The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

I'm still reading The Blind Assassin, it's good. I especially like the story within and story within a story structure.

I'm reminded in a way, almost, of The Go-Between in that it's a story about memory and the passage of time. Iris is a woman who has lived through some traumatic times, who has links and memories of her Victorian ancestors (namely, her mother). My love for neo-Victorianism is shining through again in my enjoyment of this book. As is my love of the postmodern view of time and ownership of the past. I like Iris' walks through the town, back to the places that modernity has tried to maintain - making us ask "Why?" Why do we restore old factories, why do we have cemetries? Why do we try to cling to the past? I love it.

I'm still not sure what the heck is going on. Part 3 is in an entirely different style; it's more rambly and stream of consciousness (almost), despite Iris' attempts at some kind of structure. She is writing out her very thoughts for us to see, in a tangle of thread that unwinds across the page (Atwood's imagery is particularly outstanding in this part). Although there are some very random tonal and lexical changes - the writing becomes veyr poetic and very poignant all of a sudden, in a voice that doesn't seem like Iris' own.

I would compare reading The Blind Assassin to watching an episode of Doctor Who, in trying to figure out what is going on in this episode as well as the overall arc. I only hope I'm not as disappointed by The Blind Assassin as I was by Doctor Who...