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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Apr 26, 2012
Pros: Beautiful writing and complex characterization.
Cons: Slow pacing, extraneous stories, too fragmented.
Summary: Margaret Atwood, acclaimed Canadian writer and author of The Handmaid’s Tale, one of the most affecting and memorable books ever to meander its way into my possession, has reappeared in my reading list these many years later. ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Sep 15, 2008
Pros: Alot of great supporting characters,great ending Cons: The way it is worded makes Jane Austen seem spare. You will need a dictionary.
Summary: This is very difficult what I am about to do. I really want to plug this book,so other people will pick it up and love it too. I don't know how to categorize it,much less what to put in this review. Here goes nothing.When I first saw ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jan 11, 2005
Pros: Great writing, interesting characters
Cons: Sometimes poor choice in plot execution, unsympathetic main
Summary: The Blind Assassin opens with death, the young Laura Chase plunging off a bridge to her doom, which is ruled as an accident, but possibly a suicide. Her sister Iris discovers a collection of notebooks in her possession, notebooks that Laura had left ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jul 7, 2002
Pros: Another fresh approach to storytelling by Atwood and her poetic pen
Cons: Periodically choppy story line tends to detract from flow
Summary: Atwood has long been a favorite author of mine. Her strong socio-political views color every word she writes, yet her ability to weave the fabric of her story without having to browbeat her reader with her views is extraordinary. The Blind ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jul 3, 2002
Pros: Keeps you on your toes until the very end
Cons: None!
Summary: I have read several other books by Atwood, and I feel that this did not disappoint. I am not surprised it was awarded the Booker Prize!
Atwood spins a tale addressing the age-old themes of family betrayals, love, and social turmoil. Her ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jun 1, 2002
Pros: intertwining stories, plot twists
Cons: no likeable characters, parts are slow
Summary: I’ve been reading Margaret Atwood’s novels for years, ever since, as a teenager, I read an excerpt of Cat’s Eye in Seventeen Magazine. I’m not sure exactly what it is about her work that keeps me coming back, but somehow, I always end up ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
May 24, 2002
Pros: The craft of fiction at its absolute finest!
Cons: It ends.
Summary: The Blind Assassin is a remarkable achievement and the finest work by a contemporary writer that this reviewer has read in four decades. Atwood's control of her extremely complex narrative never falters. Back and forth through layers of time, story ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
May 6, 2002
Pros: A vivid pre-WWII story of life involving Laura and Iris, sisters with secrets.
Cons: Slightly confusing at first but well worth the effort. Stay with it.
Summary: Margaret Atwood is a genius storyteller. Set in pre-WWII Canada, this is a tale within a tale and told with blunt and heartfelt prose through the eyes of Iris, the elder sister.
Daughters of wealth, Iris and Laura assume their roles. Iris ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Mar 27, 2002
Pros: lovingly drawn characters, a complex plot that unwinds at its own pace
Cons: that pace is at times a little too slow
Summary: Some late-40s musical comedy - I think it's White Christmas - features a number by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen named "Sisters." This ditty includes that immortal lyric, Lord help the Mister / Who comes between me and my sister / And Lord ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jan 17, 2002
Pros: This is a well written, well thought out novel, worth reading
Cons: It is hard to get started with this book
Summary: 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 ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Nov 10, 2001
Pros: The storyline is deeply moving and engaging. The reader is hooked from the first line
Cons: The connections the reader is expected to make may cause some confusion.
Summary: I have never liked Margaret Atwood's writing. But something about the first few lines in "The Blind Assassin" drew me into the story without warning and for the rest of the 300 or so pages. The Atwood book I read was "The Edible Woman" which was fairly ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jun 19, 2001
Pros: beautiful prose, fabulously creative story telling
Cons: heavy and difficult read, slow at times
Summary: I've read a few of Margaret Atwood's novels and many of her poems and I've always come back for her dark and raw femininity. Atwood embraces the dirtier less pretty side of womanhood encompassing anger and complicity and cowardice. In the past I've ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
May 1, 2001
Pros: Well written, an interesting approach, Margaret Atwood.
Cons: A little hard to understand.
Summary: Margaret Atwood's novels are often told from many points of view, combining narration, newspaper clippings, dialogues, and even the occasional novel-within-a-novel. In Lady Oracle, one of her past novels, the main character's Harlequin-esque ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Apr 30, 2001
Pros: Wonderful book in a book! Once you get into it you can't stop.
Cons: In the beginning it is somewhat confusing.
Summary: I started to read the Blind Assassin not knowing what to expect. I have never read any of her books. When I started to read it, I was a little confused. As I got more into the book, I was more intrigued. I was more intrigued by the second novel in the ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Dec 29, 2000
Pros: Suspenseful, engaging, a real page-turner
Cons: A few characters need more development
Summary: Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Atwood is probably best known for 1985's The Handmaid's Tale, a frightening portrait of an all-too-plausible dystopia, which was made (one might say corrupted) into a movie of the same name a few years ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Nov 27, 2000
Pros: smooth and complex structure; use of language
Cons: none
Summary: The Booker Prize has regained its stride. After a series of puzzling choices (England, England and Amsterdam, for example), The Blind Assassin is a welcome return to novels of some enduring literary value. Atwood has certainly earned her Booker, as ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Nov 25, 2000
Pros: Wonderful writing by Margaret Atwood
Cons: the novel in the novel takes away from the story
Summary: I'll confess, I've never been a big fan of Margaret Atwood. I read "The Handmaid's Tale" ten years ago and I didn't understand it at all; I had a hard time keeping the characters and themes straight(Bear in mind I was only eighteen, now I ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Nov 20, 2000
Pros: lyrical prose
Cons: subplot not quite as good as main plot
Summary: Margaret Atwood's latest novel is so lush I felt that I was swimming in words. Atwood's writing style has always been lyrical as in her other novels such as The Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace. The newest one The Blind Assassin is not only a feast for ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Nov 14, 2000
Pros: The language!! Intriguing plot. Fresh approach to literature
Cons: not a good story when you're sleepy
Summary: If you relish the beauty of the written word, you will love this book. Margaret Atwood is a master of words. She spins them like floss in a spiderweb... and they pull you in. Her writing shines in Blind Assassin.
This story is structured as ... read more
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