![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzy_daveMargaret Atwood "The Blind Assasin" (Virago)
Finally,after some false starts,i have reached the end of this 637 page major work by one of Canada's premier literary novelists.
Atwood starts the book with this line: “Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge.” She just dives right in. The book is divided into alternating parts. One set of sections is narrated by Iris Chase Griffen at the age of 83. Her writings are a journal that she is writing for her estranged grand-daughter, basically the story of her life. The other set of parts starts with newspaper articles that tell more of Iris’ story and alternates with a novel attributed to Iris’ sister Laura, and published posthumously by Iris. Laura’s novel is also called The Blind Assassin.
Iris begins her story with Laura’s death and then begins to describe their childhood as daughters of a successful industrialist. As the girls grow up they lose both of their parents and Iris is married to one of her father’s competitors. As a result Iris and Laura end up in Toronto living with Iris’ husband, Richard. Iris’ marriage is not a happy one and Laura does not get along with her brother in law at all. As the novel goes on, we realize that there is a very good reason for Laura’s hatred of Richard, which Iris is unaware of.
Meanwhile, the reader is treated to Laura’s entire novel. It’s a story about an unhappy married socialite carrying on an affair with a communist agitator in hiding. There are no names or details in Laura’s novel but as the story continues, you realize that the story is autobiographical and that Laura is not the author. The details of the affair are never described, but he tells her a story in instalments. It is in this story that we meet the blind assassin.
What I love about this novel is the way Atwood tells the story. The reader starts out with many questions. As the story goes on, all of those questions are slowly answered. I just love the way Atwood gradually reveals more details as the novel unfolds. I also love the way she tells a story within a story within a story. (I read one website that described compared them to Russian nesting dolls.) You’d think is might be complicated and confusing but Atwood does such a good job timing and relating the different parts of the story that it’s easy to follow.
The novel isn’t a happy novel with a happy ending, but I do think it’s very well written and very poetic. This is the kind of writing that is truly amazing. I can see why it won the Booker.
Finally,after some false starts,i have reached the end of this 637 page major work by one of Canada's premier literary novelists.
Atwood starts the book with this line: “Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge.” She just dives right in. The book is divided into alternating parts. One set of sections is narrated by Iris Chase Griffen at the age of 83. Her writings are a journal that she is writing for her estranged grand-daughter, basically the story of her life. The other set of parts starts with newspaper articles that tell more of Iris’ story and alternates with a novel attributed to Iris’ sister Laura, and published posthumously by Iris. Laura’s novel is also called The Blind Assassin.
Iris begins her story with Laura’s death and then begins to describe their childhood as daughters of a successful industrialist. As the girls grow up they lose both of their parents and Iris is married to one of her father’s competitors. As a result Iris and Laura end up in Toronto living with Iris’ husband, Richard. Iris’ marriage is not a happy one and Laura does not get along with her brother in law at all. As the novel goes on, we realize that there is a very good reason for Laura’s hatred of Richard, which Iris is unaware of.
Meanwhile, the reader is treated to Laura’s entire novel. It’s a story about an unhappy married socialite carrying on an affair with a communist agitator in hiding. There are no names or details in Laura’s novel but as the story continues, you realize that the story is autobiographical and that Laura is not the author. The details of the affair are never described, but he tells her a story in instalments. It is in this story that we meet the blind assassin.
What I love about this novel is the way Atwood tells the story. The reader starts out with many questions. As the story goes on, all of those questions are slowly answered. I just love the way Atwood gradually reveals more details as the novel unfolds. I also love the way she tells a story within a story within a story. (I read one website that described compared them to Russian nesting dolls.) You’d think is might be complicated and confusing but Atwood does such a good job timing and relating the different parts of the story that it’s easy to follow.
The novel isn’t a happy novel with a happy ending, but I do think it’s very well written and very poetic. This is the kind of writing that is truly amazing. I can see why it won the Booker.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}