Group Read June 2014: The Blind Assassin

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Hello everyone! Here we'll be discussing Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin for the month of June 2014.

I just received my copy from the library, so I'll be posting a reading and discussion schedule in the next few days.

In the meantime, if you think you'll be joining us for the discussion, drop in and say hi.

If you'd like to join the discussion, come on in! And don't worry about having the exact edition; any edition (except maybe an abridged edition) will work.

[[deleted user]]

I'm in!

[Renee]

I'll give this a try. Loved The Handmaid's Tale.

[Tiffany, Administrator]

I sat down with my copy today, and here is my tentative discussion schedule:

June 1 - 7: start reading!

June 8 - 14: discuss parts* 1 - 4

June 15 - 21: discuss parts 5 - 6

June 22 - 28: discuss parts 7 - 10

June 29 - 30: discuss parts 11 - 15 / the whole book

*I'm calling the numbered sections "parts" rather than "chapters" since those sections are each then broken down into smaller sections.

Since we're getting off to a kind of late start (in that I'm just getting a schedule up the day before the month starts!), I decided to have this first week of June be a time to start reading, then we'll start discussing the book in earnest next week. However, if you feel like starting to discuss what you think about the book, go ahead! We'll join you as we catch up :)

Please remember to use spoiler tags (< spoiler> to start and < /spoiler> to end, minus the spaces after the opening brackets), though, if you're discussing further than we've officially read.

Happy reading :)

[RachelvlehcaR]

Okay I'm in.

[Tiffany, Administrator]

So, how's everyone doing on the book? Thoughts? Love it, hate it, don't understand it, already finished with it...?

My discussion questions for the week: As we see pretty early in the book (and some versions refer to this in the blurb), there's a book-within-the-book: chapters from Laura Chase's The Blind Assassin are slid in amidst Iris Chase's narrative. My questions for you:

1) How do you feel about that switching back and forth? Do you like that style? Does it confuse you? Do you wish Atwood would just stick with one story?

2) Which story (Iris' real events vs. Laura's fiction) do you like better?

And definitely feel free to discuss anything else (within parts 1-4), as well.

[Lynn]

I'm only on part 3. it took me a little bit to get this book. It's written differently than any book I've read. I'm trying to stay on schedule. I like it so far though. I'm not sure which story I like better yet though. I'm not that far into the book to choose yet.

[Tiffany, Administrator]

When I first asked the question, I was leaning slightly more toward the side of the book-within-a-book, rather than Iris' narrative. The book-within-a-book was weird, and sort of film noir-ish (the cynicism, the sex, the darkness, the secret rendezvouses), and fantasy at the same time. But now, further into the book, I think Iris' story has more of my interest. I think that's because now I'm really getting in to the family story and trying to find out what happened that made Laura [this isn't a spoiler if you've read the blurb or first paragraph of the book] (view spoiler)[kill herself (hide spoiler)].

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Hello! How's everyone doing with the book?

It's (almost, on the west coast) week 2 of the discussion, so in addition to anything else you want to talk about, here are my questions to think about:

- What do you think of Iris? Laura? Reenie?

- From what we know of Laura so far, are you surprised she wrote The Blind Assassin? Does it (writing, writing a novel, writing those particular scenes) fit her character?

[Renee]

Sorry. I have to drop out of this discussion. There's just too much on my plate right now.

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Renee wrote: "Sorry. I have to drop out of this discussion. There's just too much on my plate right now."

Aw, we'll miss you. Well, the thread will always be here, forever and ever, if you want to add thoughts later :)

[Renee]

Good to know. Thx!

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Tiffany wrote: "- What do you think of Iris? Laura? Reenie?

I'll start :)

I think the current Iris is a feisty old lady. She's very opinionated about the younger folks, but it doesn't strike me as a stodgy opinionated person, more just having strong, vivid thoughts (That doesn't make sense, does it?). That, and she's kind of charming: she takes long walks, she doesn't want Myra's help, but she knows how to work her, and she reads the graffiti on bathroom stalls. As I'm reading this week's sections, I'm beginning to wonder about her younger adult life, though -- after she was a child, but before she's where she is now. I have some predictions, so I'm waiting to see if I'm right.

