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Stories within stories are difficult structures to maintain without losing the reader in a mass of explication at the beginning, or through the confusion of attempting to sort out the various plot lines unaided. On the other hand, when the interweaving of the stories is skillfully managed by the author, the reader’s experience is enriched by the contrast of a global and a particular viewpoint, for example, the alternating chapters in Moby Dick and The Grapes of Wrath. In the novel, The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood certainly experimented in several novels with tales within tales, supposedly factual accounts interwoven with letters, in order to enhance the main narrative, an example being the brilliant Alias Grace. However, The Blind Assassin is her most ambitious work to date, combining Iris Chase’s memoir, Laura Chase’s novel, the Sakiel-Norn story told by the fictional Alex Thomas, the elements of his story that also turn up in an actual book, and the newspaper articles that offer clues to the real story of the Chase’s. Although initially the story is confusing because of the many threads, it is worth persevering until the point-counterpoint begins to demonstrate its own logic. To see both the dangers and the