The Blind Assassin

De: Margaret Atwood

Narrado por: Margot Dionne

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 reader 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, readers 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.
Cover Photograph: Courtesy of © The Advertising Archive, London; ©2000 by O.W. Toad, Ltd.; (P)Random House, Inc. Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“The first great novel of the new millennium.”
–Newsday

“Margaret Atwood is one of the most brilliant and unpredictable novelists alive.”
–Literary Review (U.K.)

“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

“Atwood performs a spectacular sleight of hand, fashioning a bewitching, brilliantly layered story of how people see only what they wish to.”
–Entertainment Weekly

“Dazzling and entertaining.…”
–Globe and Mail

“The Blind Assassin is quite simply Atwood’s most emotional, yearning, heartfelt, sexy, and elegiac book ever.”
–Quill & Quire

“Atwood has never written with more flair and versatility than in this multidimensional novel. A brilliant accomplishment.”
–Sunday Times (U.K.)

“Boldly imagined and brilliantly executed.”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“There is no presence more formidably protean than Margaret Atwood’ s in Canadian culture.…[The Blind Assassin] will alternately charm and beguile its readers.”
–Winnipeg Free Press

“Stories spin within stories in this spellbinding novel of avarice, love, and revenge.…”
–Booklist (U.S.) (starred review)

“A tour de force.”
–Chicago Tribune

“Sumptuous and compelling.….”
–Toronto Star

“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

“Atwood is a dazzling storyteller with a distinctive voice and an ear attuned to irony.”
–London Free Press

“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 reading assassin

The writing of this book is a work of art. I loved the imagination so well intertwined with wisdom. The reading however was mechanically grave to the point hysteria. I felt that the reading was so grave and rageful that it presented the main character, Iris, as perpetual victim. Yet no victim will go to the trouble of writing a book, as Iris does, with the long shot hope of being heard by someone lost.
Though i love audio books i reccomend reading this one.

Beautifully written and beautifully read

Just finished listening to this book for the second time. I didn't have the problem others have reported regarding sound quality, perhaps it was the equipment they were using. Atwood's perspectives on life, where it has meaning and where perhaps we expect too much meaning, moved me the second time as much as the first. And Dionne's personification of the characters brought the story to life. One of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to, and I'm certain will listen to again.

Not bad audio people! It's called Ambiance...

This was a terriffic story, within a story within a story. And the static and hiss in the background gave the narration (which was excellent) an eerie, haunting quality and created a richer setting for the mystery within. Reminisce of long ago radio drama, perfect for the reading of such a painful revelation, it created the perfect setting for the tale told by our "protagonist". Don't let the complainers scare you from this one, not as good as The Handmaid's Tale, but hey, few novels are anyway, and this one is full of amusing observational dialogue looking back on the mistakes made in an interesting life, as well as mystery and drama. Recommend!

The world's best-written unhappy story

Gorgeous, captivating writing and an evocative troubling story. Not a love story but a woman's story. The protagonist is unsympathetic but each character is beautifully draw in depth. At times you will feel trapped at a bake sale with the most negative woman you've ever met; but at other times a few words, a sentence or a short paragraph will absolutely astonish you.

Slow confusing start but excellent in the end

This book takes some patience to get into the story. It is a little confusing at first but in the end is a brillant story. I am a big Margaret Atwood fan and find her writing doesn't always go in the direction you think that it will. There are definately some surprises and makes it worth a listen. The narrator is okay but not great!