Well, I'm back. Whew - that book took up a lot of plane time! And I must say, I wasn't excited about it at first, but once I started reading, I really got into it. Occassionally something particularly interesting would happen, or a line would tickle me, and I'd try to explain to my husband what was going on, then partway through, I'd just go, uh, nevermind... It's hard to talk about just one part of it! Then there was my observation to him when I was less than 100 pages in - I remarked, "What a book... we're averaging at least one person dying every 10 pages!"

I was pondering on the way home just what would be the best way to get the discussion started. I had a list of about three or five things that I wanted to ask you guys what you thought about them, but that sounds way too much like school, don't you think? ;-) And as I have tons of things on today's to-do list to catch up on having been pretty much useless or gone for about three weeks, I think I'll throw it to you guys to start with some basic opinions and see what spins off.

I do want to offer one of the things from my list though, without my own thoughts for the moment -- red brocade. Haven't had the time yet to go back through and double check all the instances, but obviously, there was the constant mention of the red brocade on the bed (and it seemed to keep proliferating!) in The Blind Assassin. I also know for certain there was red brocade at Avilion - it's what their father used to dress up as Santa, but I can't remember if it had been draperies (this is what seems to come to mind) or if the girls had also worn red brocade, or both.

Anyway, I'm off for at least a little while to try to get a few things done. Could the person who suggested the book (and those who voted for it) acknowledge as such and tell us why they thought it was a good candidate? (Not that I'm arguing!)


PS - Has anyone else had trouble finding The Bonesetter's Daughter in their libraries?


***
Edited to add the URL for the publisher's site about the book:
>http://www.randomhouse.com/features/atwood/index.html

There's an interesting essay by Atwood and a "Reader's Guide" - in case you really do want to feel like you're in school. ;-)

I come back and discover I'm talking to myself. ;-) Well, I've got a few minutes for lunch right now, so a midstream change in methodolgy here - a few of my surface thoughts and awaiting yours. ***If you haven't finished reading the book, I don't suggest reading my last comment!***

- I somewhat feel like I was missing something with the time frame. I have a really poor grasp of what things were like in that between-wars time period, especially how it may have been different in Canada. I have no concept of the political climate in Canada in any time period, and it seems like a better feeling for those two things might have added something to the experience of the book.

- Several times I found myself caught up in the goings on of either the Iris/Laura world or in Sakiel-Norn. Then when the other would pop back up, I'd feel rudely interrupted and sorely tempted to skip ahead to the next piece of the story I was trapped in at the moment. But I forced myself to forge back in. I'd like to chat about the parallels of the two worlds, but that will take more time later.

- I spent a large part of the book feeling the overwhelming urge to bitch slap a character or two. Usually either Iris or Winifred. But I think that's how I was supposed to feel.

- Laura was the one character I felt some kind of realistic connection with. Sometimes I wanted to scream at her, "I've said that, too! I understand you!" And I hated everyone who thought she was weird or mentally unstable, because then they were accusing me, too. (I imagine many of you identified with Laura, too.) Every time the book turned back to The Blind Assassin, I read it with this nagging feeling, "This doesn't sound like Laura," but I was so involved, I never wasted the time to really question it. I made a mental note to try to resolve the conflict after the book was over. So when I got to, "I'm sure you've figured out by now that Laura didn't write it," I kind of went, "Oh. Duh. I should have spent more time pondering it." But I guess that's the way I tend to tackle books - read first, think later. I never know who the murderer is, no matter how obvious.

i actually wanted to bitch-slap laura quite often, as well as iris and winnifred.

i read the book around january, so i'm dredging up some memories. maybe a quick scan will bring more of it back (i just didn't want to re-read it again so close to the original reading).

anyway, i figured out who wrote the book, and who was going on the little rendez-vous (sp?) pretty quickly. i don't think atwood was as concerned with sneaking that in as she was with character and atmosphere.

atmosphere is one of my favorite elements of atwood's books. like wuzzled, i really don't know much about that period of time, especially in canada. but atwood meticulously researches her books, and she knows quite a bit already about canadian history. i think her greatest talent lies in being able to re-create these worlds. well, that and the inner monologue. she's fantastic with that.

i'm going to look up the red brocade thing, too. it didn't strike me at the time, but it is a curious piece. atwood always seems very interested in clothing and fabrics, whether she is describing the costumes of the women in "the handmaid's tale," or an 80's power suit. what goes on the body is very important to her. an interesting thought i'd like to mull . . .

wuzzled, i think a lot of critics had trouble with how the story interlaces. it is jumpy, and doesn't always satisfy, i agree. but i always end up liking one or two narratives more than others, and it can be hard to switch (i'm reading "the hours" right now, for example, and everytime the story goes back to virginia woolf, i want to read it as quickly as possible, to get back to the narratives i like better).

