The Blind Assassin and Retro Girl reviews

[alobear]

The person he lent me The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood has excellent taste in books, as she also recommended Any Human Heart by William Boyd.  My previous experience of Atwood was reading Handmaid's Tale for Oxbridge prep over 13 years ago, and I didn't really like it, so I never tried any of her other works.  The Blind Assassin is the kind of book I love, but that is extremely difficult to find - a chunky, masterfully written story that I can lose myself in for days at a time.  There's a fine line between depth and tedium, narrative skill and pretentiousness, and The Blind Assassin falls firmly on the correct side of it.  The structure is incredibly impressive and the story in utterly absorbing.  I figured out one of the major twists a little while before the clues got really obvious, but there was enough mystery to keep me hooked right to the end, and I'm pretty sure you're supposed to work some it out early, as it just adds to the suspense as to how it's all going to fit together.  Fantastic book - more recommendations from the same source please!!

I must also thank the person who recommended the comic book series Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming - I read the first volume, "Who Killed Retro Girl?" today, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's like a really well done police drama (only with superheroes) - likeable characters, well written dialogue, interesting plot, and some very funny moments.  There are eleven more volumes so far, and I'm really looking forward to reading more - very, very good stuff.

All in all, an excellent week's reading (hurrah!) and more to come on holiday next week, as I've borrowed some interesting-looking books from yet another source.  Having friends who recommend great books is wonderful!