The Giving Tree

Life of Pi

**** off you guys, if you're not going to read any of the books in the first place you don't have the right to suggest a book. Either participate in what's already been picked, or **** off.

The first book is the Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Does it really take someone six months to read a book?

It took me six months to get a copy of the book...

So, near as I can tell, Paloma and I are the only ones who've actually started and finished the Blind Assassin, and I for one would like to talk about it. I don't really know where to start, so I'll just give my general reaction and wing it from there.



Spoilers to follow. I'd have hidden them, but the tags aren't working.






I, for one, was both shocked, and unsurprised by the way the novel resolved. I also found it mildly confusing, and I imagine that a re-reading would shed a whole lot of light. It occurred to me about 3/4 of the way through that "Laura Chase" was telling her sister's story. There was a lot of confusion following this idea, because the Blind Assassin chapters continually flopped two and fro between characters as I read.

I hadn't at all imagined the development involving Richard. I was quite shocked to find that Laura wasn't directly involved with Alex Thomas (the extent to which I still have not completely grasped).



Not a disappointment. I prefer her dystopian works, but even in novels I dislike (f.ex. Alias Grace), Margaret Atwood's prose is stunningly beautiful and always a pleasure to read.

In the back of my mind as I read it the first time I hoped that Iris would be with Alex Thomas, since she was stuck with Richard...Previous experience with Atwood's novels never made me hope for a happy ending, and I was VERY surprised by the fact that she did get her chance at love.

Once the possibility came to me, I hoped for it as well. My experience with Atwood's endings hasn't been that they're unhappy, so much as they're unresolved (though, I tend to lean towards hopeless interpretations).

What of her novels have you read? Have you read them all?

Oh no, not at all. I read quickly, but in short bursts. I've read the Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake, and Alias Grace as well, only the last of which I found sub par.