The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Jun. 21st, 2015 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

We'll be reading and discussing The Blind Assassin from June 24th to June 30th. Only the first chapter is required reading to participate in the discussion, but of course you're very welcome to read on for as long as you enjoy the book.
The Blind Assassin opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. 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. Brilliantly weaving together such seemingly disparate elements, Atwood creates a world of astonishing vision and unforgettable impact.
Because the first chapter is five and a half pages long, I am committing to reading at least the second chapter.
I - The Bridge
Date: 2015-06-21 09:25 am (UTC)Re: I - The Bridge
Date: 2015-06-21 09:42 am (UTC)I - The Toronto Star, 1945
Date: 2015-06-21 09:25 am (UTC)Re: I - The Toronto Star, 1945
Date: 2015-06-21 09:45 am (UTC)I - The Blind Assassin: Perennials for the Rock Garden
Date: 2015-06-21 09:26 am (UTC)Re: I - The Blind Assassin: Perennials for the Rock Garden
Date: 2015-06-21 09:49 am (UTC)Re: I - The Blind Assassin: Perennials for the Rock Garden
Date: 2015-06-21 06:05 pm (UTC)II - The hard-boiled egg
Date: 2015-06-21 09:27 am (UTC)Re: II - The hard-boiled egg
Date: 2015-06-21 10:04 am (UTC)Does the narrator have autobiographical properties of Laura? Probably, right? Laura's sister shares that creeping feeling of always being watched and evaluated by others.
Re: II - The hard-boiled egg
Date: 2015-06-21 06:02 pm (UTC)Re: II - The hard-boiled egg
Date: 2015-06-21 07:23 pm (UTC)Re: II - The hard-boiled egg
Date: 2015-06-22 04:04 pm (UTC)Re: II - The hard-boiled egg
Date: 2015-06-24 08:08 am (UTC)I do like the sense of mystery of Iris' story too, and I suppose I could like a story about a blind assassin if it turns more bad ass revenge tale than horrible mash-up of bolshevik hatred of nobility and low-self-esteem male hatred of women.
But I have to be honest, I checked out some reviews on amazon and good reads to find out if the people who dislike the same elements as I do notice them through out the whole book, and they do. :/
Re: II - The hard-boiled egg
Date: 2015-06-24 02:49 pm (UTC)Yes, same here. So I guess I hope ;) I might borrow it from the library and find out.
Too bad to hear, though :( And it does make me less inclined to read more.
II - The Globe and Mail, 1947
Date: 2015-06-21 09:28 am (UTC)Re: II - The Globe and Mail, 1947
Date: 2015-06-21 10:09 am (UTC)II - The park bench
Date: 2015-06-21 09:28 am (UTC)Re: II - The park bench
Date: 2015-06-21 10:19 am (UTC)II - The Toronto Star, 1975
Date: 2015-06-21 09:29 am (UTC)Re: II - The Toronto Star, 1975
Date: 2015-06-21 10:22 am (UTC)II - The carpets
Date: 2015-06-21 09:29 am (UTC)Re: II - The carpets
Date: 2015-06-21 10:53 am (UTC)II - The Globe and Mail, 1998
Date: 2015-06-21 09:30 am (UTC)Re: II - The Globe and Mail, 1998
Date: 2015-06-21 10:55 am (UTC)II - The lipstick heart
Date: 2015-06-21 09:30 am (UTC)Re: II - The lipstick heart
Date: 2015-06-21 11:09 am (UTC)I haven't read it, but the guy reminds me of a story that's summaried in Quills, the movie about the Marquis de Sade. It's about a sadist who gets off on debasing a noble woman, and whenever she stops being horrified and disquieted by what he's done, he comes up with something even worse. And when she grows used to that, he dumps her because she's beneath him.
It's making me not particularly want to continue reading this book, but at the same time, since it's so popular, I have to hope something improves further along.
Re: II - The lipstick heart
Date: 2015-06-21 06:18 pm (UTC)Apart from him being creepy, I lose patience with characters who insist on speaking on riddles. Ok, suresen, enough negativity from you :)
I'm super-happy to have read the first chapter - it forced me to think about what I thought about it and put it down in words, and that's never a bad thing. But I'm unlikely to ever understand Atwood/become a fan.
Re: II - The lipstick heart
Date: 2015-06-21 07:27 pm (UTC)I actually own several books by Atwood, bought because the were on sale and came highly recced and because I'd liked the one book by her I had read, and also because she's written some science fiction, right?
The book I've read by her also dealt intensely with the patriarchy and the complex way priviledge can intersect when a woman has class and race priviledge. It was extremely creepy, but it was also deliberately and elegantly creepy, if you know what I mean.
Re: II - The lipstick heart
Date: 2015-06-28 08:37 am (UTC)Have you managed to read on?
