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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Una trama meravigliosamente costruita, una storia coinvolgente interpretata da personaggi tridimensionali e in crescita, il velato suggerimento che la loro realtà non sia esattamente aderente a quella che conosciamo perché ambientata in una dimensione parallela, ma non per questo meno reale e meno pregna di sentimenti... Il tutto nello stile spesso eccessivamente prolisso di Rushdie, ricco di digressioni e lunghe descrizioni ed elenchi di aggettivi che a volte sfiancano anche il lettore più testardo.
Ma forse ho solo letto troppi Rushdie quest'anno! Consigliato!
Ma forse ho solo letto troppi Rushdie quest'anno! Consigliato!
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Actually a 3.5. Rushdie´s flat out brilliant, and this is a sprawling, exhilirating, and at times exhausting tale... not of rock and roll, that´s just a nail to hang the story on... of three lifelong friends/lovers/rivals, that stretches from 1940´s India to 1990´s NYC.
Simply amazing. Perhaps Rushdie's best. If Elvis had been from India and gotten his start in the 1970s... Combine Indian culture and American rock and roll and add a dash of a collision of parallel universes, you get this epic where the narrator is the main character's best friend (a la On the Road). And don't forget the Muse who fuels it all, who dies at the beginning, and the rest tells the backstory and what happens later.
I was certain that I would love this book, because a) I'm a music nerd, and b) I loved Satanic Verses. While it had a lot of the characteristics that I loved about Satanic Verses, for some reason I just wasn't as engrossed in it. I read it more quickly, and found it more accessible, but I still prefer Satanic Verses. The characters started to grate on me, and I just didn't feel as invested as their outcomes. If you're looking for something by Rushdie that isn't so monumental and overwhelming, I'd start here, but if you're willing to invest a little more in one of his works, pick up Satanic Verses instead.
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was not my jam. Although I’m a fan of magical realism, I somehow couldn’t focus. It had some interesting phrases and events, but I didn’t find it too memorable. I struggled quite a bit whilst reading it.
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this is my favorite Rushdie book yet.
No less of a deep dive into Bombay, India, Europe, current political events, religion and history than the other books of his I've read, this one adds Rock and the modern world as a central theme, and the mythical-magical, so to speak analysis of power and alternate worlds teeming with real and unreal examples of iconic ways that the world just is.
The Orpheus and Eurdike storyline this is woven around is brilliantly exhumed and turned into living rock, it's the most amazing story, the most beautiful language. I loved this book.
No less of a deep dive into Bombay, India, Europe, current political events, religion and history than the other books of his I've read, this one adds Rock and the modern world as a central theme, and the mythical-magical, so to speak analysis of power and alternate worlds teeming with real and unreal examples of iconic ways that the world just is.
The Orpheus and Eurdike storyline this is woven around is brilliantly exhumed and turned into living rock, it's the most amazing story, the most beautiful language. I loved this book.
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read the first quarter, skimmed to the half way point and then abandoned it. I read The Satanic Verses a few years ago. It was work at times but ultimately worth it. This one was all work with no payoff. He certainly still has an astounding grasp of complexity. His stories may seem to be weaving recklessly in myriad directions but he always manages to bring it all together - in other words - if he had written Lost I wouldn't have been left so intensely irritated after the grand finale. But, unfortunately it just did not hold my interest. I didn't care about any of the seven million characters and if I began to we were off to someone else. Even Rushdie's famous word play is obvious and clunky here, coming off as pompous rather than clever.