I think Laura in the sections we've read so far has some strong ideas as she's growing up, even if she was sort of a flighty child. And in ways, she's still sort of flighty in her teen years.

I like Reenie. She seems to be (more or less) a good surrogate mother for the girls. She's also very opinionated, sometimes not in such good ways, but it makes her a good character to read.

- From what we know of Laura so far, are you surprised she wrote The Blind Assassin? Does it (writing, writing a novel, writing those particular scenes) fit her character?"

I'm totally surprised she wrote the story. From what we've seen of her so far, it doesn't seem to fit her character. The teen Laura seems flighty at times, and concerned about certain things (God, sheltering Alex), but not as imaginative as you'd expect a writer to be, and the plots of the novel (a little sci-fi, a little romance, a little darkness) don't seem to fit her character. (But, again, in reading this week's sections, I'm beginning to wonder some things about the Chase family's future, which might contribute to that book. We'll find out!)

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Hello! How's everyone doing with the book? Anyone still reading? Let us know where you are, even if you're not "on schedule," and how you're feeling about the story.

So, a new week, a new discussion question or two to drum up some chatting:
In parts 7-10, we learn a lot more about Richard and his sister, Winifred. What do y'all think of them? And what do you think of Richard and Iris as a couple?

By all means, feel free to discuss these questions, previous questions, or anything else you want to bat around.

[Lynn]

I'm not on schedule. I've had a lot going on but I'm trying to get there. This book took a little bit for me to get into it but now that I'm further I'm becoming more interested in Iris's life. I'm only on page 80 or so. I'm trying. What interests me the most is why her sister died. It makes me wonder, did she kill herself? was it an accident? If she killed herself, then why?

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Lynn wrote: "...What interests me the most is why her sister died. It makes me wonder, did she kill herself? was it an accident? If she killed herself, then why?"

hehehe. I'm on part 11, getting pretty close to the end, and I'm still wondering the same thing! :)

[Rachel]

Oh I'm so excited that I found this. I just finished the book today and when I went to update my goodreads this popped up! What a coincidence. I usually don't have such good timing. I don't know where everyone is, so I'll keep this to general thoughts. When I first started this book, I was a bit thrown off by the switching around of the stories, but I persisted because I love Margaret Atwood (and I'm stubborn and it takes a lot to get me to stop reading a book once I've got past the first page). Once I got in the swing of things I started to really love the stories and how they intertwined. I only wish there had been a bit more of the story that the man in the Blind Assassin (Laura's book)tells. Related to that, it seems a little strange that the Zycron story would be so brutal, it seems in opposition with the way Laura sees things. Maybe it's just a little startling that she could think that way, and the only time we see that side of her is through her novel. Also I was wondering what you all thought about the title of the book. It seems as if Laura's novel is almost a character on it's own, but the actual Blind Assassin is only around for a few pages, so to whom is the title of the book (Atwood's, not Laura's although I guess in a way it applies to both.) referring? Alright, I guess that's all I have for now. Hope it all made sense, I'm in the office a bit distracted :)

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Rachel wrote: "...it seems a little strange that the Zycron story would be so brutal, it seems in opposition with the way Laura sees things."

Ooh, good pick up! I hadn't thought of that. I thought about whether it was in Laura's character to write the dark and seedy romance portion of The Blind Assassin (which I keep thinking I should put in quote marks, since it's not the real novel), but I hadn't even thought about the story-within-a-story-within-a-story! Yes, the sci-fi stories seem brutal and gory, which, like you said, doesn't seem in Laura's nature.

Then again, maybe it is. What we know of Laura is what Iris tells us. Maybe Iris never knew that Laura had these kinds of thoughts and imaginations in her.

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Hello to everyone who's still playing along at home!

As the month winds down, our discussion begins to wrap up. How did everyone like the book? How'd you like the end?

(view spoiler)[I have to say, I was shocked by the revelation that Laura wasn't the one who wrote "The Blind Assassin"!! I actually had to put the book down and let that sink in for a while. And then I felt completely foolish that I spent this entire month asking you all about whether you thought "The Blind Assassin" was within Laura's character!

