The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

I first read this last year in a time when I was reading a hell of a lot (roughly two full-length books a day). As a result, I have very little memory of the plotlines and the wonders of many of the books I had read and am on a mission to reread some of them. After first coming across Margaret Atwood when I read The Handmaid's Tale at the age of 14 and later, Cat's Eye. Both of these enchanted me and introduced me to an author who is definitely one of the great contemporary writers of her time.

This book is told by Iris Chase who we learn early on once had a sister, Laura who died after the car she was driving plunged into the river. Iris acts as the narrator for this story which flashes back and forth between a childhood and eventual adulthood with Laura as well as an older Iris remembering those years while she suffers from a heart condition. The book is at first a clear picture of a suicide by an unusual but psychologically compelling sister in Laura. The book, however, takes the reader on an intricately woven tale of the perils of high society and the blind attitude which perpetuated the era in which the story is set.An interesting social commentary of the 20th century can also be drawn from the book which has a history from the beginning of World War I to the present day in a world perhaps more than ever dominated by greed and violence.

The story is aided by a novel apparently written by Laura called The Blind Assassin which informs the reader of a certain romantic situation and brings in the science fiction element which is present in so many of Atwood's books.

Atwood is one of the few authors who can get away with using an entire paragraph to tell you that plants are growing. She has an exceptional gift with literary word play which first became clear to me while reading The Handmaid's Tale. Her words flow beautifully and do not detract from the storyline but rather generously feed it. The book comes to an astonishing close, chilling the reader and stripping down the barriers of understanding.

Definitely one of my favourite books. Read it or miss out.

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I have a love for Russian novels. So melodramatic, so ridiculous, so awesome and so weird. This is the second of Dostoyevsky's books I have read and my favourite so far mainly due to the fact that it has a wider plotline and more interesting characters.

The characters in this book are memorable and startling. Beginning with the Prince himself, the principal character of the book who is said to resemble Christ and who is very child-like due to being closed off from society until the beginning of this book. Nastasya, a woman he chases throughout the book is a woman who continually defies people's opinions and denigrates herself further and further throughout the book is an excellent example of the ultimate in self-loathing, while Aglaya who the Prince befriends detests the expectations set by her parents and her family; she, most of any of the characters teaches the Prince about human nature and the confusing world of high society. Many other characters also surround the Prince in what becomes his first experience of society, of love and of people in general and what to expect.

The discovery in this book is that people do not know how to cope with such an innocent, child-like man who does not know how to read between the lines of a hierarchical social order. While people at first seem friendly, they are forever confounding him with their actions and behaviours which often seem contrary to common sense. The main criticism I have of this book is how long it goes on although this is also what is so magical about it. Dostoyevsky had a unique gift with prose and with prying into his characters' minds so that we build up not a physical picture but a psychological one of each character and each discussion.

Would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the magic that is Russian novels (and I personally enjoyed it more than Crime and Punishment).