The Blind Assassin

By: Margaret Atwood

Narrated by: Margot Dionne

Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Margaret Atwood takes the art of storytelling to new heights in a dazzling new novel that unfolds layer by astonishing layer and concludes in a brilliant and wonderfully satisfying twist.

For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious.

The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the listener expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a- novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist.

Told in a style that magnificently captures the colloquialisms and clichés of the 1930s and 1940s, The Blind Assassin is a richly layered and uniquely rewarding experience. The novel has many threads and a series of events that follow one another at a breathtaking pace. As everything comes together, listeners will discover that the story Atwood is telling is not only what it seems to be—but, in fact, much more.

The Blind Assassin proves once again that Atwood is one of the most talented, daring, and exciting writers of our time. Like The Handmaid's Tale, it is destined to become a classic.

©2000 by O.W. Toad, Ltd.

Critic reviews

Book Sense Book of the Year Award Finalist, Adult Fiction, 2001

"Dionne’s narration is hypnotic and moody, mapping out Atwood’s social and emotional geography, the many little hurts and betrayals, and the hopes. Listeners will find themselves piecing together the clues, guessing at truths, but the rewards are to be found in the layering of details and the skill of the storytelling." –AudioFile

“An example of a writer at the very peak of her performance.…As it delves into the kinds of relationships that can exist between men and women and the rich and poor, it becomes a compassionate and utterly honest book. It is profound and touching. It is to be treasured.”
–Edmonton Journal

“The Blind Assassin is the kind of story so full of intrigue and desperation that you take it to bed with you simply because you can’t bear to put it down.…It’s one thing to write an accomplished novel; it’s another entirely to spin a tale so brilliantly that the reader internalizes it.” –Harper’s Bazaar

“Margaret Atwood is one of the greatest writers alive.…A novel of luminous prose, scalpel-precise insights and fierce characters.…[The Blind Assassin] is so assured, so elegant and so incandescently intelligent, she casts her contemporaries in the shade.” –Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The most masterfully written book I have ever read.

The way the separate plot lines in this book interweave into a whole story is breathtaking. The prose is lyrical and spell-binding. There are many characters who are not very admirable or likable, but all are so vividly brought to life and so real. I highly, highly recommend this book which is like a puzzle that you put together as you read, gradually seeing the larger picture more and more with each chapter. I liked it even more than A Handmaid’s Tale.

Very Atwood

I listened to this book in 2020 after reading it for the first time in the early 1980’s. In the first reading when I was very young I found the book motivation in a great way, motivation for working to fulfill my own ideas for my life.

At this second experience I find the book sad. I hope no one has to live their life in any repressed way or in fear.

Loved it!

I loved everything about this book. The storyline kept your attention and I loved how it weaved all 3 stories together at the end. I also loved the narrator.

captivating!

a masterpiece, a true mystery of the human spirit, unraveling slowly, lovingly the nature of sisterhood and love

Poor quality recording

Is there anything you would change about this book?

the quality of the recording was very poor. From the beginning of the book, I had a difficult time listening because of the background noise/static. That noise made it vet y difficult to get through.

Would you be willing to try another one of Margot Dionne’s performances?

No, I did not prefer Margot's performance, however my opinion could be because of the poor recording.

Did The Blind Assassin inspire you to do anything?

No

Just average

Let me say that, like almost all other reviewers, I found the sound quality to be atrocious. Not only was there a background hiss that seemed to be synced to the narrator's voice, but also a tweeting sound on a couple of tracks. At first, I thought it must be intentional, however it stopped & then later resumed, & stopped again. Obviously, it was another technical glitch in this recording.

I don't want to be a spoiler, so I'll say that at first, I enjoyed the story, but became weary of the protagonist's inability to stand up for herself. I felt the story bogged down with her repeated hand-wringing. I stuck with it, though, and the story picked up, with an interesting twist at the end.

The narrator's voice is throaty, like Lauren Bacall's, but monotonal & rather unemotional. I wasn't sure if this was interpretive or unintentional. For the most part, I didn't mind, except during the hand-wringing part where I would have expected & appreciated more emotion.

It's a long recording - 23 hrs. It kept me entertained while on the road, but not nearly as much as s some others.

Excellent story, but narration needs to be updated

Sound is awful at times with distracting background sounds and needs to be remastered to update the sound quality

NOT Science Fiction

This story a romantic period novel; it may even be a romance novel, but it is is definitely not sci-fi, as the "teaser" might indicate. The science fiction story is the contrivance between two adulterous lovers...he is a writer of stories for "Amazing Stories", "Weird Tales" and the other pulp fiction "dime" magazines of the time. Whoever the publicist is, should probably read a book before they review it. Since I paid for the book, I finished listening to it. I figured out most of it just by paying attention. Rating it as a romance novel I'll give it three stars; as a science fiction story, I give it NO stars.

My Favorite Book!

I loved this story, this has been my favorite book, and I now have it in all possible formats! However, the audio quality is pretty horrid. Tha narrator is fine, but the sound mixing is rough. I was able to get through, but the story is all that saves it.

Awesome story in a story in a story

I love this kind of book. Is there a name for this kind of genre? I don't mean the matreshka-like structure, but the idea of an old person putting the affairs of the past in order. I seem to come across more books lately that fit this pattern--from Angle of Repose to The Thirteenth Tale. But I digress. We old people do that. Some of the reviews here seem to find the pulp-fiction sections of the novel a distraction, as though Atwood was merely writing a straightup romance novel. I think that the pulp-fiction parts are the key to understanding everything about Iris. I think Atwood makes that as plain as day just from the title of the book. I think anyone who doesn't see that has really missed the whole point. I wish I could explain further but that would be giving away too much. We old people may be crotchety but we know how to keep a secret.