The Blind Assassin Review
A complex rumination on narrative it is as elegant and dynamic as its predecessor but more contemplative and more edgy and much more witty.
The blind assassin review. The blind assassin loads up on losses at the outset. Entitled the blind assassin it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. The counterpart story the blind assassin is a strange futuristic tale that dramatizes in unusual faux oriental fashion a nameless woman s obsession with a science fiction writer whose imaginings blithely mirror and exploit his power over her.
The blind assassin is a novel by the canadian writer margaret atwood it was first published by mcclelland and stewart in 2000. The blind assassin margaret atwood s the blind assassin is a killer novel all right but it can see exactly where it s going. The first part of the book is a scrapbook of obituaries.
The blind assassin is not a book that can easily be put to one side in spite of its length and the fact that its twists and turns occasionally try the patience. Only when the coffins are laid out does iris start her story. When we return to iris it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband a distinguished industrialist.
Within the campy science fiction story the story within the story of chase s blind assassin on the planet zycron is where we meet the novel s namesake the blind assassin but he is more important to the novel as a symbol of both the lack of vision and perspective that often handicaps our more central characters and the unintended ways in which they cause pain to even those closest to them as a result of that lack of vision than he is a character in his own right. Set in canada it is narrated from the present day referring to previous events that span the twentieth century. The blind assassin by margaret atwood doubleday 521.
It opens with these margaret atwood takes the art of storytelling to new heights in a dazzling novel that unfolds layer by astonishing layer and concludes in a brilliant and wonderfully satisfying twist. The blind assassin also possesses the unusual lyrical sensuousness that distinguished alias grace 1996 atwood s last major work. Yet it falls short of making the.
Told in a style that magnificently captures the colloquialisms and clichés of the 1930s and 1940s the blind assassin is a richly layered and uniquely rewarding experience. There are excerpts from the blind assassin a posthumously published novel which gave iris s younger sister laura a minor but thanks to women s studies enduring reputation.
