Rating: 
Summary: A classic!
Review: I loved this book. My only hope is that it is never filmed. The story would lose a lot in transition to the screen, I fear. Margaret Atwood's prose is beautiful. I couldn't help but read short passages to my wife aloud. There were times that I was confused, but the author carefully crafted my confusion. As I grew to know Iris' world view, I could anticipate her opinions, musings on aging, observations about modern culture. The running observations about public bathroom grafitti were perfect. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Atwood Maze
Review: If you thought "The Handmaid's Tale" was intricate, convoluted, passionate and terrifying, wait until you pick up "The Blind Assassin," get into its tale-within-a-tale, travel through the decades with the chilly narrator Iris, and come out on the other side weeping uncontrollably for someone, something, anything.This highly recommended Atwood latest is a novel of silences, ambition, madness, lust and secrets. Don't read it if you're contemplating a family reunion.
Rating: 
Summary: Blind Assassin, a Soap Opera
Review: I purchased this book as a Christmas present for myself after reading the very favourable review in Time. Critics are easily pleased. The book is a big let down. As a "soap" its tops. Its snail pace is irritating. The definitive description nearly rates with Dickens, the master of description. This story could easliy fit into 300 less pages. Save the forests, read the phone book. The use of the word "entitled" in chapter X11 (the Globe & Mail, Oct 7, 1938) in the first line of "Griffen Lauds Munich Accord" is incorrect English. It should be "TITLED"! I'm donating this book to the next school fete.
Rating: 
Summary: this lady can WRITE!
Review: Fascinating, different, so well-woven you'll be flipping around to connect the dots. My first read of Ms. Atwood's -- but definitely not the last!
Rating:
Summary: An enthralling read
Review: Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors. Even before Alias Grace, she has intrigued me by her eclectic writing abilities and captivating narration. Now, this is not Alias Grace, her best work, and hence the 4 stars. Nonetheless, I could not put this book down - and I have a lot of reading I have to get through! Part history, part tragedy, part science fiction, this story has an "epic" nature to it as the story of Iris' tragic life unfolds. This is a heavy book, leaving me with a sad feeling at the end; while there is some great witty humour in this book, you can see the ending coming like a rushing train, yet the impact is just as devastating emotionally. During much of the book, one will wonder (unless you guess) why excerpts of this other book are in there, or, like me, you think they are in there for the wrong reason. When the end does come, Atwood ties everything together quite snugly. Which is perhaps my only criticism. Aside from being a bit longish, I felt that, given some of the surprises at the end, the book was somewhat contrived. Iris, the autobiographer of the story, deliberately leaves a major aspect of her life out, which of course is what tricks the reader at the end. I am not sure if this is entirely credible, if Iris, as someone who wants to "tell the real story" as it were, would really do it this way. You end up thinking it was Atwood's "trick" to make the story have a twist; and in so doing, it feels less like Iris' biography and more like the real author (Atwood) pulling the strings. With that said, this does not detract from the reality that this is an excellent book, one of Atwood's best. Read and enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Normally an Atwood Fan...
Review: I wanted to like this book, really, I tried to like it and failed miserably. The three story lines were disjointed and kept the book from developing a flow. Each time I almost got interested in reading one of the plot lines she was off on another tangent, another story, another time, another place. The ending is anticlimactic - if not entirely predictable. While I usually love Atwoods writing, this time I found the characters very one dimensional and unsympathetic. I struggled to finish the book and was annoyed at the end that I had spent that much time reading it. If I had it to do over I would choose another Atwood book - any other Atwood book. While it may have won the Booker Prize, it doesn't win my reccommendation. And that is a shock.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Melodrama for Bette Davis
Review: Poor little rich girls, one with icewater in her veins one the Immaculate Mary. Communist plots. Tortured artists. Cream colored Bentleys. Raging river. War. Dirty secrets. A sci-fi subplot for good measure. Can't you just see it? Atwood weaves it all together masterfully, if a little tediously.
Rating:
Summary: A question for everyone.
Review: Last night my bookclub discussed The Blind Assassin, and everyone enjoyed the selection, however, there was one specific area we could not agree upon. The question is regarding the words Laura wrote in the Mathematics notebook that Iris discovered. This is in part XIV and begins "Avilion, no. No. No. Sunnyside. No Xanadu, no. No. Queen Mary, no, no. . . ." A few of us concluded that this was a tally of the times that Laura was forced by Richard, there were a couple of us that disagreed but could not offer another explanation. I am curious as to what other readers derived from this passage.
Rating:
Summary: My first Margaret Atwood
Review: Despite constant urging from my friends and family to read Margaret Atwood's other books, this was my first experience with her writing--it will not be my last. The Blind Assassin was a little hard to follow at first, but very rewarding as the pieces came together. I was surprised by other reviews saying they 'skimmed' or skipped the science fiction portions of the book--I too am not a sci-fi fan, but I greatly enjoyed it in this story and skipping it would have taken away from the "whole picture" of the novel!
Rating:
Summary: A good Atwood tale
Review: Although I didn't enjoy Blind Assassin as much as Alias Grace or The Handmaid's Tale, I thought this intricate novel well worth the time and money. Atwood treats the reader with a tale within a tale, mixing science fiction, romance and suspense in an engrossing weave. The main character, Iris Chase, serves as narrator, providing flashbacks and news items of her family over time. Within her story, is a novel published posthumously by Iris' sister, Laura; the novel describing a secret love affair between a young society dame and an infamous political activist. My favorite thing about Blind Assassin was the complexity of the tales and the feeling of discovering the mystery! Great book and great novel for book club selection.
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