One of my favourite books by one of my favourite authors. And, I think, one of the 1001 books.

The Blind Assassin is a tale of two sisters, one of whom dies under ambiguous circumstances in the opening pages. The survivor, Iris Chase Griffen, initially seems a little cold-blooded about this death in the family. But as Margaret Atwood's most ambitious work unfolds--a tricky process, in fact, with several nested narratives and even an entire novel-within-a-novel--we're reminded of just how complicated the familial game of hide-and-seek can be:
What had she been thinking of as the car sailed off the bridge, then hung suspended in the afternoon sunlight, glinting like a dragonfly, for that one instant of held breath before the plummet? Of Alex, of Richard, of bad faith, of our father and his wreckage; of God, perhaps, and her fatal, triangular bargain.
Meanwhile, Atwood immediately launches into an excerpt from Laura Chase's novel, The Blind Assassin, posthumously published in 1947. In this double-decker concoction, a wealthy woman dabbles in blue-collar passion, even as her lover regales her with a series of science-fictional parables. Complicated? You bet. But the author puts all this variegation to good use, taking expert measure of our capacity for self-delusion and complicity, not to mention desolation. Almost everybody in her sprawling narrative manages to--or prefers to--overlook what's in plain sight. And memory isn't much of a salve either, as Iris points out: "Nothing is more difficult than to understand the dead, I've found; but nothing is more dangerous than to ignore them." Yet Atwood never succumbs to postmodern cynicism, or modish contempt for her characters. On the contrary, she's capable of great tenderness, and as we immerse ourselves in Iris's spliced-in memoir, it's clear that this buttoned-up socialite has been anything but blind to the chaos surrounding her. --Darya Silver

arrived with many books from the beautiful livrecache - thankyou ;-)

i have had a couple of copies of this in the past and passed them on - i couldn't get into the story back then
in the spirit of the 1001 books i'll have another go before sending this copy on another journey

thanx

;-)

added to 1001 book bag

sorry livrecache it is travelling by you again- someone in the bag receival line may be wanting to read this one
and off it goes on another journey

;-)

Taken from the bookbag.

It's a good book but not a perfect book. It's great at vividly describing events and situations, but less successful at relating emotion.
I appreciate the way this is different from most of Atwood's other novels, but at the same time it leaves me hanging and saying "that was it?" Also I saw one of the twists towards the end of the book coming from miles away. I think this was a bit purposeful as well, but it was almost a little too obvious for me.

Chosen on the OZ VBB

Thanks amberC. I have "read" this as an audiobook, but am pretty sure it was an abridged version . . . so thought I would try the real thing one day.