Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing....
Review: I'm usually a big fan of novels that contain a story within a story, or seemingly divergent plot lines that tie together at the end. This one, unfortunately, doesn't work. It's disjointed and it's sloppy, and frankly, one of the stories is simply not that interesting. Atwood would have been better off if she approached this as one seamless narrative. When the novel focuses on its main character, Iris Griffen, the story is intriguing and the prose is quite elegant. But the frequent, abrupt shifts to the science fiction format that unfolds in the story within the story is at best a distraction. Atwood is not a sci-fi author, and it shows. I grew impatient with these chapters, not just because they were poorly written but because they detracted from the good writing in the other parts of the book. I was also frustrated by the attempt at creating a sense of mystery about who these two lovers were. It really wasn't a mystery to any intelligent reader - it just made the narrative cryptic and difficult to follow. Atwood should have told the whole story from one perspective - that of the main character as an old lady reflecting back on her life and her sister. She's the most sympathetic character, and that's where the most compelling plot line lies. I was also a bit annoyed by some of her writing techniques. Some of it was just too cutesy for me - all the words of wisdom, the informality of addressing the reader in the second person, etc. That works if the reader feels a rapport with the author, but it didn't work here. I'm pretty surprised this won the Booker Prize - there was better fiction than this written that year.
Rating:
Summary: Snoozer
Review: I'm not going to fault Atwood on style or structure. She has within this novel all the ingredients for literary greatness. The story within a story strategy is intriguing and the tale of the muted virgin maidens fated for death reads like a macabre fable you would tell on a dark windy night. The deployment of such strategies fills this novel with an impending sense of doom for the protagonist, Iris Chase. As Atwood intends, I assume. The problem I have with this novel is that it is not entertaining or engaging, especially if you are a reader like me who has a low tolerance for novels situated in remote and emotionally isolated places, and protagonists that reflect these places. You never get a sense of Iris and at most, she is unlikeable and even austere. It is hard to imagine that this woman had to suppress passionate love or suffered tremendous grief as Atwood would like us to believe. Laura Chase also seems caricaturist as the unstable and spoilt little sister who is driven to suicide. The mystery was never much of a mystery to me and the twist in the end seemed very apparent through most of the novel. I'm not suggesting that Atwood has not written a fantastic novel because, as you will see from the reviews, many have found The Blind Assasin to be moving and engaging. I am suggesting that by the second chapter, if you feel that this novel does not contain much entertainment value to you, that you are struggling like I was, put it down because you won't be rewarded. Atwood isn't for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful--and depressing
Review: This book is both brilliant and devastating: brilliant for its thoughtfulness, its layers, its irony, its aesthetic sense, but devastating in its hopelessness, its emptiness, its existentialism. The author uses beautiful and unique imagery without trying too hard to do so, but there is a pervading bitterness that haunts each word. It is a book within a book within a book, interesting both for its humanness, its cleverness, and its inventive mix of the best of several genres. It will stimulate your mind, but drain your soul. The charm of this book comes at a price; have something else on hand to turn to before you begin to transfer the unhappiness of the characters into your own life. And one more thing, though I greatly admire the author's gift and the scope and self-reflexive awareness of her education, I thought her thinly veiled, sardonic criticism of Old Testament Judaism beneath her (as was, come to think of it, her railings against Christianity). They are old, tired arguments in an otherwise fresh work-and I'm not even Jewish.
Rating: 
Summary: it's a literature book
Review: This was very reminiscent of the stuff you had to read in high school, lots of imagery, deeper meanings, poetic language, but like most of the stuff from high school... BORING, just plain boring. It's hard to write a bad review of this book, it's well structured, it has some really good jabs at society and has some great black/perverse humor in it, all good qualities for reading and it's probably worth reading just for that. But it has main characters that I just didn't care about, and a plot that wasn't that complex but took over 600 pages to muddle through. Also, after about 500, Atwood/editor must've realized she was dragging on, and kind of finished off the loose threads and called it a book. And the last kicker, the great secret revealed at the end, very foreseeable. oh well, wasn't a complete waste, but less than I expected
Rating:
Summary: the blind assassin
Review: i agree with the reader who said this book deserves a 6th star and the one who said she couldn't get into it. it is a slow starter--never awful, in fact, always of interest, but as i couldn't identify with the protagonist initally it took a long time before i really became caught up in it, but long before that i found a wonderful thing happening. i would be sitting drinking tea, holding my cat, looking out a window, cleaning a dish, and there would be a realness and rightness about that moment that i normally miss. by painstakingly observing and telling the life and times of the narrator, atwood allowed me to observe and experience the rightness and beauty in the banal details of my own life. i am so glad i didn't give up, as reader 2 did. it is a brilliant, subtle, phoenix of a book. it never overstates itself. it never jumps up and says GOD, I AM GOOD. it stretches out, gradually revealing layer after layer until the characters, and the reader with them, are completely themselves, in all the regret and simple beauty that we are. i am about to begin it again.
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully-written and intricately-crafted novel!
Review: Her story weaves several seemingly disparate stories-written with different voices and in different styles-into this complex yet beautifully written novel. The book is riddled with subtle symbolism and foreshadowing; but when you get through two-thirds of the novel, everything really kicks in. One reader commented that he/she loves Atwood's novels but didn't finish this one. My advice: keep reading, it's well worth it. As I was reading, I said to myself, "This book is pretty good." But when I finished it, I said, "This book was amazing!" Atwood never disappoints.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring
Review: I was blown away by this book - it is so amazing, I absolutely adored it!
Right from the first page you are drawn into this intriguing tale of two sisters, Iris and Laura Chase and the story of their lives from birth to death. The structure is very interesting and at times slightly confusing as Atwood emplots three types of narrative to tell her story. In a way, the style allows the reader to fill in the blanks and gain that omniscient, omnipresent view of the Chase sisters' lives.
This is part mystery, part family saga, but much more, Atwood pulls this off so brilliantly it is easy to see why this won the Booker Prize. The narrative voice is beautifully melancholy and realistically bitter as the elderly Iris recounts her life to the reader and slowly unshrouds the mystery behind her sister's untimely death.
It takes a while to get used to the constant chopping and changing of the narrative voice, as well as the jumps back and forth in time, but once you get past all that you begin to see how truly amazing and innovative the novel is.
I can't recommend this anymore! \
Rating:
Summary: Could not finish this book
Review: I am echoing another person's review, I usually adore Atwood's books, I've read most of them. But I could not get into this book. I did not even finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I have enjoyed Margaret Atwood's writing for a long time, and always buy a new book from her as soon as I can. I have my own list of her best and those I like less well, of course. This latest book is a must read, if you enjoy Atwood, you will love this book. I intend to read it again and again. The story is amazing, the writing is her best yet, and her writing is always great. If you have not read this book yet, do so soon.
Rating: 
Summary: A difficult read
Review: Atwood writes in a descriptive manner and I can usually lose myself in her writing. However, this book was so difficult to understand that I finally had to put it down forever.
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