I read it back when it was first released, so forgive me if my details are sketchy.

The thing that struck me the most was that Iris wasn't who you thought she would be in the end. Everyone thought her to be a meek, spineless loser, when really she was an incredibly talented, creative thinker who did some quite risque things in her life- namely having an affair with a Communist. The "counter-culture" of today paints of a picture of the mainstream as being boring, bland, and unoriginal. But Iris proves there is no such thing as a "mainstream."

The other thing that got me was the fact that she was willing to give up fame by claiming her sister wrote the book. It becomes this huge cult hit and everyone loves and admires Laura, leaving Iris to look like a wasted old spinster, the "Roger" to "Bill Clinton", if you get my drift. The sibling who never did anything with her life. She loved Laura that much.

I just finished reading it last night, and I'm still mulling over what exactly to say.

First, I really enjoyed the book. I didn't have any problems jumping between "today", flashback, novel, sci-fi story, and back - although, as Wuzzled pointed out it was an interuption when the jumps took place. "no wait - we're not finished..." was my usual reaction :)

the red brocade: I didn't see mentions of red brocade in particular. There was however a lot of detail regarding the rich fabrics of the wealty. There were specific mentions of the cheap fabric the Chase undergarments were made of - designed for the working man. Even Reenie's yellow curtains in her own kitchen (after being let go by the Griffin's) reflect the yellow kitchen curtains back at Avillon. Is this Reenie trying to regain some of the Chase family status in her 'new' life?

As for Iris loving Laura enough to put Laura's name as the author. There is the overarching guilt involved as well as love. Laura's dream of Alex finding her and loving her was crushed by Iris' telling her it could never be. That Alex was dead, that Iris had been having an affair with him... etc. With Laura committing suicide as a result - that's a pretty heavy burden for Iris. It's fitting that Iris in essence gives Laura her dream. The world now belives that it is Laura having the affair with the mysterious man.

It's a shame that Iris' strength came from so many deaths. As each person died, the stronger she became. It wasn't until Winifred died that Iris started putting the whole story to paper - for Sabrina to find.

more to follow... (must. get. work. done.)

Joanna

I hated the novel within a novel idea. It bored me. I also hated that the narrator kept so much from the readers, like only revealing the truth at the end. I felt cheated.

I agree with Alexeye, the majority of the characters frustrated me.

I read the book when it first came out, too--but I don't really want to read it again....

I am one of those awful readers who, without really trying, sees the "surprise" ending coming about fifty pages in, and I agree that the flipping back and forth between stories got really irritating, esp. as it seemed to be only a device for propelling a reader to the conclusion, without being done particularly well. The story of the Blind Assasin really drew me in, though.

I did think that it was interesting to see the story told by an elderly woman. I would have wanted to bitch slap her if she had been narrating the story at an earlier point in her life (I didn't interpret her placing of her sister's name on the book as an act of love in any way--it seemed like intelligent, calculating cowardice). But, somehow, since she was past having much agency in her life, her story was more of a story, and my irritation with the characters just kind of fizzled.

i think iris hiding her authorship is an act of self-punishment; she is unable to free herself from the guilt she feels over her sister's life and death. however, i don't think it really works. i think it traps her even more, and makes it impossible for her to escape that feeling of responsibility.

I agree. I also thought that it was a way for her to give Alex back to Laura. Man, I felt sorry for Iris during that book. And it also made me think alot about the dichotomy between our interior selves and how other people see us. She was a totally different person than people thought she was. So was Laura for that matter.

Interesting.

Regarding Atwood's research: Remember when Reenie pulls out "The Boston Cooking Shool Cookbook" to make up a menu for the dinner party? That particular cookbook is almost described as a symbol of the Chase's wealthier days.

I got a huge kick out of that because my mom inherited a copy of that same cookbook from a wealthy relative (second cousin or something). The book had been in their family for years and had been used by their family cook.

While I was growing up, I very often looked through that cookbook and it's elaborate recipes an imagined fancy dinner parties.

I didn't enjoy the book, so I stopped reading it about half way through. I stopped reading it because it was just too jumpy for me, and too many characters were mentioned or introduced, and then not brought up again for a while. Then when they WERE re-introduced, I had to go back and find out who that character is & their importance. So yeah, I didn't like it :/