The Blind Assassin

So April wasn't just write, write, write, I also did some reading. Not a lot, mind you, most of the reading of The Blind Assassin took place in March, as this book took a long time to get through. Not because I didn't like it, mind you, but because this is one heavy book. It's 600+ pages, filled with one of the saddest stories I've read in a long time. Margaret Atwood is known for her dystopian novels and this is no exception, but this story takes place in our world. It could actually have happened. Maybe that is what gives it weight over The Handmaid's Tale or Oryx & Crake; this novel deals with places and events that actually were real, so it may well have really happened.
So, what is it about? As the blurb tells us, 10 days after WWII ended, Laura Chase drove herself off a bridge. In the novel, her sister Iris describes the events leading up to Laura's suicide, writing a diary fifty years after this happened, when she is the sole survivor of the events that took place. Interspersed with the 'diary' Iris keeps are chapters filled with other written sources; letters, obituaries, news articles, and most importantly, The Blind Assassin itself, the novel published after Laura's death.
In their youth, for that is how far back Iris goes, they lived a live of luxury; their father owned some big factories and they were the rich family of the village. Their mother died when they are quite young, but otherwise they appear to be the typical upper-class ladies you find in so many novels, educated at home, snubbing their teachers, being a star at social events, etc. This isn't another one of those 'Downton Abbey' novels, however, for they quickly fall down the social ladder when the Depression hits. Their father should close the factories but can bring himself to fire his employees, thus only worsening his own situation. There are rumours of Communists in the ranks and Iris and Laura hide one of these rebellious youths in the attic. To save himself, their father decides to marry Iris off to his main competitor, only to find that the guy didn't keep his end of the bargain. Iris never discloses much about her marriage, but we can read between the lines that it wasn't a happy one.
Then WWII hits, and you can feel the story nearing its climax, with a plot twist that shimmers beneath the lines for at least 100 pages, but you can't really lay a finger on until it hits you. Somehow, all the written sources, all the articles and novel excepts and diary fragments combine to form one great narrative. I reread some of the earlier bits as I neared the end, but this is one of those novels you should reread after you've finished, just to pick up on the hints that must be hidden in the pages.
In short; it is one of those novels that stays with you. A deserved Booker Prize winner, and as such it ticked two of my reading goals for this year; read more Atwood and read more Booker Prize winners. But it also ticks the box of a great story, told with understated feeling, with such imagery that I feel like some of the events actually happened before my eyes, as if they are memories rather than words written down. Now on to happier stories!