I'm taking a leaf from Shannon's blog. Due to the high number of novels I'll be consuming in the coming months, I've decided to review them as I go.
Yesterday I finished The Blind Assassin. I was in the bookstore looking for "The Behaviour of Moths" and I came across this one. The blurb on the back was intriguing, but not one I would normally choose.I read a chapter at a time, usually just before bed. I couldn't concentrate on it for longer than that. Some novels go off with a bang while others give you a small spark, knowing you'll want the flame. This was the latter.
This novel is written as two concurrent stories, by separate people. Intermittently, there are newspaper articles, referencing the family this novel is about. It does take a few changes to get your head around who is telling which story and the relevance of the articles.
The first is written as a letter, but also a sequence of events by an older woman. It is as though she is addressing someone in particular. They are notes on the life she led, retold for a specific purpose. Her account is detached, and emotionless. From what she shares with you, her life hasn't been easy; she's been hard done by on more than one occasion. If your friend told you it happened to them, you would be appalled. The way her account is written, you don't feel her pain because it isn't there to be felt.
The other story is an emotional rollercoaster of young love, secret meetings and dreamed up escapes. This girl is young, living a life she didn't ask for and trying to make the most of it. You feel the angst as much as you feel the passion. You know it is linked to the previous story, the alternate writer, but you're never quite of the extent. Until the end.
The underlying similarities between both portray the protocols of having family with social status, the luxuries of that lifestyle, the way empires are built (and subsequently destroyed) and the lives of women the 1930's.
It is a sad story of forbidden love, trapped lives and manipulative families.
It is a memoir and a confession.
6 comments:
hm.. i was just wondering about this book the other day
I tried to listen to this on CD, but it was too hard - the narrator didn't change voice according to what sections she was reading. Hopefully It'll be better when I read it in book form.
I'll make Lisa bring Moths on Sunday so you can read it :) I have to remember to bring her waitress DVD too.
I've always loved seeing the cover in the stores but I've never taken the plunge and bought it. One day I just might! Great review :D
This book turned up on my bookshelf one day a year or so ago, I tried to get into it...I realllllly did, but to no avail. Good on you for sticking with it into the good parts. What's next on your reading list?
I agree, this book was so hard to get into. I would never have stuck with it, but at the time it was the only novel I had access to and I was on a small island with a population of about 30! So I stuck with it out of lack of options and ultimately found it entertaining, but very laborious to read.
Thank you so much for your kind comment! :]
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