The Blind Assassin

Rating:
Summary: A parable within a novella within a journal within a novel
Review: "The Blind Assassin" could well be the premier example of how good metafiction is when it works--metafiction being a novel about fiction or, more typically, a novel within a novel. Yet Atwood isn't content with mere metafiction: instead she takes the concept and cubes it. Here we have a sci-fi parable within a steamy novella within a confessional journal within a novel, all interspersed by newspaper clippings, and the remarkable thing is how everything interweaves so effortlessly and believably.

Iris Chase is writing the journal that frames Atwood's novel. She relates the daily, humiliating burdens of old age and reflects on the familial and societal circumstances that led her sister Laura to an apparent suicide half a century earlier. Alongside this journal we read Laura Chase's posthumously published noir-style novella called "The Blind Assassin," concerning a well-to-do woman (someone a lot like Laura or Iris) and her torrid, secretive affair with a "Red" (as in proletarian) rabble-rouser. The book's publication made Laura famous in death, both because of the explicitness for its time and, in later years, because of its subtle feminist message, which made her grave a shrine of sorts. And, finally, within that novella is a pulp fiction science fiction story about the Planet Zycron and its bizarre inhabitants, a morality tale related by the boyfriend to his lover during their trysts.

On some level, Atwood's book is a mystery novel--there are several revelations along the way--but (smartly) she doesn't make too much of these secrets. As Iris says when she uncovers the final skeleton (and I won't spoil it here): "But you must have known that for some time." And, it's true, most readers will figure out the book's secrets many pages or even chapters before their unveiling. But deciphering the secrets is not even half the fun of this novel. Instead the marvel is watching Atwood fit all the pieces together, create characters that are both fascinating and realistic, and narrate four different (if interconnected) stories in authentically unique styles.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful! True literature!
Review: From the moment you open 'The Blind Assassin,' Atwood has you hooked. At times, you're not quite sure why - it's not a typical story, but a story chronicalling an entire life that leads up to one event.

The beginning of the book may be a bit confusing, as Atwood bombards the reader with so much important information in a variety of forms. But it all becomes clear as the story progresses. I found myself endlessly entertained in not only reading the novel, but also trying to figure out what would happen next.

As far as the written word, Atwood has the touch. She is effective in writing in a variety of voices and tones. She captures what it is like to age, what the thirties and forties were like, and also writes in a variety of styles including: present narrative, past narrative, science fiction, and journalism.

'The Blind Assassin' is definitely not to be missed! If I have read anything that classifies itself as true literature, 'The Blind Assassin' would definitely be it. Atwood is wonderful, and her portrayal of her characters are vivid. Overall, a beautiful book that I highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Wow. Ten stars. Marvelous tour de force
Review: Margaret Atwood should be knighted or something. She just gets better and better, and she started out being very good indeed. For me, The Blind Assassin is her most accomplished book. Most of her books have a bit of mystery at their core, and this is no exception. The Blind Assassin is a spellbinding family saga set against the backdrop of WWI, the Depression, and Communist witch-hunt persecution, but those over-arching themes are played out within the tragedy of one family, the Chases.
The matriarch of the pathetically shriveled family is Iris, and she's dying from a heart ailment. Much of the book is told as her recollections back to the wartime suicide of her enigmatic sister, Laura. There's a parallel story interspersed through the main story, and it is the posthumous publication of Laura's novel, "The Blind Assassin."
There is weirdly sci-fi back-story woven throughout, a plot concocted between a couple between their bouts of lovemaking, and it becomes apparent that the young man is in hiding for political reasons. But even with plentiful clues strewn throughout, it takes a while (maybe halfway into the book) to begin to figure out all the many layers of this complex and mesmerizing literary work. There are flashbacks, flashbacks within flashbacks, distorted memories, flights of fancy - and only a writer of Atwood's consummate skill could keep a handle on all this stuff and have it make perfect sense by the end.
Fantastic!