My book group chose The Blind Assassin (2000) by Margaret Atwood for our read this month, and initially I wasn’t going to read it. That was partly because it was SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN PAGES and partly because I once owned it, and gave it away unread. I didn’t want to buy another copy. But then I was at my friend Nana-Yaa’s house, and mentioned it – she revealed that it was her favourite book, and pressed a copy into my hands. I guess I had to read it. (But it was still SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN PAGES.)
The main character is Iris Chase, looking back across her long life – though there are various other layers to it. The opening line is brilliant; one of the best I’ve read: “Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge.”
Laura is the author of a modern classic, called ‘The Blind Assassin’. It was only published after her death, and has grown in reputation, and Atwood puts large portions of the novel into her novel. Some chapters are modern Iris; some retrace her childhood and adulthood; some are excerpts from ‘The Blind Assassin’. To add to the complexity, ‘The Blind Assassin’ is about somebody creating the novel ‘The Blind Assassin’. Confused yet? Don’t worry, Atwood was an excellent handle on it all, and the reader is never baffled. She manages three different tones/voices well too – so the three layers of the novel feel distinct and confident. (The actual story-within-story-within-story is about a world where boys are blinded by making intricate carpets and then train as stealthy assassins; one is hired to kill a young woman who is to be sacrificed as part of a custom in this world.)
As Iris looks back on her life, we see the alienating and loveless marriage she enters to save her father’s business. We see how her relationship with her sister grows more and more strained, and there is a whole mystery around that.
Positives first: it’s very well written. Atwood has an unforced elegance here that was entirely lacking in The Handmaid’s Tale, to my mind. Some of the characters are wonderfully drawn – particularly Laura’s unkind sister-in-law. And I loved the way that the plot of ‘The Blind Assassin’ (level 2 of 3) explored the creative process of someone trying to balance of art and commerce, often very amusingly. All in all, I did like the book a lot.
But… it was SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN PAGES. I couldn’t get that out of my mind, every time I picked it up. It sort of soured the reading experience for me, being so allergic to long books. And, like every book I’ve read that is over 600 pages (which is admittedly not many), it would have been better if it were a great deal shorter. I think The Blind Assassin, with its multiple layers, could perhaps have justified 400 pages. But so much of the background of Iris’s life could have been cut without losing anything. There is a lot of padding. And that length puts a lot of pressure on the end of a novel – and the various revelations in this one didn’t feel strong enough to support the weight of SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN PAGES.
But you have to admire the confidence of Atwood, to call ‘The Blind Assassin’ a modern masterpiece and then write the book herself. At one point it is called Modernist, and it is definitely not Modernist. That was irksome.
So, I liked this. There’s a brilliant 400-page novel hidden in it somewhere. I suppose I should be grateful it’s not a terrible 800-page novel?
I read this ages ago and I can’t really remember it, although I know I did enjoy it. As a novella lover I always think books could be shorter, so I’m sure if I re-read it I’d agree with you about a heavier edit!
I remember approaching this novel with some trepidation but I loved it. I read it a long time ago, so my memory is sketchy I remember the novel, the story within a story, which as you say is never confusing. To be honest I think I found reading very big books easier back then, I seemed to be reading more and more quickly when I was younger.
It is so clever that she manages not to make it confusing. And I am often confused in these things!
Yesss! Novella lovers unite!
I also enjoyed the book very much, especially when I figured out the story within a story within a story structure. Agree with yiu that it could have been trimmed – I did t feel I needed to have as much of that story of the blind weavers turned assassins.
Curiously that was the bit I’d have kept! It was Iris’s backstory I got tired of. So maybe she needed it all to satisfy both of us :)
I wish I could remember more about it, other than finding it too long too! It’s one I might re-read – one day, maybe. I have kept a copy.
And it is taking up a lot of shelf space!
I hear you (and agree with you) about the overly long books. It’s a rare book indeed that justifies going over 400 pages. I like the premise of this one, and I might try it some day.
Lovely to have someone agree with me, and not think it makes me a bad reader!!
LOL! You really don’t like long books, do you? You ought to try some of the fat Russian volumes I spend my time with!!! ;D
Haha! Nothankyou…
Like the writers of most of the other comments, I read Blind Assassin some time ago and have forgotten many of its details. I do remember, however, that I enjoyed it immensely — it may have been this book that turned me from a “l like her pretty well” into a “I will read every word she writes” fan of Atwood’s — but I agree that the length is off-putting. In fact, I delayed reading Assassin for a number of years because (1) it WAS so long (add refrain: SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN PAGES) and (2) the idea of incorporating a sci-fi novel within a realistic story line didn’t appeal to me. I was happy to discover that my misgivings were unjustified!
I think I could love Atwood if she wrote shorter books! Well, maybe I should try some of the short ones she has actually written.
Let me recommend 1Q84 to you … I do mean that actually! I think you know what a fan-boy of Murakami I am :-)
Oooof maybe one day. But I might start with shorter Murakami…
Thank you for your review, it was almost as if reading the book again. I had to laugh about how you went on and on about the SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN PAGES. What frightened you about the book was what attracted me. Well, that and the fact that I love Margaret Atwood. My opinion of a good book, the longer the better and most good books start after 500 pages. LOL.
I don’t agree that a lot should have been cut. Granted, you can cut something from any book without changing the content but a lot about Iris’ life was part of the whole story, I think it would have lacked something.
Anyway, it was lovely to read your review and talk about it. Check out my blog, I’m sure you’ll find more interesting long books.
And here is the link to my review of The Blind Assassin
Ha, yes, I hope I got across the feeling I felt about its length ;)
And I’m glad you liked it in its complete state! I’m all about losing padding, but if you didn’t find it padding then you’re onto a winner.
I always like to know the details and the backstories. Otherwise we could do as Woody Allen says: “I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.” ;)
I loved the layers of Blind Assassin. Unlike you, long books don’t worry me. :D I enjoy being in the one narrative for a long period of time.
I also love of Atwood in general and will read nearly anything she writes (just not poetry…not a fan of poetry…too dense).
I wouldn’t have considered story within the story as Modernist. I thought it was science fiction?
I totally agree with you. Love long books and Margaret Atwood is just great.
Yes, it was a weird moment when she used the word Modernist – because it so clearly isn’t.
And it feels like a superpower, to me, to be able to cope with these chunksters!
Hehehe… her Alias Grace is 593 pages, and it just FLEW by for me. Still, I hear you. I just bought (or rather, I won a copy of) her collection of short stories – Stone Mattress – so perhaps that’s an antidote!
Oh that might be better for me!!