![]() ![]() Atwood performs a spectacular literary sleight of hand, fashioning a bewitching, brilliantly layered story of how people see only what they wish to - and how terrible the consequences of not voicing the truth can be. Entwined with this saga are marvelous excerpts of Laura’s posthumously published novel - an erotic cult classic called The Blind Assassin, detailing the illicit affair between an unnamed strike organizer and an heiress, during which the man relates a clever, bedtime sci-fi yarn about a blind assassin who falls for a mute sacrificial virgin. Atwood's narrator, Iris, has told us of her sister Laura's suicide. Events open with the present-day autobiography of Laura’s older sister, Iris: The sharp-witted widow recalls growing up in a repressive family of wealthy Toronto industrialists - and how dreamy Laura developed a forbidden interest in a scruffily attractive union leader. The narrator of THE BLIND ASSASSIN is Iris Chase, who is 83, one of two survivors of a wealthy family, the widow of an ambitious conservative politician and businessman, and the sister of Laura Chase, the author of a single acclaimed novel who died young. The Blind Assassin is not just the title of Atwood's book it is also the title of a novel written by one of its characters. ![]() In her ingenious new tale of love, rivalry, and deception, The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood interweaves several genres - a confessional memoir, a pulp fantasy novel, newspaper clippings - to tease out the secrets behind the 1945 death of 25-year-old socialite Laura Chase. ![]()
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