At one point, I thought maybe the lovers in "The Blind Assassin" were Iris and Alex, but I accidentally saw something online a couple of days ago that said it was Laura and Alex. I was still convinced, though, that it was Iris because things happened in it that happened to *Iris*, not Laura, so how would Laura know about them? Well, I guess we found out how the writer would know: because the writer was Iris! Argh! I totally didn't see that one coming :) (hide spoiler)]

I really enjoyed the writing in this book. For those of you who have read other Atwood novels, how does this one compare? Is this a good representation of her work?

[Rachel]

This will be my fifth Atwood book, I've read The Handmaid's Tale a couple of times and The MaddAddam Trilogy: Oryx and Crake; The Year of the Flood; MaddAddam and even though all of these books have been about different times and places, her voice and turn of phrase is still apparent in all of them. I don't know if you guys feel this way, but there are lines in her books sometimes that make me put down the book and sigh in agreement, "Amen, sister, amen!".
Now as to this book:
(view spoiler)[
I finished it on my lunch break at work, and had to return to the office all puffy eyed and red faced. This isn't an uncommon way to find me after lunch, I'm always reading instead of eating on break, but this time apparently I just looked so crazy and distraught, they thought someone I knew had died. I had to explain to them that I had just come back from finishing my book, and in a way that's exactly what happened.
That conversation with Laura at the end killed me. I was so angry with Iris for telling Laura about Alex like that, I was sure that's why she had killed herself. Then the revelation about Laura and Richard flipped my idea on it's head, and I was back to the first question, why did she do it? I think the Alex and Iris affair was part of it, but she already knew that something was going on between them when she gave her the photo with herself cut out. More so, I think it had to do with Iris never really believing her, or being on her side. Way back in the beginning she doesn't believe Laura about their tutor, and even now at the end, their last meeting together Iris is still doubting everything Laura says. Iris tells herself Laura is just weird and crazy and making things up even though the truth has been right in front of her the entire time and she was too self-absorbed to see it. So maybe Iris is the blind assassin to whom the title is referring. Alex was on her side, as was Reenie, but the fact that her own sister was not might have been what finally pushed her over the edge. Now that Alex is dead and Reenie is busy with her own child, her own family, Laura has nothing and nobody, and finally lets go. Maybe she thought she would be going up to join her mother and the unborn baby (babies? maybe hers too).
Although I hated Iris for parts of the book, and resented her and yelled at her through the pages, she still remains a sympathetic character for me. Yes she was selfish and self absorbed and short sighted, but there was a lot of tragedy involved in her life, starting at a young age and continuing until her death. Her death notice at the very end that states that her granddaughter will return to deal with the funeral was so devastating, followed by the last pages Iris writes to Sabrina, hoping that she will see her granddaughter one last time was probably what led my co workers to think I had suffered a great loss, or a mental break when I returned to work. I was left with this dichotomous feeling where I was still mad at Iris for how she spoke to Laura, and felt horrible sadness and sympathy for Iris and the way her life ended. What a mess! Ok, I'll stop rambling, just one more thought. I think Margaret Atwood has a wonderful way of writing these characters that you have to feel strongly about, and then she throws in these little tidbits that make you rethink that strong feeling, look at it from a different angle, a different point of view, and in doing so, allows you to look at the larger picture in a different way. (hide spoiler)]

I think I will have to read a few books, and come back to this one. It's definitely a book that can be read multiple times, and I have a feeling you would be able to get more and more out of it with each read through.

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Rachel wrote: "Now as to this book: I finished it on my lunch break at work..."

To quote you: Amen, sister, amen!

I love your analysis of the book. I think you put into words a few things I couldn't, and picked up on other things that I didn't (like did Laura kill herself because of Alex? I hadn't even thought of that!).

[Lynn]

Are we going to discuss In Cold Blood?

[Tiffany, Administrator]

Lynn wrote: "Are we going to discuss In Cold Blood?"

Lynn, I'd suggest sending a message to Mackenzie, our group read organizer. I've already bugged him about July group reads, but he may be on vacation.

[Nicole]

I read this book a long time ago. I don't remember all of the story, but I do remember feeling quite depressed after reading it and that it stuck with me for a while.