The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood

So wonderful. Maggie can't miss, it seems.

This is a complex, multi-layered novel, but not a bit confusing. Atwood tells several stories here, not the least of which is the history of the decade before the outbreak of World War II, and the repression of unions and progressives.

The central characters are sisters, Laura and Iris. Their father is a minor industrialist with a factory near Toronto. Laura, we learn early on, does not live long, but becomes famous posthumously for writing a novel, the title of which is the title of this book. We get segments of the novel-within-a-novel throughout the work. Atwood also uses news clippings (fictional) among the chapters, which switch back and forth in time. All this is done with great skill; one has the impression that this is the way to tell these stories, that no other method would be as satisfying.

Among other lessons, The Blind Assassin teaches us that greed, a lust for power, and the forces of unbridled capitalism have human and individual consequences, some of which are quite specifically illustrated, others hinted at or implied.

Iris and Laura are women, though born into a wealthy family, they are still without power. We see them treated as children at best, and slaves at worst. Since they are both very intelligent and resourceful, they manage to wrest some freedom and self-determination from the world, but not without great cost, especially in Laura's case.

The Collected Short Stories of Mavis Gallant

And what a collection it is! 887 pages of them. In her preface, Gallant says "This is a heavy volume, and if I had included everything, even nearly everything, it would have become one of those tomes that can't be read in comfort and that are no good for anything except as a weight on sliced cucumbers."

I am nearly done with it, having now gotten my warning notice from the Library, after keeping it for the absolute maximum amount of time allowed, and what I think is that I'll have to buy a copy to keep. It's wonderful, a wonderful big pile of beautiful writing.

The stories are often set in Paris or Montreal. Gallant, Canadian by birth, has spent much (or most?) of her life in Paris. There are stories set in the thirties, forties, and up to the nineties: indeed, that's how most of the book is divided. The last four sections are each comprised of stories about the same characters: Linnet Muir; The Carette Sisters;  Edouard, Juliette, Lena; and Henri Grippes.

Characters are often young, from childhood to early adulthood, but there are also many well drawn older people. Refugees figure importantly in her wartime stories. The culture and customs of both Paris and Montreal are rendered vividly. Montreal before the 1960s was quite a bit different than it is now -- here is a little bit from "1933" in the Carette Sisters section:

Mme. Carette had a word with Berthe about Irish marriages: An Irish marriage, while not to be sought, need not be scorned. The Irish were not English. God had sent them to Canada to keep people from marrying Protestants.

And from the preface, here are Gallant's own instructions:

There is something I keep wanting to say about reading short stories. I am doing it now, because I may never have another occasion. Stories are not chapters of novels. They should not be read one after another, as if they were meant to follow along. Read one. Shut the book. Read something else. Come back later. Stories can wait.

18 May 2012:

A friend asked if I had any particular favorites among the stories, so I spent a little time going back through the book (so overdue from the library that I fear for my freedom) and came up with this:

The Preface

The Moslem Wife

The Four Seasons

The Fenton Child

By the Sea

The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street

An Unmarried Man's Summer

April Fish (wow)

The End of the World

In the Tunnel

A State of Affairs

Mlle. Dias De Corta

Scarves, Beads, Sandals

All the Linnet Muir stories

All the Carette Sisters stories