Margaret Atwood — the best of the best with 'The Blind Assassin' novel
Sometimes one comes across an author never before noted and stumbles on a real writer of imagination and truth. Such was the case writh Margaret Atwood, author of many fine books of which "The Blind Assassin'' (Anchor Books, $14 papeerback) is one of her best. She is such a fine writer that one is almost loath to comment on her work, so I'll be brief here.
Actually, there are three stories here — one of a woman who's sister dies in a car wreck, another of a pair of lovers who meet secretly, and then Laura, almost an adult waif caught in life. And then there's Iris, who in a 1947 news story finds that her husband's body has been discovered aboard his sailboat.
There's 522 pages of splendid writing here, and the book won the British Booker Prize. There's great wit, sharp insight and serious thought here, so different from the common diet of thrillers written to commercial formats. Every word seems to be the only one which would fit and the almost sci-fi aspects of the stories seems to be no more than an open mind thinking about eternity.
No plot, no story, sorry you'll have to take my word for it that this is a reading adventure that takes one beyond the usual.
Atwood should have a Nobel but probably never well because she is so traditional that she is totally radical, but not in the intellectually right mode for prize givers. She's not of that mold.
— Sam Bauman