Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Brilliant
Review: This is one of the best books I've read this year. It skillfully weaves several different narrative lines that keeps the reader engaged to the very end. The language is wonderful. Atwood successfully writes in the voice of Iris, the elder sister, sometimes bitter and always moving. The plot keeps you guessing, but at the same time, Atwood raises important questions about knowledge, belief, and existence.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best novels I've ever read
Review: As a newcomer to Margaret Atwood, I was not sure what to expect. Never one to pass on a book just because the storyline or plot seem dull, I gave it a shot.As you see from my reviews title, I am glad that I gave it a shot. Atwood is able to take the story of an elderly woman reflecting on her life and turn it into a riveting story featuring suicide, adultery, labor strife, and blackmail all in story that unexpectedly turns on itself in the end and surprises you with an ending so good and planned that you realize that it was all there in the book while you read it. ... Highly Recommended
Rating: 
Summary: Atwood at her Best
Review: Margaret Atwood is one of the best writers of her time. She's one of those people who sucks you into her world, and doesn't let go. This story follows the life of one of two sisters, Iris Chase Griffin, a somewhat cold-hearted wealthy socialite, and examines her relationship with her sister, her husband, and the tragic circumstances which bring Iris to the point at which she appears to the reader at the beginning of the novel. Full of plot twists, this story is unpredictable; one of the reasons why it is so engrossing. An excellent read that will leave you thinking about these characters as if you had known them yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: What did I miss?
Review: I must have missed something, because I just don't get much more disappointed in a book than I was in The Blind Assassin. I have both loved (The Haidmaid's Tale, Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride)and hated (Alias Grace) Atwood's other works. This falls into the "hate" category. It was never interesting and not particularly well written. The science fiction story was just plain painful. Was the "surprise" really much of a surprise? I'm rarely disappointed in Booker Prize winners; what happened here?
Rating:
Summary: The Blind Assassin greatly disappointed me.
Review: I began The Blind Assassin with great hopes and finished it greatly disappointed. The story-within-a-story-within-a-story is awkward and, until the end of the book, lacked continuity. Even disregarding that form, I found the substance of the book lacking in meaning and depth, and devoid of issues to consider. Having finished the book, I am at a loss at to why the author wrote it. I do not know what I am supposed to take away with me. Thus, I certainly cannot explain to you why you should read it. Further, the characters were one-dimensional and I cared little for them. The narrator Iris is unbelieveable as portrayed; throughout the book she is a character who allows others to make important decisions for her. After she learns a terrible secret regarding her husband's unfaithfulness, the reader is supposed to believe that Iris has the gumption and the intelligence to respond in a way that I simply found unbelieveable. Other main characters -- her sister, her husband, and her sister-in-law, are likewise portrayed in a way I found contrary to human experience...they are like cardboard people. When I finished the book, I felt empty, I felt like I had endured a long novel with the result of having nothing to show for it. Worst, I felt alienated by the author, whom I felt had achieved a feat of writing a novel of complex form, at the expense of alienating me, the reader.
Rating:
Summary: An intricate tapestry with no broken threads
Review: Possibly Margaret Atwood's finest work. From the opening question of why Laura drove herself off of a bridge, to the well executed denouement, the three separate tales are cleverly entwined as you imagine how they relate, which is clarified beautifully by the end of the book. Atwood's writing skill is such that she moves the reader through the book from tale to tale without breaking the pace. The cleverly placed newspaper articles serve to anchor the reader in both time and space. Well written and beautifully constructed, this book held my interest from beginning to end and was unlike anything I've ever read before.
Rating:
Summary: Dull, tedious and disappointing
Review: This is the first book of Atwoods I have read and may be my last. If it were not a book club choice I would have ended my chore long ago. I agree with a previous reviewer, "Laura Chase drove off the bridge out of sheer boredom." I have lost respect and faith in the Booker Prize.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning.....
Review: "Nothing is more difficult than to understand the dead...nothing is more dangerous than to ignore them" writes Iris Chase, the protagonist of THE BLIND ASSASSIN. Chase is an old woman, trying to outrace her "misbehaving" heart, scribbling away on loose leaf notepaper day after day, transcribing her thoughts, documenting her daily doings, remembering the past. She wants to leave behind a legacy of sorts, an explanation of her life for her grandaughter Sabrina from who she is estranged. Atwood publishes a book every few years and I have read all of them except THE HANDMAID'S TALE (lacking in courage I suppose). I never cease to be impressed with her talent and dexterity as a writer, and the beauty of her written words. As I have aged, her books have kept pace with my development or lack thereof. She speaks to me, saying things I think (do you really want someone going through your things when you die?) and expressing feelings I feel (who does not grieve?) She raised my consciousness with LIFE BEFORE MAN, made me laugh with LADY ORACLE, fed my need for the mystical with ALIAS GRACE, and helped me put old resentments to rest with CAT'S EYE. Now as I enter what the insurance companies describe as the "high risk" years, she arrives with THE BLIND ASSASSIN to help me put my house of memories in order. Atwood says, "Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there's no way in and no way out. In paradise there are no stories, because there are no journeys." On earth our lives are stories with a beginning a middle and an end. If you truly live you must love, and if you love, sooner or later the blind assassin rips out your heart and you become--says Iris--a hard-boiled egg with a missing yolk. There are two main stories, one "tale" and a few asides in THE BLIND ASSASSIN. The silly sci-fi incident referred to by another reviewer is a toss-away tale, not the crux of either of the two main stories or the tale. The primary story is Iris's somewhat deconstructed autobiography. Most of the action in her chronicle takes place in the 1930s and early 1940s just prior to and during WWII and concerns her childhood and early adult years with her sister Laura. For a while, you may not know who is telling the second story interwoven through Iris' tale, as it has been written in the third person. This story is lyrical and absolutely haunting --reminscent of the poetic writing in the THE ENGLISH PATIENT. The second story takes place during the same period as the first. "The Blind Assassin" is also the title of a tale constructed by one of the characters for the amusement of another. This latter piece reminds me of one of Scherazade's tales set in an exotic place in Western Asia. Does God have a left hand? Laura asks. In French left is mal or bad. How can God have a bad hand. But man is made in God's image and men have left hands so God must have a left hand. But who would sit on God's left or bad hand? Maybe God sits at a round table says Iris and everyone sits on his right.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Intelligent
Review: The story of two sisters, Iris and Laura from their childhood to their deaths. Motherless from young, the two sisters grew up, close to one another. However, this did not prevent them from having secrets and living separate lives when they become adults. While Iris struggled in a loveless marriage, Laura also appeared to be going through a difficult life, which probably resulted in her death when she was just a young adult. This is an intelligent book. In between the story of Iris and Laura, the story of the blind assassin was weaved in and is thoroughly entertaining. The story keeps you entranced as you slowly realizes that the story will led you to uncovering all the secrets in the two sisters¡¦ lives.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Story Telling!!
Review: I have to say that this is one of my new very favorite books! I will admit that at times it seemed a bit long, but once I finished the book, I was left with a feeling of "WOW!" and I could not stop thinking about the book for a few days. I think that the story telling in this book is so captivating. I loved getting to know the characters and discovering the secrets hidden within the book...I almost felt like it was a mystery in some ways. Furthermore, I love the way that there are three stories intertwined within one book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. I really loved it and look forward to reading it again one of these days!
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