Re: II - The lipstick heart
Date: 2015-07-01 07:48 am (UTC)II - The Colonel Henry Parkman High School Home and School and Alumni Assocation Bulletin, 1998
Date: 2015-06-21 09:32 am (UTC)Re: II - The Colonel Henry Parkman High School Home and School and Alumni Assocation Bulletin, 1998
Date: 2015-06-21 11:15 am (UTC)I like how Atwood can write in so many styles, her clippings really are spot on in the language of their eras. Laura's book is also similar in style to many forties novels I have read (at least parts of).
That's the conclusion of chapter two! I think I'll give chapter three a try as well, and hope there aren't two many excerpts of The Blind Assassin. Do you suppose this is why the excerpts are not labeled in the index, so as not to put readers off in advance?
Re: II - The Colonel Henry Parkman High School Home and School and Alumni Assocation Bulletin, 1998
Date: 2015-06-21 06:09 pm (UTC)I think the newspaper clippings style is ok, but I'm not that impressed. But I'm speaking as someone who soured on the novel. Either way, as I point out in my comment messing up your system (sorry, posted comment before reading previous comments for Reasons), the other parts (narration + novel) read similarly to me.
Re: II - The Colonel Henry Parkman High School Home and School and Alumni Assocation Bulletin, 1998
Date: 2015-06-21 07:33 pm (UTC)I definitely see a family resemblance between Iris' narration and Laura's novel, and I assume it must be intentional, given that the clippings are so distinct.
Maybe the novel became famous because Iris uncovers it as a roman à clef? That's a guess, I haven't read beyond chapter two yet.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-06-21 05:57 pm (UTC)My copy of The Blind Assassin is 641 pages - I'm happy we're not attempting to read whole novels.
But it was an intriguing first chapter - In just one 6-page chapter we get:
A first-person narrative
A newspaper article
A novel within the novel
Wow :)
Basically knowing way too little about literature considering my university degree in literature, I hadn't realized The Blind Assassin was as new as 2000 until I wrote up the schedule for the reading club.
Reading the first lines I was struck with how not-2000 it was written. I don't know Atwood enough to know if she successfully wrote as if she was writing in 1945, or if her writing style is just a little old-fashioned?
She really likes her similes and similar figures of speech - or Iris and Laura do.
Iris (first-person narrative):
feathery with new leaves
no more fuss than stepping off a curb
as if from a distance
as if I'd been to the dentist
like ink spilled in water
less like something she'd chosen to put on than like something she'd been locked up in
as if she were admiring the view
glinting like a dragonfly
Laura (novel within the novel):
leather cases that looked like muzzles
like the heat from a sun-warmed stone at midnight
like a scratched match flaring
as if to fend her off in play
this square, lighted window of glazed paper
as if she's peering into a well or pool
shimmering like a jewel on sand
as if discarded
like ice cream smudged on chrome
Ok O___O
(I read on after the first chapter, but I didn't care for the characters at all, and when the sexual exploitation theme came up, I was reminded why I couldn't get through The Handmaid's Tale, either.)
(no subject)
Date: 2015-06-21 07:37 pm (UTC)Is Atwood always like that? No one has ever said so to me, I've been given to understand that The Handmaid's Tale is an exception, but the only two novels I've attempted to read by her have both been very concerned with sexual assault.
I don't like Laura very much so far, I don't like Laura's characters, and I'm disappointed in Iris for not looking after her granddaughter, but I'm still hopeful that I'll grow to like the book if I give it a bit more of a chance.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-06-27 01:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-01 07:51 am (UTC)I read some reviews to figure out if the things I didn't like were going to get better, and several reviewers agreed that they were an issue throughout the whole book. I'm glad you gave the book a chance and read the first two chapters, even if it was not exactly a good experience for you! I feel like I ought to like Atwood, you know, and now the four of us have been very moral and upstanding in giving her a chance. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2015-06-28 08:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-06-27 01:57 pm (UTC)I do remember liking The Handmaid's Tale more than this from the beginning. Penelopiad, which is shorter, is still my favorite of hers; but I haven't read a lot of her works. Still want to check out the Mad Adam trilogy.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-06-28 08:41 am (UTC)I don't get why the novel is so noted, but then I don't get why most great novels are noted :)
I think I'm done with Atwood - until the next time I forget I don't like her writing ^___^
But again not unhappy at all to have read a few chapters of something not fanfiction, that is always good!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-01 04:39 pm (UTC)I agree that the problem with Atwood is that she writes unpleasant stuff - she's a great writer, but she uses it for creeping her reader out in this really unsettling way that she is very good at, but I just hate feel-bad-reads. *sigh* That said, I really am impressed with her range. This book's style and language is markedly different from Onyx and Crake, which I actually did manage to finish for a uni course.
I'm not actually turned completely off it yet. I like the way she weaves the different styles, and I actually want to know what happens next in The Blind Assassin. I'm actually a little bummed out that I don't really have time to stay with it, because we're on to the next book.