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The Blind Assassin

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The Blind Assassin

By: Margaret Atwood
Narrated by: Lorelei King
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About this listen

Man Booker Prize, Fiction, 2000

Even now, at the age of 82, Iris lives in the shadow cast by her younger sister Laura. Now poor and trying to cope with a failing body, Iris reflects on her far from exemplary life, in particular the events surrounding her sister's tragic death.

©2001 Margaret Atwood (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd.
Literary Fiction Suspense Fiction

What listeners say about The Blind Assassin

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Well written but boring and uneventful

Bored me to tears... A shame because I like Margaret Atwood. Perhaps there is something to the story that I have missed but it feels incomplete .

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

What an incredible book read by a talented narrator. Enjoyed the layers narrative and twists at the end. Poignant story

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Slow going, but it gets there in the end

This book reads like an autobiography, and if it was the life of a celebrity that we cared about I bet everyone would find it way more engaging.
It has very little to do with assassins, blind or otherwise.

As it is, it's the story of a woman's life, musings, regrets, and truths finally put to paper after years of keeping secrets. It spans her life as a girl in the 30s, a young woman in a 40s, to the end of her life as an old woman in the 90s.

When it finally all started clicking together I did enjoy this book and I don't regret reading it, but it definitely took me a number of hours to get there.

If you're easily distracted and bored by a slow build up, then this one isn't for you.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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could have been 5 stars

the music dropped it to 4 stars for me...way too loud and didn't fit in.. just painful
the narration was brilliant and story and writing fabulous otherwise!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Elegiac, multilayered evocation of a lifetime

I guess I have come late to the talent of Margaret Atwood, but it’s worth the wait. The Blind Assassin is a complex piece, part family saga, part Bildungsroman, part pulp fiction. It’s filled with subtle complexity. The writing is fine, the writers voice is perfectly pitched. The performance of the audible version of Lorelei King hardly puts a foot wrong. This is a very fine novel indeed. Heartily recommended.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Blind Assasin

This amazing story by Margaret Atwood is written beautifully & intriguingly. The main character Iris is also the narrator. She relates a story of love & betrayal & eventual triumph. It is not until the final chapters that all the pieces come together in a satisfying conclusion.
The Audible narrator has a velvety voice & is soothing to hear.
I Highly recommend.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

very good

s great narrator for an epic, and a good option for a time rich person,

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

Kept waiting for this to hook me, but it didn’t. Narration was kind of annoying. And I begrudgingly listened to the end.

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