MB Book Club 2
 

First up:
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

http://damyantiwrites.files.wordpres...d-assassin.jpg


"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."

Digital copy plz.

Same pls <3.

only the spanish version is showing up at my library so I'll take one also

PMs will be sent when I get home. I encourage you all to utilise your library catalogs as well. worldcat.org will tell you what libraries have it near you. If anyone else wants a digital copy, ask and you shall receive.

I shal try the library actually once I get a membership, never thought of that :)

I can't imagine reading a digital copy of something, but can I have one just incase I can't get the actual book itself?
Eh, they actually have it at both libraries in t he town where I go to school, so I'll either wait until then or buy it on Amazon.

I tried to read trainspotting online when I had to spare money to buy the book. Failed and I love my book more than anything.

I'll try to go to the library tommorow.

just got back from the library.....with this book....i'll start tonight

Nice... Getting it right now.

Right Ho, I'm on it! Great idea :D.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

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"

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 :).

yeah. Multiple stories, and stories within stories! It's a fantastic book (I love Atwood's stuff in general), but it is quite heavy going.

Sorry guys, I forgot that it was, haven't read it in a while. But it just gets better.

Alright, no more about the book being big. Dayna knows.
But it's gonna be a good book. That's what matters right now.

OMG...this book is so big I don't know if I'm going to survive it...if you don't hear from me for three days send out a search party

Same man, I get 28 days to read it... Not... Enough... Time... :| haha :D.

i got my glasses today...so i started

what a great and intriguing opening sentence

Dayna, could you send me the online link so I can at least start before I get to school? :D

How big is that thing?

Also, are you gonna do War and Peace or anything by the Bronte sisters? :D

this.

i got the trade paper back from the library and it clocks in at just over 500 pages....so not really bad at all

e-books are now available.

This should be stickied.

I agree.

Really enjoying the book so far.

agreed

Thanks Conan for stickying it!

I'm glad you guys like it, I've recommended it to several people with the same response, so I thought it would be a good first book for the book club. Plus everyone liked the Handmaid's Tale, I think this one is better

I just checked The Blind Assassin out yesterday, and it seems interesting. Don't know why everyone says it's so long. It's only like 500 pages.

I'm almost done with chapter 3 and love the idea of two parallel stories side by side which are loosely somehow connected :). Great narration too, although nothing much seems to be happening as of now. Should.read.quicker.

How far is everyone in this?:)

Like page 20. lol. fr rl.