If you liked
Books like The Blind Assassin
by Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin is Margaret Atwood's Booker winner, a novel nested inside a novel inside a pulp science-fiction tale, slowly revealing a family tragedy and the secret behind a sister's death. Intricate and devastating. If you want more ambitious literary fiction with a structural twist, these are the reads.
The shortlist
What to read next
The Handmaid's Taleby Margaret Atwood
“The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 1985 review. In the near-future Republic of Gilead, women have been stripped of their rights, and the handmaid Offred remembers the world before. The most-cited dystopian novel of the late twentieth century.”
Atonementby Ian McEwan
“Atonement by Ian McEwan 2001 review. On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses something she does not understand and tells a lie that destroys her sister's life. Booker shortlist 2001 and one of the canonical novels of the twenty-first century.”
The Goldfinchby Donna Tartt
“The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 2013 review. Theo Decker, thirteen, survives a Metropolitan Museum bombing that kills his mother and ends up with a stolen painting that defines the next decade of his life. Pulitzer Prize 2014.”
The Secret Historyby Donna Tartt
“The Secret History by Donna Tartt 1992 review. A new student at a Vermont college is drawn into an exclusive Greek-studies seminar and the murder that the small clique conceals. The novel that defined the dark-academia register before it had a name.”
The Correctionsby Jonathan Franzen
“The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen 2001 review. A Midwestern family gathers for one last Christmas as the patriarch slips into Parkinson's-related dementia. National Book Award 2001 and the canonical American family novel of its decade.”
Olive Kitteridgeby Elizabeth Strout
“Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout 2008 review. A retired Maine math teacher across thirteen interlinked stories. Pulitzer Prize 2009 and canonical contemporary American interconnected-novels project.”
FAQ
Common questions about The Blind Assassin read-alikes
- I want more Margaret Atwood.
- The Handmaid's Tale is her most famous novel, a dystopia that has only grown more resonant, and a very different showcase for the same fierce intelligence. If The Blind Assassin made you an Atwood reader, start there.
- I want another novel with a devastating structural reveal.
- Atonement by Ian McEwan turns on a lie and a final move that recasts the whole book, exactly the nested-truth pleasure of The Blind Assassin. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt offers the same immersive, obsessive interiority across a big canvas.
- I want a literary novel with a crime at its heart.
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt puts a death at the center and cares most about the psychology around it. It shares Atwood's interest in guilt, memory and the stories people tell to survive.
- I want a sharp, sweeping novel about family.
- The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout both anatomize families with precision and feeling. Either is a satisfying next read if the Chase-sisters tragedy was what gripped you.
The original