed her the freedom to cocoon herself into a fantasy world that she never left. She had a kind of animal cunning, but I couldn’t see any deliberation or design in anything she did. It was not hard to see that Laura never had the discipline, education or imagination to write a veiled novel like TBA. Atwood fooled me at first, but not for long.

Did Reenie grate on anyone else the way she grated on me? Seriously, this woman was a narrow-minded tyrant, imposing her outdated rhetoric on these two girls who would have been backward and ill-favored even without it. I doubt her good intentions helped their stifled situation and probably set them up as less able to deal with reality when eventually confronted with it. No wonder Iris doesn’t know how to deal with the Winifred situation as it pertains to Richard. Even a strong-minded and self-assured woman would have a hard time cracking and controlling that twisted relationship.

Iris’s husband Richard and father Norval are evil men, but products of their time. They see women as chattel and treat them as such, so it’s no surprise that Iris was basically horse-traded into her marriage. Only later do we see that Laura, too, was part of the bargain and her involuntary committal and true relationship with Richard were easy to spot. The lady doth protest too much and all that.

Despite its somewhat played plot points, The Blind Assassin has enough originality to make it a worthwhile read (the fiction within a fiction within a fiction is interesting). And I can’t fault the writing a single syllable. It’s faultless and has the perfect pitch to convey what it was like to live the strange life Iris had. ( )

A simply brilliant novel, one of Atwood's best, and certainly deserving of the Booker.

Comfortable with her skill as a writer, Atwood deftly alternates between sections written from different viewpoints and tenses, creating at first what seem to be disparate stories but which, of course, come together in a tense, sometimes humorous, often oppressive, and always insightful tale of relationships, love, betrayal and atonement.

Certainly The Blind Assassin should be required reading for any adult. ( )

I love Margaret Atwood. I picked up Blind Assassin a few years ago, and from the first few pages I was a goner. I quickly located and consumed all her books. I desperately tried to make myself put down the books in order to make them last longer, but I just couldn’t do it. She has been around a long time and her books are beautifully written and always leave the reader thinking and wanting more. Blind Assassin is probably one of my favorite books that she has written.

Blind Assassin has multiple plot lines. One follows two sisters, one who dies within the first couple of pages from a car accident. Iris, the remaining sister, slowly reveals more and more detail about her past lives in first person narration. The second plot line is a book within Blind Assassin, which is told by two unnamed lovers during one of their trysts. The tale is science fiction and intriguing. I wish Atwood would devote an entire novel to completely flesh out the story line. The last plot line is set in the present and is narrated by Iris, now an old woman and about to die. Atwood has a gift for language and Blind Assassin is no exception.

But some people can’t tell where it hurts. They can’t calm down. They can’t ever stop howling.

Normally, I don’t go for the novel in a novel thing, but Atwood blends all the story lines together seamlessly. The switch from plot line to plot line is not jarring or confusing, I never had to page back to see who or when I was at the time. Both the younger Iris and the older Iris are developed and thoughtfully, and the elder Iris is especially charming and witty. The novel leaves a lot unsaid, but I think that Atwood is a master of leaving information out without leaving the reader feeling cheated or confused. The story is engrossing and it’s hard to put the book down once you pick it up. I had every intention of doing laundry while I was reading, but the laundry lay cold and wrinkled in the dryer for a long time once I started to read. ( )

Well, that is one hell of a book. It's long, and I need to be reading shorter books if I'm going to hit 50, but I think I can forgive Atwood for that.

I don't think I have ever read a book that combines multiple narratives so effectively: an ongoing journal-like story of the present day, a recollection of the past, a novel within the novel, a story within the novel within the novel, newspaper articles and letters (all relating to but out-of-synch with other events giving tantalising hints of what is to come). At first the combination may seem confusing but when you just take a deep breath and sink into it they all fit together perfectly.

The witty, unique and slightly bitchy narrator gives insight into youth, old age, family and love. The writing is beautiful and varied, the characters flawed and fascinating, and the plot, which seems so run-of-the-mill at the beginning, has the power to surprise almost until the end.

The difference between some lengthy novels and the length of The Blind Assassin is this: If I was writing something as extraordinary as that book, I would find it bloody hard to stop and let go. It should have been much shorter, but my heart breaks for the editor who had to cut parts out. ( )

I loved this book because there were so many interwoven stories within it that I never got sick of the plot - it felt like I was reading 4 different great books at once. ( )

I liked the way the pieces of the story assemble to form a whole, and the slightly waspish narrator’s voice. I love that it is a novel, called The Blind Assassin, about someone writing a non-fiction account of someone writing a novel called The Blind Assassin. That kind of recursiveness, and reflection on the act of creation, is beautiful when done well – and Atwood does it well.

Full review at my blog ( )

Reading this book is a long journey, but a thoroughly riveting one. The narration is clear and descriptive. I found the child Iris and the elderly Iris who tells the story both very real and alive, while the young woman who marries Richard Griffen is more of a shadowy character. The ending of the book tied everything together perfectly in letting the reader know why this is and illuminating the purpose of the scenes from 'The Blind Assassin' itself. I loved the way these scenes were woven into the book, along with the newspaper articles that acted as a taster of what was to come, leaving me wondering why (and if) the events had happened as they were described and wanting to read on and find out - both these helped keep the sense of mystery and secrecy up throughout the 600+ pages.

The Sakiel Norn story stands alone as not really part of the plot, but mirroring it. I didn't really see why it was included at first but it is something that makes you think at the end and trying to figure out where it fits in witht he rest of the plot made me think about the rest of the storyline in more depth. ( )

I can't really describe the plot of this book, the simplest way would be 'an elderly lady looks back on her life'. But there's so much more to it than that, this book haunts be, my mind is drawn back to it again and again. ( )

I started this once before, several years back when it was just out in paperback, but somehow didn't manage to get more than a few chapters in. I think I found story within a story, alternating with newspaper articles and a seemingly almost unconnected narrative a bit confusing. This time I found the story compelling, told from both the end and the beginning and somewhere inbetween. She's such a good writer. ( )

I have read a lot of MA - but for some reason this one fell off the radar. I had forgotten just how good Atwood's writing is. "Draggled celery" and hundreds of other examples. Sometimes large books by established writers, have something sticky and lazy at their core; this book may have had flaws - but I'm not asute enough to find them. At the end, you realise everything had a purpose. The interlevered sci-fi at first had me scratching my head, but at the end mostly with admiration, that someone would have found a way to mash up the genres. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1256590...

A truly intriguing novel, folding together a sordid upper-class Canadian family history with pulp science fiction writing in the 1930s; layers of truth and fiction in the narrative which drew me in gradually and inexorably. Fascinating. ( )

This book was engaging and entertaining from the first word to the last. I loved entering into the world of Atwood's characters. Although the great "mystery" of the book wasn't exactly a mystery, it was still worth reading just to watch events unfold and see how the characters react and respond. A light but fun read - definitely recommended! ( )

Atwood unpeals the story like an onion. Slowly she reveals what is happening, yet keeps the reader guessing what the truth is with subtle clues woven into the chapters.

Super ( )