Rating: 
Summary: This novel can blind
Review: Having been introduced to works of Margaret Atwood through an English class, I decided to venture on my own to explore the volumes of her work. I had hoped to find the gem that obviously was thought to be in Blind Assassin, considering it had received the booker prize. But once reading through the novel, I was left with nothing significant. I won't drag on and on like Margaret Atwood's novel to make a simple point, it was too long. The length itself is not a bad thing, but when the characters and the plot does not extend in proportion to the length, it can be quite tedious. She does still have hits of that wit and humor within this novel, however, her writing style is so consistant that you are better off reading a shorter Margaret Atwood novel for the same effect. Even the ending was some what contrived and predictable. Through the course of reading half of the novel, it gave me enough time to figure out the major twists and endings. I had such big expectations for such a long novel with so many awards... but now I see, sometimes, less is best.
Rating: 
Summary: Infuriating read -- impossible to read
Review: Atwood is unimpressive in this offering. She took it easy, amalgamating three mediocre sketches, binding them together, and call it a novel. Iris's account is bland, predictable, naive, and whatever anger, cynicism, "wit" inauthentic. I don't get the point Iris Chase is trying to get across: Rich can get poor, when poor they get angry, war makes man insane, gives them emotional scar, motherless childhood is a hard life, what is new here, Margie? The sci-fi bit is just laughable, a confused jumble, vacillation between a "darkness" that doesn't move people, and a "lyricism" that reminded me of a bloodless hemorroid. The affair between the two young Bolsheviks is just an excuse for Atwood to show off her "talent" with words, whereas characterization gets the window. While Booker has long ceased to mean anything, Atwood has certainly managed to dug it to new lows. I can't finish the book. I was at page 200, thereabout. Someone please tell what I've missed. My bet is I missed being aggravated by the author even more. I'd rather hold Enron stocks to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Watching a train wreck in slow motion
Review: The characters were not likeable and the plot was predictable.
I'm do not know why it was so acclaimed.
Rating: 
Summary: Outwitting Shakespeare's play-within-a-play
Review: Atwood's novel contains a novel within a novel within a novel. In this skillful and complex saga, Atwood weaves her plot and subplots, sprinkling them brilliant foreshadowing and haunting characters. Her one-liners are engaging, penetrating the reader's consciousness after the book's page has been marked and until further reading. Riveting with suspense, just as her earlier Handmaid's Tale.
Rating:
Summary: It's Blind Luck this one won the Booker Prize....
Review: Margaret Atwood, when at her best, is, by far, one of the best contemporary writers. Unfortunately, The Blind Assassin is not Margaret Atwood at her best. The beauty of Atwood's writing usually lies in her characterization and wry humor. The characters intrigue us regardless of their integrity; smatterings of amusing quips and observations pace and lighten the stories. In The Blind Assasin, however, there is little to no exploration of Iris (the narrator) and her personality, while we are repeatedly hit over the head with the fragility and innocence of her sister Laura. And humor, even a spattering, isn't to be found. There are lots of good "messages" in the story - commentaries on war, relationships, family, religion, what have you, and that's not a new angle for an Atwood novel. The problem is that it's all essentially uniteresting. It drags; the characters lag; the weather changes, and still I feel nothing. I'm glad Atwood won the Booker prize, because her catalog of work definitely deserves recognition. This novel on its own, however, doesn't.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterly, Complex, Evocative. But Truly Moving?
