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

Laborious and Inconsistent Audio

Laborious story. Still confused about some connections. Audio quality not consistent. I am now annoyed that I need to add words to meet 20 minimum.

Wonderful Audio

First of all this is one of the best matches of author and narrator that I've heard.Of all the good things about this book pehaps the best is Atwood's ability to extract all the fine things out of the English language. This is equalled by Margot Dionne's ability to speak each syllable with such passion that she wring's every nuance of meaning from it. Listening to this audio was like being a fly on the wall watching the characters evolve.

The story here is one of romance, lust, intrigue, deception, heartbreak, and family tragedy that is framed in 100 years of real life history.

There is nothing new in any of the subplots. It is the weaving of each of these told and told individual stories into a masterpiece that will keep you listening.

It is like someone taking mundane "been there - done that" food items and combining them into several new recipies, adding a table presentaion and serving a feast full of dishes that taste new even though you've eaten them all before.

By allowing the story to span such a timeline, Atwood has plenty of room for the characters to evolve into 3D people that you come to know quite well.

About 2/3 of the way through you begin to realize the final secret that will be revealed at the end. As it slowly dawns on you, you begin to think back and realize that it should have hit you sooner if only you'd paid more attention to detail. Everything was there to support the truth. Like a master illusionist Atwood misdirected us because she didn't want us to see it until she was ready.

The integration of the sci-fi story was a great tool to add to certain character's development as well as to provide some insight into what the characters do when they were "off-camera".

Overall one of the greatest fictional works in many years.

Engaging, insightful read!

An unhurried, even languid, yet cogent and challenging exploration of age, youth, love, loss, cowardice, and social mores in the first half of the 20th century. A melodrama, a tragedy in the vein of Greek tragedy, Shakespearean tragedy and Dickensian tragedy. Not at all a Sci-Fi work. Presented in a complex modern style (which, of itself, is not necessarily groundbreaking), Atwood's perspicacious prose conveys truth less as through a true-color photograph than as through a "tinted" (colorized) black and white snapshot---the focus of the snapshot suffused with color, at times even florid or false color, while the background just enough tinted to convey context. Margot Dionne's crisp, clean narration is spectacular as the voice of Iris, one spent by life, love, and regret, as she completes this one last task: setting down the truth.

Good novel (4), Excellent narration (5), good audio quality (4) => overall good (4)

Great book maybe but terrible Audio

Would you consider the audio edition of The Blind Assassin to be better than the print version?

No - audio is terrible. I've ordered the print edition from Amazon and trying to get my credit refund from Audible.

What did you like best about this story?

Mystery. Life. Suspense. Buildup.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Margot Dionne?

Recording quality is so poor that Narrator is irrelevant.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Beautiful and stunning

Atwood is by far one of my favorite authors. The Blind Assassin is mesmerizing. I did not expect the ending, which made me cry because of how beautiful it was. Read this book. That's all there is to say.

Terrible audio, OK book

First thing first, the audio sounds like they made a digital recording of a tape. It's horrible. Somewhere in the first fourth of the book, there was even a little squeak that worked its way in. I literally had to turn it down to figure out if it was on the audiobook or in my car. I am SURE an audio engineer can clean this up. After a while, you get used to the audio. The story follows Iris's life from childhood to elderly woman. This was a very long story and I found myself getting bored from time to time. There is a twist at the end of the novel that I imagine most readers figure out before you get there. I am honestly tired of reading novels that have stories within a story but I can't hold that against this book since that has more to do with the order I've picked my books recently.

Atwood is a genius

Plot line is rather difficult to understand (plot line within plot line) and I had difficulty figure it all out. I read it twice and finally got it :) It is still keeping my brain challenged every time I see this book in my library. Not for everyone, but if you are a fan of Margaret Atwood, this one is a must read.

The Blind Assassin

I loved this book.
True elegance in the writing and the narration.
Stories within stories.
What talent!!!!!

Great Book, Fine Performance, Bad Sound Quality

I continue to be amazed my Margaret Atwood's talents, having previously read The Handmaid's Tale and the MaddAddam trilogy. The Blind Assassin sees Atwood demonstrate her subtle hand at narrative craft in a completely new direction (at least from my prior experience of her works). However, before continuing, it must be noted what a TERRIBLE sound quality this work has. It's easily the worst sound quality I've ever encounter on any audiobook here at Audible or anywhere else. Simple atrocious! In the early part of the novel, I could barely make out what the performer was saying. I don't know if the sound quality improved over the course of the novel or whether I just grew accustomed to it. I would also add that this was clearly not the fault of the performer, whose voice as Iris Chase I grew love. What a wonderful tale this was, as well. I must admit that the alternating threads of Iris Chase's reflections on her life and the Blind Assassin novel-within-a-novel was distracting at first. And while I do enjoy the Sci-Fi genre, I found that Iost interest in those section, and it was at times a struggle to continue on and not try to skip ahead, but without disclosing any spoilers, I did feel the effort was worth it by the novel's conclusion. As it drew to a close, I once again agog at the author's tremendous talents. Atwood has certainly cemented her place in my personal pantheon of favorite authors!

Torn

I was expecting a film noire type plot. This was not that type of book. In a way I was disappointed. In another way I have read a book that was able to paint an incredibly dark and descriptive narrative. Dark may not be the best word, shadowy might be better. I don't think this book will be in my top ten list, but is was one of the most memorable, creative, and flowering. I think a female would enjoy this book more than a male. Anyone, however, should like it.