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linhtalinhtinh

Linhtalinhtinh

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The Houses of History: A Critical Reader in Twentieth-Century History and Theory
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood At the end, I was this close to shedding tears. It is over, I thought. Some actions were finally carried out. But it was not any better at all. Pain could never be erased. Life and lives could never be resurrected. It is over.

My friend warned me of the possible very strong feminist theme in Atwood's books. Well, I did know of [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale|Margaret Atwood|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1294702760s/38447.jpg|1119185] (though I haven't read it). But reading this book, at first I could not find any apparent motivation. It was merely a puzzle to me. There are these brief articles in newspapers about the Chase sisters, Iris and Laura, and Iris's husband family, the Griffens - Richard and Winnifred. And there are these excerpts from Laura's posthumous book "The Blind Assassin" about two unnamed lovers and their telling of another science fiction story within it. I was baffled. What is this? What is this about? What are you telling me, Atwood? What should I look for, what should I learn?

Atwood's writing is so masterful that, I could not pinpoint exactly since when I realized what the story was about, since when I already had my answer but not enough confirmation, and since when all became so blatanly there. Perhaps after 2/5 of the book, I suppose. The story slowly emerged, that world slowly flowed into me, and I was swept away. Canada appeared in front of me, sucked me in.

The tragedy in The Blind Assassin is one such that instead of overpowerring the characters at once, it consumed them bit by bit, agonizingly, excruciatingly. In the end it finished them off entirely, and they were left with nothing at all. Right, only a nothingness. If anything else remained, perhaps only memories, and with them understandbly powerlessness. Even pains seem to have gone almost all numb.

Yeah, there is this feminism, the talking about women's roles in society in the late 19th and early 20th century. But it would be so dull for me to list all the characteristics out here, since I am no good. But I can tell you, the feminist theme, though central, was presented not so aggressively, not so preachy. It was largely understanding and heartfelt sympathy towards women, and so it reached me.