“Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge.” These words are spoken by Iris Chase Griffen, married at eighteen to a wealthy industrialist but now poor and eighty-two. Iris recalls her far from exemplary life, and the events leading up to her sister’s death, gradually revealing the carefully guarded Chase family secrets. Among these is “The Blind Assassin,” a novel that earned the dead Laura Chase not only notoriety but also a devoted cult following. Sexually explicit for its time, it was a pulp fantasy improvised by two unnamed lovers who meet secretly in rented rooms and seedy cafés. As this novel-within-a-novel twists and turns through love and jealousy, self-sacrifice and betrayal, so does the real narrative, as both move closer to war and catastrophe. Margaret Atwood’s Booker Prize-winning sensation combines elements of gothic drama, romantic suspense, and science fiction fantasy in a spellbinding tale.
From the Hardcover edition.
I have not seen a story as well constructed as this one. What an amazing story teller Atwood is. What a great read.
This book is a novel within a novel within a novel within a novel. Four novels in one. Sounds confusing? It might be to some people and I thought it was brilliant.
As heart breaking the story is in some parts it’s really witty in others. I actually chuckled a bunch of times.
No wonder it won a booker prize, it makes you want to quote it a lot. It’s going on my favorites book list.
What’s on my reading list next? Not sure, Moby dick Maybe? The count of monte cristo?
Filed under: Book, Book Review, Book Club, Books, fiction, Good read
[...] – The Blind Assassin [...]