Book 5: The Blind Assassin

So, I admit it, I have a soft spot for Margaret Atwood. Last year, I read her book Oryx and Crake, and it sent me into an Atwood-buying frenzy. This is just the first of several of her books to come!



This book, which won the Booker Prize a few years back, intricately intertwines the story of sisters Laura and Iris Chase as they grow up and into childhood. Laura commits suicide in the opening sentences of the book, but the book is really told by an elderly Iris Chase looking back on her life. The story jumps between several different times: the older Iris telling the story, the girls growing up in the 1930s, Laura's post-humously best-selling novel about secret lovers meeting in borrowed rooms, and an outlandish sci-fi story that those lovers tell each other. Needless to say, Atwood weaves all these stories seamlessly together for a big reveal at the end of the book, supplemented by short newspaper articles about the sisters' lives that provides an "outsider's" perspective.

I think I actually liked this one better than Oryx and Crake. It was a little slow at first, but it really picks up in the last half. It's not for everyone, though: a lot of the reviews on Amazon.com show that not everyone can handle the jumping around between plots.

I wish I had something insightful and/or witty to say about this book, but I don't. It's just that good.