Review: Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin overlays four tales. Iris Griffen, who was born into old money and married into new, approaches the end of her days as an enfeebled old woman, living alone in a contemporary Canadian city, not quite able to navigate the fast lane of cheesy doughnut shops, snowy sidewalks, and unmended fences that have become her life. She decides to put her papers in order, and in the process to record her memoirs, for the benefit of her estranged grand-daughter, who has become her only surviving relative. In flashback, Iris tells the coming-of-age story, from between the wars, of her younger sister Laura and herself, and of the various men in their lives. Iris is the older, more dutiful daughter; Laura, the rebel, the incisive one. This second story is a rich period piece -- Atwood employs research assistants -- distinguished by many, many flashes of insight, turns of phrase, and masterly characterizations, but at bottom it is the stock in trade of historical fiction writers. You will either delight in, for example, Atwood's wry parodies of genteel 30s journalism, her recollection of the fragrances and costumes once dispensed at upscale department stores, and the clash of ideas represented in the commissioning of public memorials, union organizing efforts, and the Spanish Civil War, or -- like the New York Times' reviewer -- you will find such realistic detail excessive, perhaps even hackneyed. At her death in 1945, Laura leaves a thin manuscript, also called The Blind Assassin, which depicts the extended affair, carried out in borrowed rooms and last-chance motels, of a nameless socialite and her nameless left-wing lover. Published posthumously, it has become a classic in women's studies circles. Intercut excerpts from Laura's novel form the third story. Finally, the two lovers spin a pulp fiction Scheherezade's tale -- a science fiction story -- about the escape of two other lovers, one blind and one mute, from the fabled city of Sakiel-Norn, soon fated to be sacked and burned. The stories run in tandem. They converge and reflect each other, and in the end play out the triumph of the writer's pen over class-and-money over love-and-justice. As usual, Atwood's diagramming of plot lines and conflation of time lines is flawless. Her various narrators' voices are rich and credible. Her insights run the gamut from whimsical and detached to ironic and probing. Sentence by sentence, book by book, Atwood is clearly one of the best fiction writers working today. But is her fiction moving? Does it alter the reader's perception of the world? Does it pose and resolve ethical dilemmas of the sort you might expect of world masters? In my view, no. "This wouldn't happen today," Iris often writes, and then proceeds to describe the minatory, almost melodramatic actions of some prominent, rich, white male lording it over some poor woman who, at least in "those days," seems strangely powerless to defend herself. Adding human frailty to class and gender warfare as the engines of plot development and the explanation of characters' actions adds little new. The result is that Iris and Laura are interesting characters, all right, but they are never really compelling characters. Their problems are never really our problems. Their story is not the dilemma of being human. In short, The Blind Assassin is great craft, but perhaps not great art.
Rating:
Summary: Skip the book and pick up the audio version..wonderful story
Review: I checked out the audiobook version of this story, and also picked up the hard copy in case I decided to read the book instead. I picked up the book a few times, but am so glad I also chose to listen to the story being narrated. Atwood is amazingly creative with her storytelling, but there were a few parts that she could easily have left out to make the book a little more compelling. The narrator also did a wonderful job with all of the voices and various accents, and really made this book a winner in my eyes. I was one of a few people that did not like The Handmaid's Tale at all, but I'm so glad that I decided to follow someone else's recommendation regarding this book, and give her another try. If you're a fan of her work, by all means, pick up the actual book, but if you have never read anything by her and aren't sure if you will enjoy her writing style, the audiobook version is your best choice. It's a virtually painless way of getting the full effect of the book, and makes the not so interesting parts much easier to take. I have copies of Cat's Eye and The Robber Bride at home, but I think I will definitely see if I can get ahold of the audio versions to start me off. In my opinion, there's a little something in there for everyone - what a great book! I can see why it won the Booker Prize. If you're thinking about reading it, by all means, pick it up!
Rating:
Summary: Ms. Atwood, I would like these several hours back.
Review: I really can't figure out what this novel is about or why it was written. I guess it's an admirable showcase of period slang and historical events, but otherwise it's a collection of the rambling senior citizen angst of a completely limp narratrix who has got nothing to relate but a depressing account of her failures and should-haves. That is, when she can decide what she should have done. There are some good bits, like the description of the mansion, but the story simply does not go anywhere but down into a morass of the narrator's self-pity, like The Color Purple without any redemption or character arc whatsoever.
Rating:
Summary: clever and engaging but no heart
Review: This book left me with a bad feeling. All along as I was reading I kept thinking, there's something missing here. I was very interested in trying to figure out the story, but I didn't FEEL for any of the characters except in a detached kind of way. Ms. Atwood is a brilliant writer; I even copied down some passages in my journal because they were so apt. But in the end I felt as if I'd been present at the dissection of a laboratory specimen rather than engaged with or related to a human being's life story.
Rating:
Summary: Not Peggy's best
Review: Atwood is one of my favorite writers. Her novels THE HANDMAID'S TALE and ALIAS GRACE are two of my favorite books of the past 15 years. She has also written some extremely interesting short stories. Atwood's best writing is hilarous and disturbing at the same time, with a strong narrative thread. This book was neither. The storyline -- a wealthy young woman forced to marry a wealthy man because her own family's money is rapidly dissapearing -- was extremely familiar. I believe the movie TITANIC had the same premise. No interesting psychology. Dreadful, flat, present-tense prose which is called "lyrical" because it piles up phrases and clauses to create a certain lilting rhythm. For some reason, Atwood decides to open nearly every chapter with an uninspired description of the season; this throat clearing then segues into a very tedious rendition of old age by the narrator. Again, no new insights into this woman's life. All in all, Iris was an extremely flat character and her sister, whom she puffed up with a lot of hot air and wind, never materialized as anything. Too bad this was the novel that brought Peggy her Booker.
|
