The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin is not one narrative, but three interwoven ones. There is the “main” narrative, in which Iris Chase reflects on her life, particularly her young life growing up with her sister Laura. In this narrative we are immediately informed that Laura will eventually die in a car crash, and the majority of the story is filling the reader in on just what led up to that event.
Laura has had a book published posthumously, and this book (also titled The Blind Assassin) is told in excerpts, making up the second narrative. In this narrative a nameless man and a nameless woman carry on a secret affair, while the man continually moves locations to avoid discovery, and creates stories to tell the woman. The first of these stories is a pulpy fantasy, in which a main character is a blind assassin, finally giving the novel’s title some context, and making up the third narrative.
As the novel unfolds, these three narratives begin to reflect one another, as the inspirations for various characters and events become more apparent. Yet, I will admit that the novel still managed to side-swipe me with certain reveals towards the end, reinterpreting much of what has already been assumed.
Margaret Atwood has been talked about a lot recently thanks to the series A Handmaid’s Tale, based on another of her novels. This is the first of her works I have ever read or seen, but I greatly enjoyed reading it. I feel like the last few books I’ve been reading have been a lot better than some of the earlier ones I encountered. Well done, Booker judges.
Completed 19 October 2017.
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(Bookerworm)
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