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juushikaTitle: The Blind Assassin
Author: Margret Atwood
Published: New York: Doubleday, 2000
Page Count: 521
Total Page Count: 29,753
Text Number: 86
Read For: my own enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: A book of nested storylines, The Blind Assassin is the story of two sisters: one dies suddenly, and the survivor tells their stories. The surviving sister, Iris Chase Griffin, writes down her life story through commentary on her daily life and reflections back to her childhood; interspersed are newspaper clippings and abstracts from her sister Laura Chase's posthumous novel The Blind Assassin in which an upper-class woman falls in love with a blue-collar man who tells her a science-fiction story whenever they meet. The complex narrative structure makes for a slow build up of plot but ultimately a rich, complex, and meaningful portrait of the Chase family and the events that lead to the downfall of the family name and Laura's suspect death. As always, Atwood is an accomplished author: she manages to make the book's complex, convoluted narrative structure work and writes characters that are gritty and realistic at the same time that they are complex and larger than life. The plot unfolds in natural but dynamic turns that make for engrossing reading, and Atwood's approach to her characters mixes cynicism and empathy in such a way that their stories are realistic, meaningful, and entirely unromanticized. By the end, The Blind Assassin is a realistic but dramatic story about two women's lives in which they are both powerful and powerless, in which they both leave a legacy and are forgotten.
The book's complex narrative structure can make it very difficult to get into. Four stories run concurrently (Iris's present, Iris's past, The Blind Assassin love story, and the sci-fi story within The Blind Assassin), and the newspaper clippings compliment both of Iris's stories. With so much going on, the book is slow to start and initially very confusing. About a third of the way through, the connections between the storylines start to make sense; about two-thirds of the way through, the stories begin to feed into each other in a way that is suspenseful and exciting. The reader that feels confused or frustrated by the text is best advised to push through and not worry if things don't seem to make sense. Eventually, things will come together, and the payoff of the confusing, complex narrative structure is an ending that is dramatic, suspenseful, and truly rewarding.
The Blind Assassin is one of Atwood's more recent novels, and while she has always been an accomplished writer this book is also the product of experience and improvement. She manages the narrative structure well, keeping the numerous plotlines alive and also bringing them to a very strong resolution, one that makes perfect sense once you get there but requires narrative complexity to get to. Furthermore, Atwood manages to look at a number of big issues that are difficult to pin down in a way that provides insight without being overwhelming or obvious. In some of her earlier works (The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale) the issues at hand overwhelm the book or are glaringly forthright. In The Blind Assassin, on the other hand, the issues at hand compliment and enrich the text without being overwhelming or even obvious. Atwood explores issues such as power v. powerlessness in women and the differences between appearances/communication and the truth. These concepts provide food for thought, make the text both terrifying and inspiring, and yet don't seem obvious or moralized. The balance between the art of storytelling and the inclusion of major issues indicates skillful writing on Atwood's part and makes for a book that is both enjoyable and meaningful.
I highly recommend this text. It can take some time to get in to, but it is skillfully written, meaningful, enjoyable, and gets richer and more exciting as it goes on. Atwood is an accomplished writer, and her books only seem to get better. Pick up a copy of this book—I promise you won't be disappointed.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
Author: Margret Atwood
Published: New York: Doubleday, 2000
Page Count: 521
Total Page Count: 29,753
Text Number: 86
Read For: my own enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: A book of nested storylines, The Blind Assassin is the story of two sisters: one dies suddenly, and the survivor tells their stories. The surviving sister, Iris Chase Griffin, writes down her life story through commentary on her daily life and reflections back to her childhood; interspersed are newspaper clippings and abstracts from her sister Laura Chase's posthumous novel The Blind Assassin in which an upper-class woman falls in love with a blue-collar man who tells her a science-fiction story whenever they meet. The complex narrative structure makes for a slow build up of plot but ultimately a rich, complex, and meaningful portrait of the Chase family and the events that lead to the downfall of the family name and Laura's suspect death. As always, Atwood is an accomplished author: she manages to make the book's complex, convoluted narrative structure work and writes characters that are gritty and realistic at the same time that they are complex and larger than life. The plot unfolds in natural but dynamic turns that make for engrossing reading, and Atwood's approach to her characters mixes cynicism and empathy in such a way that their stories are realistic, meaningful, and entirely unromanticized. By the end, The Blind Assassin is a realistic but dramatic story about two women's lives in which they are both powerful and powerless, in which they both leave a legacy and are forgotten.
The book's complex narrative structure can make it very difficult to get into. Four stories run concurrently (Iris's present, Iris's past, The Blind Assassin love story, and the sci-fi story within The Blind Assassin), and the newspaper clippings compliment both of Iris's stories. With so much going on, the book is slow to start and initially very confusing. About a third of the way through, the connections between the storylines start to make sense; about two-thirds of the way through, the stories begin to feed into each other in a way that is suspenseful and exciting. The reader that feels confused or frustrated by the text is best advised to push through and not worry if things don't seem to make sense. Eventually, things will come together, and the payoff of the confusing, complex narrative structure is an ending that is dramatic, suspenseful, and truly rewarding.
The Blind Assassin is one of Atwood's more recent novels, and while she has always been an accomplished writer this book is also the product of experience and improvement. She manages the narrative structure well, keeping the numerous plotlines alive and also bringing them to a very strong resolution, one that makes perfect sense once you get there but requires narrative complexity to get to. Furthermore, Atwood manages to look at a number of big issues that are difficult to pin down in a way that provides insight without being overwhelming or obvious. In some of her earlier works (The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale) the issues at hand overwhelm the book or are glaringly forthright. In The Blind Assassin, on the other hand, the issues at hand compliment and enrich the text without being overwhelming or even obvious. Atwood explores issues such as power v. powerlessness in women and the differences between appearances/communication and the truth. These concepts provide food for thought, make the text both terrifying and inspiring, and yet don't seem obvious or moralized. The balance between the art of storytelling and the inclusion of major issues indicates skillful writing on Atwood's part and makes for a book that is both enjoyable and meaningful.
I highly recommend this text. It can take some time to get in to, but it is skillfully written, meaningful, enjoyable, and gets richer and more exciting as it goes on. Atwood is an accomplished writer, and her books only seem to get better. Pick up a copy of this book—I promise you won't be disappointed.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
