Literary fiction · Book club
The Blind Assassin book club questions
Here are 12 book club questions for The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
The Blind Assassin won the Man Booker Prize in 2000 and is arguably Atwood's most formally intricate novel.
Margaret Atwood · 2000 · 10h 45m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 12 questions
- 1.
The novel's central structural surprise changes the meaning of nearly everything that came before it. Looking back, what clues were planted that you missed? What does the re-reading reveal?
- 2.
Iris presents herself as someone to whom things were done, rather than someone who made choices. Is that self-presentation accurate? Where does the novel contradict it?
- 3.
The pulp science fiction sections are written in a completely different register from the rest of the book. Did you find them jarring, or did they work as a formal contrast? What do they add that the realist sections couldn't provide?
- 4.
Richard Griffen, Iris's husband, is presented as wholly villainous. Does the novel give him enough complexity, or is he too conveniently monstrous?
- 5.
Laura Chase is experienced entirely through others — her sister's memory, the text attributed to her, newspaper accounts. What picture of her do you construct? Is she sympathetic, or is she more disturbing than she appears?
- 6.
Iris sacrificed something significant to survive in the way she did. By the end of the novel, does she seem at peace with that sacrifice, or does the memoir feel like an act of unresolved grief?
- 7.
The novel spans several decades of Canadian history, including both World Wars. How does the historical backdrop — Depression-era Canada, wartime, postwar — function in relation to the personal story?
- 8.
Atwood embeds multiple narratives within the frame, requiring you to track who is narrating at any given moment. Did you find this intellectually satisfying or unnecessarily complex?
- 9.
The science fiction story within the novel is a love story between a man who talks and a woman who cannot speak. What is Atwood doing with the gendered dynamics of that story-within-a-story?
- 10.
The newspaper excerpts depict a public version of Iris's life that is entirely false. How does that gap between public and private function in the novel — as social criticism, as formal device, as something else?
- 11.
The novel won the Booker Prize. Given its formal complexity, does it seem like the right choice for a prize intended to honor accessible as well as literary excellence?
- 12.
The ending places Iris alone, physically declining, still writing. What does the act of completion — finishing the manuscript — represent for her?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for The Blind Assassin?
Here are 12 book club questions for The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on memory and self-deception, class and gender, complicity and survival.
How long should a book club discussion of The Blind Assassin last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in The Blind Assassin?
Memory and self-deception, Class and gender, Complicity and survival, Storytelling and escape, Sisters and sacrifice. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like The Blind Assassin or questions for other book club picks.
