The life of Laura Chase (The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood)

Member Name: jessyclown

Product:	The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Date:	17/01/02 (915 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well written, worth reading

Disadvantages: Fragmented, Hard to start reading

I have just done it; I have managed to finish Margaret Atwoods book The Blind Assassin.

I decided to read The Blind Assassin after it had won the Booker Prize in 2000. It took me quite a while to get hold of the book and then I had to find the time to read the novel. As I had bought the book I felt I had to read the whole book otherwise I may well have stopped early on, as it is quite hard to get into reading. I am glad I persevered with this book, as it is a well-written and enjoyable book.

The style of this novel is not good for occasional dipping into as there are several strings to follow. If you can set aside enough time to read this book maybe in a holiday then it is a good book to choose.

This book, set in Canada, tells the story of Iris Chase. Iris is the daughter of an industrialist whose button factory closed down during the depression. Iris was persuaded, aged 18, to marry Richard Griffen. Richard was a wealthy would be politician, Iris believed in Marrying Richard that she would safe guard the factory and her sisters’ future. At 18 Iris is set to continue a life of privilege.

After her marriage Iris' father dies while she is away on honeymoon. She discovers this after she returns home from her honeymoon. Iris' sister Laura drove a car off a bridge to her death; Richard died in mysterious circumstances in a boat.

Through the story the book flashes back and forwards from the past to the present. Several news reports and magazine articles appear between chapters. Interspersed between the telling of Iris’ life the story of the Blind Assassin is told a fiction, which is the book apparently written by Laura and printed after her death.

Other characters that appear include, Reenie, the housekeeper from when Iris and Laura were young and their confidante as they grew up, Myra, Reenies daughter and help to the old Iris. Iris has a daughter Aimee who died of a drug overdose
leaving her daughter Sabrina who is not in contact with Iris during the writing of this book. Richard has a sister Winifred who runs her brothers life and consequently is in control of Iris’ life. Alex Thomas was a young man liked by both Iris and Laura; he is always on the run for his communist views.

Although the facts of Iris’ life are obvious from the start of the book, the book unravels what happens behind the scene in her life. The death of her sister was the turning point in her life and the book points towards the cause of her suicide.

This book is well written and worth persevering to get past the first few chapters. Towards the end of the book I found it quite hard to put down.

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