The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood

The Blind Assassin book is my pick for Canada for Around the World!

I always have very high expectations from award-winning books and I am usually not disappointed. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood was an exception.

The novel traces the story of Iris & Laura Chase, two sisters born into a rich but fading household in a small industrial town in Canada.

Our narrator is Iris Chase, the elder sister who unravels her life history in a message to her estranged granddaughter. The novel begins with the death of Laura Chase and then goes back into the memories of Iris, which take us through their childhood to the day Laura died. In the process, we learn of deep dark family secrets. We learn of crudeness and evilness of human nature.

An interesting aspect of the book is the novel within the novel approach, where a parallel thread of the story is woven – moving the narrative forward. It’s definitely a challenge to write in this way, to have so many threads, and not make any chronological mistakes.

The story is almost like a mystery. The author throws up clues as you read along and you have to collect them and fit them together as you move towards the end of the book.

On the whole, I did think the novel ran a little too long. Also, The Blind Assassin is a great book for someone who has not read these family dramas earlier. Unfortunately for me, I read this book when I have had my share of novels about self-discovery and repentance and revelations.

I was constantly irritated with the weakness of Iris’s character. Her failure to take life in her own hands – submission to her father, her husband,  her sister-in-law and then to her daughter. Its very hard to like a book where you can’t empathize with the main character.

Final word on The Blind Assassin

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The Blind Assassin cover