Looking Back - The Blind Assassin

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Fiction

2000 Nan A. Talese - Doubleday

Finished on April 30, 2001

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

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.

My Original Thoughts (2001):

Hard to get interested in this book. Stuck with it, however, and it did pick up. A mystery of sorts. Fictionalized memoir with a pulp-fiction type of novel within the novel. Complicated yarn! Almost needs to be read a second time right away - everything makes sense and comes together at the end. My first encounter with Atwood. Didn't love the book, but I'm willing to try something else by her.

*If rereading, look for fire & water symbolism.

My Current Thoughts:

I read this with an online book group in 2001 and don't remember a thing about the book. I've gone on to read a few more novels by Atwood, but can't say that I'm a fan of her writing.