Het duurt even voor je door hebt hoe deze roman opgebouwd is, want in het begin lijkt het een onsamenhangend mengsel van krantenberichten, een doorlopend levensverhaal, fragmenten over geheime rendez-vous, en nogal opzichtige science-fiction vertellingen. En zelfs nadat je de puzzel bij elkaar hebt, dan blijkt het op het einde toch nog anders in elkaar te steken. Atwood speelt hier duidelijk een spel van misleiding met de lezer volgens de regels van de postmoderne vertelkunst: verhalen in verhalen in verhalen met voortdurende interne en externe verwijzingen. Ingenieus, zeker, maar ik moet zeggen dat het me niet echt geraakt heeft. Dat heeft waarschijnlijk te maken met het bijwijlen zeer trage tempo van de vertelling, de bijna surrealistische science fictionverhalen, de opgeklopte magisch-realistische sfeer en dan die ontknoping op het einde. Interessant is dan weer het vrouwelijke perspectief (doorleefd, zoals altijd bij Atwood) en de verworteling in reële tijdscontexten (eerste wereldoorlog, Depressie…) met vooral oog voor sociale aspecten. Maar daarmee heeft Atwood me (andermaal) niet kunnen overtuigen. ( )

This novel disappointed me. I've read other novels by Margaret Atwood in the past, and remember loving them. This one however...different story.

The main story is about Iris, an old Canadian lady, looking back on her life. Her memories focus on her early youth and teenage years, her early marriage, and her relationship with her younger sister Laura. Iris' story is interrupted by newspaper clippings from the 1930's and 1940's dealing with higher class social events involving Iris, and with the deaths of several of the main characters over the course of the years. Then there is a second story, namely that of two secret lovers, meeting up for passionate sex. One of the lovers tells the other the story of the blind assassin, a science fiction story set in another time/space-dimension.

So, several storylines to occupy the reader. Of course, this being a novel, we know that there is a connection, but it takes time to see the exact relationship between the stories. Next to that there is a secret, having to do with the early death - possibly the suicide - of Laura, which is described at the start of the novel. We only find out the exact reason after about 500 pages. This set up is promising.

However, I experienced the 500 pages as rather boring, and definitely too much. So many descriptions of flowers & plants in gardens, of the climate throughout the year, of terribly boring social events. Endless meetings between lovers, never changing, except for the locations, that are of course described in great detail. I missed the development of characters, I missed deepness. I experienced the relationship (or better: lack of it) of Iris and her daughter and granddaughter as rather unbelievable. Also, what was supposed to be the surprising turn of the story, was so clear to me from perhaps not the very beginning, but definitely from a very early stage in the book, that even this didn't surprise me. The only story that I liked was the science fiction story within a story within a story.

Recently I read A gesture life by Chang-Rae Lee, which deals with similar themes: old person looking back on life, feeling regret for past betrayal, always having been alone and lonely. To me Lee's book was a much better elaboration of these themes, and written in beautiful prose. Really touching, whereas this one didn't touch me at all. I'm a bit disappointed, but I haven't given up on Atwood yet! ( )