The Blind Assassin
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The Blind Assassin
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Narrated by:
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Lorelei King
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Written by:
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Margaret Atwood
About this listen
Man Booker Prize, Fiction, 2000
For the past 25 years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishment as never before, creating a novel that is both entertaining and profoundly serious.
The novel opens with these simple resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as you expect 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 you 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 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, you will discover that the story Atwood is telling is not only what it seems to be - but is, in fact, much more.
©2000 O.W. Toad, Ltd (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd.You may also enjoy...
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- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 35
Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified - but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London Hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman?
-
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
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The opening sentence of John Irving's breakout novel, The World According to Garp, signals the start of sexual violence, which becomes increasingly political. "Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater." Jenny is an unmarried nurse; she becomes a single mom and a feminist leader, beloved but polarizing. Her son, Garp, is less beloved, but no less polarizing.
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worth it
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
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Solid performance topped off an unexpected ending
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What the critics say
What listeners say about The Blind Assassin
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cattiva
- 2021-07-21
Atwood at her best.
Thanks Margaret for this gem. Narrator did amazing job with Atwood's incredible writing. Great read
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matt
- 2022-03-18
Beautiful, Tragic, Resonant
What initially appears to be a series of disconnected events coalesces into a truly engaging and emotionally charged story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth Theis
- 2023-09-23
One of Atwood’s best…
…and that’s saying a lot. Narrator was effective although it’s always grating to hear mispronounced place names (Yonge St, Spadina - surely not too hard to check these out). Hard to stop listening.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2020-11-16
awesome title
this is really awesome title and i enjoyed it every much.this is very fascinating to listen
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stave
- 2020-12-20
Not what I was expecting...
...but nonetheless, a great story.
I had to work hard to keep up with Atwood's time shifts, filter which character Lorelei King was reading, and have a few long sessions to get it all straight in my head. Perhaps this is a book better read than listened to, but I persevered.
Set in places I know, and featuring characters I could relate to, the tale progresses in a staccato fashion but becomes ever more difficult to put down as the hours ticked away. I've read Attwood before, but this was not like her other works, or at least those I've read, but it was a story that I really wanted to finish, even driving an extra 15 minutes on my way into work to listen to more; not one or twice, but every day for weeks.
I don't intend to talk about the plot, or the characters, but I do wish to commend this book to people who have the time to follow it through. Believe me, the it's worth it.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Woldemichael
- 2020-03-12
Not an Atwood fan but this book changed my mind.
I think Margot Dionne's narration has a lot to do with it. It was fantastic.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ellen
- 2020-10-14
A rather heartbreaking story
I can't say I loved the story. But I was certainly very drawn to the story. The most heartbreaking thing is that this could be a true story. Stories like this actually happen.
The narrator was amazing, her voice was very soothing when I listen to the story at night.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J
- 2019-08-20
Atwood does it again
As always, Margaret Atwood has written a story that captivates the reader and keeps you engage until the very end
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Derilyn Plante
- 2023-05-11
I loved this story, until i learned what happened.
Margaret Atwood has a huge talent with putting words on a page.
The storyline was the problem. Iris as a character, was so flat, so blah, so uncaring. I found once the true story unfolded, I had no care for Iris, at all, and what was a 5 star read for 80% of this book, the Iris that emerged dragged the rating to a 3.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S
- 2022-09-18
Incredible story
As an avid reader of Margaret Atwood, I have read and listened to many of her novels, and loved every one of them- but this is the only one that has made me cry at the end. Full on sobbing, as a matter of fact. While listening to this book (in every spare minute, I was hooked) I was fully enthralled by the beautiful and complex work of art that Atwood had created. All I could think about, and the only thing I wanted to talk about, was Iris and Laura, and the Blind Assasin and the planet Zycron.
This book has many layers to it- Atwood does a fantastic job of foreshadowing and hinting.
This novel was a bit less grisly than some of Atwood’s stories, but still it was at times horrifying, in a “the horrifying truth” type of way.
Altogether, this story is by far my favourite Margaret Atwood novel thus far, and Iris and Laura will be on my mind for a long time.
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1 person found this helpful