Now that I have finished reading The Blind Assassin, I can now understand the novel's front artwork. I will admit it, the artwork had me puzzled at first because wasn't this novel supposed to be a story within a story within a story all surrounding the 1920's-1950's and beyond with a cameo appearance of the Science Fiction genre? What an odd choice but it all makes sense now. Tucked inside toward the end of this novel there is a passage concerning the narrator and her wish to stare at herself in the mirror and try to see how others perceive her. This passage continues and finally describes a woman looking over her shoulder. When I closed The Blind Assassin in the late hours of the morning, I could not help but think of that passage, the woman on the cover and the connection to make your own opinion about appearances. Certainly The Blind Assassin could be studied and debated in many different ways. Was this a book about sisters and a unique bond that could be forged from tragedy and tradition? Was this a story of evolution but inevitable demise of one's life because of unsaid words (or forced words?) Or was this just a recollection of painful memories set to the backdrop of a hodgepodge of literary genres that seamlessly branched from one story in several? The Blind Assassin may be all of these; it is all how the reader wishes to perceive the narrator. But at the end all the narrator asks is for a listener and I hope any potential reader who has the patience is ready to read something I can only describe and leaves the impression as being truly unique. In the end, The Blind Assassin certainly stands out as something unique. The writing was beautiful and captured this reader right from "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." After stating this, the story spread out and split from one story into several and dropped this reviewer into so many worlds and brought so many entities to life. The application of similes could be seen as Ms. Atwood's signature, there are so many carefully crafted descriptions and comparisons that just added an authentic vintage flare to the story. The only negative I can report are at times the wanderings of the narrator's mind and her personal "walks" seemed endless. Still The Blind Assassin is worth reading and should find its way on the shelves of the collectors of unique reads or those who are curious to read something that cannot be narrowed down to one classification. -Reviewed in November 2013, review written November 2013/ copy of THE BLIND ASSASSIN borrowed from local library Comments are closed.
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