The Blind Assassin: Review by Barbara

THE BLIND ASSASSIN

by: Margaret Atwood

Review written 9/26/2014 for Anstett Women's Book Club (Revised)

by: Barbara Lechner

Having read my last Margaret Atwood novel “The Robber Bridegroom” several years ago (it's one of my favorites, by the way), I have sort of forgotten that her writer's mind is very convoluted. It took me a while to settle into the layout of the story...figuring out the pieces and who was who in the various overlapping stories.

The older sister, Iris Chase, is the narrator in a story that weaves between then and now about her and her sister Laura from childhood forward...or was it backward?  Other family members and household staff are crucial to the developing story, of course.

I have to admit it was sometimes hard to be sympathetic to Iris, especially as she grew into adulthood...although I  am not sure she actually did. She was certainly a damaged soul after the loss of her mother. My favorite passage P.94... “(What fabrications they are, mothers. Scarecrows, wax dolls for us to stick pins into, crude diagrams. We deny them an existence of their own, we make them up to suit ourselves - - our own hungers, our own wishes, our own deficiencies. Now that I've been one myself, I know.)”   Iris seemed to be walking through life in a hypnotic state.  She was supposed to “take care” of her baby sister, Laura, but with a few exceptions, I don't see that she did – especially at very critical turning points. There was a terrible price to pay. That's why I think she became herself and her sister in one person.

Women's choices were limited in the 30's and 40's  and Iris was used to being controlled by two very strong women. First, Reenie, the housekeeper of her childhood; and later by her sister-in-law who was straight out of the wicked sisters in Cinderella. And her brother, Iris's husband) was no Prince Charming! The adult Iris did love another man but those trysts were pretty grim, and I found the connection to her sister and this man disturbing. Do you think Iris gave over her power as a person because it was easier to not feel anything?

I did enjoy the telling of the story and the narratives of Iris at her present old age were so honest when she talked about her body and memory giving out and the machinations she went through to get through the day without giving away how frail she really was.

/BL

Book #13 ~ Carissa's Pick: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

I read an article in Huffington Post called '5 Long Book Worth Every Page'

If you feel like taking on this beast of a book I would love to share the journey with you.  No time restraints.  See the review below...

 

The Blind Assassin

by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92  ·  rating details  ·  81,300 ratings  ·  4,159 reviews

"Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge"

More than fifty years on, Iris Chase is remembering Laura's mysterious death. And so begins an extraordinary and compelling story of two sisters and their secrets. Set against a panoramic backdrop of twentieth-century history, The Blind Assassin is an epic tale of memory, intrigue and betrayal...

 

The Postmistress: Review by Melissa

This book did not catch my interest at all. Every time I picked it up I had to struggle to keep reading. Well, I finally gave up about 1/3 of the way. For me it was slow and didn't get into the plot. Hopefully next time!

Melissa

The Postmistress: Review by Barbara

THE POSTMISTRESS a novel

by Sarah Blake

Review for Anstett Book Club:

BARBARA LECHNER

1/28/2014

While the book is titled after Iris, the postmistress of the small New England town, the character I was most drawn to was Frankie. I guess we'd all like to think we're as brave as she to report from the London Blitz and later during the war train travel through some dangerous and devastated European countries. Her radio reports back to the United States are meant to bring the American people a sense of urgency on how much their help was needed by the free world and that they were not immune.

The American people were very reluctant to be drawn into another war since they were still recovering from the first World War twenty years prior. However, as you know from your history, the Nazi's continued to march across Europe with a murderous and amoral agenda, and along with the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, we were eventually pulled into World War II.

You might notice when reading the story that things in threes seem to be important to the author's sensibility. I'm not sure why except that the triangle is symbolic to connectedness. For example, there are 3 key women, 3 men, the Axis, made up of three countries (Germany, Japan and Italy) were united by treaties in their opposition to the West and the Soviet Union. They were the threesome know as the Allies (America, England and Russia)

The story weaves the lives of three women (Iris, Emma and Frankie)... all brought together through different circumstances. The author provided enough description and individualism to make the reader really like them and want to know what happens to them during this tumultuous time. How they dealt with adversity and carried on with their lives...although all received serious personal blows.

I thought the story started out a bit slow and took me a while to get interested, but it's a very good “read”. George read it too and really liked it. We hope you will, too!

Side Note: It would have been nice to see Mom's review of this book since she was a young woman at the time this story is set.

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