Nothing much was left of her but charred smithereens. The car fell a hundred feet into the ravine, smashing through the treetops feathery with new leaves, then burst into flames and rolled down into the shallow creek at the bottom. The bridge was being repaired: she went right through the Danger sign. Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge. Iris' words around this accident open the book. Miss Laura Chase, 25, was travelling west on the afternoon of May 18 when her car swerved through the barriers protecting a repair site on the bridge and crashed into the ravine below, catching fire. We can hear them: The Toronto Star, May 26, 1945Ī coroner's inquest has returned a verdict of accidental death in last week's St. The clippings themselves lead to our mystery: slender threads of knowledge and the words withheld are as loud as those included. The story is told partly in newspaper clippings. How could it be otherwise? Atwood has determined to give us - for a time, at least - unanswered questions. After a while the mysteries grow so thick, they're practically viral and it's impossible to put the book down.
We know there was a rift and that it wasn't of Iris' creation - or, at least, not directly - but the reasons why are left a mystery. Iris hasn't seen Sabrina - now a young woman - since the girl was a child. Ostensibly, she's creating something of a journal that she hopes will be read - probably after she's gone - by her granddaughter, Sabrina. The primary narrator in The Blind Assassin is Iris Chase Griffen, 83 when we first encounter her, though younger in flashbacks as she tells her story. It's initially dizzying, then dazzling and - finally - very compelling to watch Atwood weave her brilliant tapestry. Margaret Atwood 's 38th book is not one story, but four: the tales nested perfectly in Russian doll style, one dovetailing into the next and providing a launching point for those still to come. Review | The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
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