Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

11 reviews

wormgirl's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Pedophilia, Classism, Sexual assault, Abortion, War, Infidelity, Suicide, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Car accident

dlrosebyh's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Listen, before you all come at me, I love Atwood, but this was such a miss for me. It was just so dull. I like a lot of her books, so I expected to like this one, but I really didn’t. 

 

Margaret Atwood  blends romance, science fiction, and gothic tension into one story in The Blind Assassin. The novel opens with the unexplained death of Laura Chase, a young lady who may have committed herself in 1945. Many years thereafter, Iris, Laura's sister, narrates her recollections of their early years and the noteworthy demises that had interspersed their affluent and colorful family's past. Chapters from the scandalous novel that made Laura famous, in which two illegal lovers entertain themselves with a story about a blind killer on a far-off planet, are woven into Iris's story. The mysteries that have plagued the Chase family for a long time are progressively revealed by these intricately detailed stories inside stories, culminating in an incredible and thought-provoking conclusion. 

 

I just found the characters too dull to even care about. Not even the forbidden love aspect was entertaining (and I love forbidden romance). 

 

I don’t know. Her writing style here just felt so childish compared to her previous novels, and that put me off so bad. It had a brilliant premise, but a horrible execution. Still love her though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abortion, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Sexual assault, Death, and War

emmonsannae's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Even down to the last twenty pages, this book wasn’t what I expected. It did move slowly, and I wasn’t especially invested in it until page 350 or so, which is a long wait. But the construction of the book (a novel within a novel) is interesting enough to make up for its slow pace. M.A.’s writing is arresting as well—even when I wasn’t invested in the story I enjoyed her telling of it. And the ending was a gut punch that made the early reading feel like a very worthwhile use of time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Moderate: Mental illness, Cultural appropriation, Death, Alcohol, Car accident, Classism, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 The Blind Assassin won the Booker Prize in 2000. The protagonist is Iris Chase Griffin who, in her eighties, is writing her life story so that her surviving granddaughter will know the truth about her life and that of the wider family. Iris’s was an interesting life which included a prosperous, if motherless, childhood, an unhappy marriage to a controlling businessman, a complicated relationship with her younger sister Laura who became a famous novelist, and many, many secrets - some involving Iris and others discovered by her. Various historical events were folded into the plot and I particularly enjoyed the look at Canadian businesses, labour relations, and Communist activity in the inter-war years.

That Atwood’s writing was a standout goes without saying and, as always, I was impressed by her storytelling abilities. I enjoyed the snippets from the social pages featuring Chase and Griffen family members, as well as newspaper articles about various political events. However, the standout was the unique book within a book within a book structure. Iris’s story included chapters from Laura’s novel which itself included a science fiction told by one character to another. The way these stories reinforced each other was very clever and I enjoyed discovering links, connections and parallels between the three different stories. The structure added depth and richness to the story. I do think it contributed to my taking a while to settle into the book though. A complicated slow burn but for me it was worth it.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Suicide

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, War, Miscarriage, and Rape

courtneyreadsometimes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and War

libristella's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Abortion, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Death, and Emotional abuse

benjaminj1996's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 In a word - masterpiece. In some longer sentences: 

 

This is a LONG book with lots to it, and it took me a long time to read. It wasn't always easy to read, even enjoyable, or easy to understand, but it was somehow always really engrossing and exceptional. 

 

I don't want to spoil anything about the plot, because you just have to experience it, but there are stories within stories, layers upon layers, and Atwood masterfully controls a tangle of threads, plotting secrets and reveals in such an ingenious way. The book itself relies on the ambiguity of objective truth both in its plot and construction, meaning it's cohesive in its complexities. I did guess something that I was perhaps not supposed to know quite early on, but there was plenty more to it, and on reflection I wonder if this was actually by design of the author anyway. 

 

This is clearly a literary (but very readable) book - it relies on the fact that you know you're reading a book to work properly (the opposite approach to, say, Patrick Gale, who aims for his readers to forget they're reading a book and just get lost in the characters and story), and while Atwood's writing is very 'writerly' with lots of very dark and lavish metaphors, somehow she's absolutely mastered the craft to the point where this isn't annoying and does actually add to the book and the authentic narrative voice. 

 

There's just so much here that's presented so excellently. A steady unwind of information with purposeful ambiguity before you know what you need to know, a pace that grows exponentially towards the ending, and an ending so deftly realised that it almost slaps you across the face with a dark brilliance. 

 

A true work of genius from one of the best living novelists. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, War, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Toxic relationship

thetatteredowl's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely blindsided me. The fictional account of an aging heiress as she recounts the events that led her sister to commit suicide shortly after the end of WW2. Dark and cruel, compelling and profoundly affecting. Enjoyed this so much more than The Handmaid's Tale - Atwood remains at her best with her piercing observations of misogyny, yet within a 20th century context, her knife-twisting is even more delicious

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual assault, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Domestic abuse, War, and Child abuse

yooniereads's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book leaves a pit in your stomach in the best possible way. Atwood proved herself to be a chameleon in storytelling; the seamless shifting between mediums, the distinct voices, and the individuality of the characters- all of these made the story so visceral. I loved Iris because she was so flawed, and the conflicts she endured was so palpable. 

It takes a lot for me to feel the emotions an author intends with their work (part of the reason why I didn't cry over A Little Life), but the sense of languishing, regret, nostalgia, and exhaustion felt quite real in this one. The only reason I won't be giving it five stars is because it dragged on for quite a bit. But other than that, it's the kind of novel I'll be thinking about for some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Gaslighting, War, Violence, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Rape

orlagal's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War