MB Book Club 2

SATCHMO · 01-12-2011, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paloma

First up:
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

"It's loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward," writes Margaret Atwood, towards the end of her impressive and complex new novel, The Blind Assassin. It's a melancholic account of why writers write--and readers read--and one that frames the different lives told through this book. The Blind Assassin is (at least) two novels. At the end of her life, Iris Griffen takes up her pen to record the secret history of her family, the romantic melodrama of its decline and fall between the two World Wars. Conjuring a world of prosperity and misery, marriage and loneliness, the central enigma of Iris's tale is the death of her sister, Laura Chase, who "drove a car off a bridge" at the end of the Second World War. Suicide or accident? The story gradually unfolds, interspersed with sketches of Iris's present-day life--confined by age and ill-health--and a second novel, The Blind Assassin by Laura Chase. Allowing a glimpse into a clandestine love affair between a privileged young woman and a radical "agitator" on the run, this version of The Blind Assassin is an overt act of seduction: the exchange of sex and story about an imaginary world of Sakiel-Norn (a play with the potential, and convention, of fantasy and sci-fi).

With the intelligence, subtlety and remarkable characterisation associated with Atwood's writing (from her first novel, The Edible Woman through to the best-selling Alias Grace), these two stories play with one another--sustaining an uncertainty about who has done what to who and why to the very end of this compelling book."

Nice... Getting it right now.

rondo · 01-14-2011, 01:08 AM

Right Ho, I'm on it! Great idea

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MoonlitSunshine · 01-14-2011, 06:09 AM

I warning to those of you who are reading this digitally: The Blind Assassin is quite a long and complex book, and it gets difficult to read at times... I don't know if I'd have finished it had I tried reading it on a computer! That said, I did read it when I was 16 or so, so my memory of it's heaviness might be exaggerated.

djchameleon · 01-14-2011, 07:19 AM

I was lucky to find a copy at my library even though when I check their online catalog they claimed they only had the spanish version.

ThePhanastasio · 01-16-2011, 02:24 PM

100% in - that is one of my top 5 favorite books, and I've not read it in a while. I'll start the re-read this evening.

FETCHER. · 01-18-2011, 08:41 AM

Joined the library today and took this out. It's ****ing huge!

djchameleon · 01-18-2011, 08:57 AM

lol yeah when I checked it out....I was like damn...this is huge but I can tackle it though

FETCHER. · 01-18-2011, 09:28 AM

I geniunely dont think i'll understand this book on the first read either, its really complex.

~~Sansa Stark~~ · 01-18-2011, 11:54 AM

It's not like it's boring, you guys. It's a really great book and an excellent read. I tried to pick something that I thought everyone would like. I've made other people read this and the general consensus afterward is always "IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD"

FETCHER. · 01-18-2011, 12:09 PM

No no, I do like what i've read so far. Sometimes I've just got to read over a paragraph a few times to get the jist

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01-14-2011, 01:08 AM	#12 (permalink)
rondo Music Addict Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 71	Right Ho, I'm on it! Great idea . __________________ I came to Berlin looking for love and success, but I decided to settle for sex, drugs and rock and roll.

01-14-2011, 06:09 AM	#13 (permalink)
MoonlitSunshine Dat's Der Bunny! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Ireland Posts: 1,088	I warning to those of you who are reading this digitally: The Blind Assassin is quite a long and complex book, and it gets difficult to read at times... I don't know if I'd have finished it had I tried reading it on a computer! That said, I did read it when I was 16 or so, so my memory of it's heaviness might be exaggerated. __________________ "I found it eventually, at the bottom of a locker in a disused laboratory, with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard". Ever thought of going into Advertising?" - Arthur Dent

01-16-2011, 02:24 PM	#15 (permalink)
ThePhanastasio Killed Laura Palmer Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Ashland, KY Posts: 1,679	100% in - that is one of my top 5 favorite books, and I've not read it in a while. I'll start the re-read this evening. __________________ Phish: Studio Discography Reviewed 100 Albums I Heartily Recommend My last.fm It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken Perhaps they're better left unsung

01-18-2011, 11:54 AM	#19 (permalink)
~~Sansa Stark~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: The Eyrie, Vale of Arryn, Westeros Posts: 3,234	It's not like it's boring, you guys. It's a really great book and an excellent read. I tried to pick something that I thought everyone would like. I've made other people read this and the general consensus afterward is always "IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD"