Take a photo of a barcode or cover
fanchera's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
2.25
I struggled to get through this book. While I am very sympathetic to what the author experienced, no one should ever have to face a brutal attack, have to fight for their life and be left permanently disfigured. It’s very sad that he became a victim of a horrendous attack. My issue with this book was the author’s attitude. It’s quite evident that he grew up affluent and privileged. That is neither here nor there. It was his narcissistic attitude about life in general and also how it all relates to the care he received. His expectations were quite over the top. I did not enjoy his pretentious writing and it’s obvious that he put many middle class citizens far below where he sees himself. It’s his story to tell. I just didn’t enjoy the attitude in which he spoke or how he put others so far beneath himself.
An example of something that rubbed me the wrong way. When his assailant is arrested and they are preparing for trial, he decides that he’s fine with his assailant taking a plea deal and getting out of prison after serving 30 years because, since he would be 116 years old, he would never have to worry about his assailant hunting him down again in his lifetime. But his assailant would be 54 when he would come up for parole. Which, to me, is still young enough to commit another crime, to attack another innocent civilian whose beliefs don’t align with his. To me, that’s a very selfish attitude to have, let alone admit to openly.
I am a pretty sympathetic person but as his story goes on I felt less and less toward him because he comes across as such an unlikable person. By the end I was void of much emotion at all. And for me that is very difficult to digest. How can I feel that way about someone who has been stabbed by a complete stranger 15 times?! I was more sympathetic to him as a complete stranger and less sympathetic now that I’ve had a glimpse of his thoughts and how he would see him as a lowly nurse.
An example of something that rubbed me the wrong way. When his assailant is arrested and they are preparing for trial, he decides that he’s fine with his assailant taking a plea deal and getting out of prison after serving 30 years because, since he would be 116 years old, he would never have to worry about his assailant hunting him down again in his lifetime. But his assailant would be 54 when he would come up for parole. Which, to me, is still young enough to commit another crime, to attack another innocent civilian whose beliefs don’t align with his. To me, that’s a very selfish attitude to have, let alone admit to openly.
I am a pretty sympathetic person but as his story goes on I felt less and less toward him because he comes across as such an unlikable person. By the end I was void of much emotion at all. And for me that is very difficult to digest. How can I feel that way about someone who has been stabbed by a complete stranger 15 times?! I was more sympathetic to him as a complete stranger and less sympathetic now that I’ve had a glimpse of his thoughts and how he would see him as a lowly nurse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Religious bigotry
coffeenquotations's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I will always appreciate Salman Rushdie’s works. Fiction or non-fiction, they hold many well written & universal truths without being pompous or condescending. Rushdie has done this again with Knife. A near death experience is, of course, harrowing to say the least. But a near death experience that has been hanging over one’s head & at the hand’s of someone who has chosen to hate you based on merely their idea of you is another matter. While it’s unlikely most if not almost all of us will experience something like this, I think Knife is an important read— to know what happened from Rushdie’s perspective, sure, but also for the wisdom & humanity that is within his word. These lessons could be carried into all of our lives.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
lifeinsherds's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Without a doubt, a 5 star rating. Even more so as the audiobook, narrated by Salman Rushdie. A miraculous story of survival with absolutely poetic language about family, love, violence and fear. I cannot recommend this more to literally anyone. I think this will be a book I wish I could read again for the first time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing
sammiseah's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, and Murder
vireogirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Very well written. This is the first book of his I've read. I'd heard of it and happened to see it on the Lucky Day shelf.
His perspective on the world rang true. It had a nice balance of lighter moments, deep thoughts, and observations. His opinion on why religion should be in the private realm and not public was well explained.
His perspective on the world rang true. It had a nice balance of lighter moments, deep thoughts, and observations. His opinion on why religion should be in the private realm and not public was well explained.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death, and Grief
samchase112's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Here I go again, continuing my streak of reading famous novelist's memoirs before ever picking up their fiction. This was a powerful one, about a devastating and powerful event and the life-changing aftermath. There's no question Salman Rushdie is a thoughtful, opinionated, resilient person, but his kindness, humor, and love for his family are what shone through in this memoir. While I'm not sure it will become a long-term favorite, the first half was extremely moving, and I highly recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Death, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, and Terminal illness
edamamebean's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I’m so glad the audiobook finally came through on libby. It was hard not to get emotional listening to Rushdie’s story. He describes traumatic incident after traumatic incident with such authorial grace and even humor. The heart of this book is actually the love story between him and his wife, poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths, which was really beautiful. Rushdie also talked a lot about something that has been on my mind lately (and the minds of many Americans these days), which is the violence of religious extremism. He writes about it very thoughtfully, which makes sense since religious extremism has affected huge parts of his life. I think everyone should read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Death
kaydee_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Rushdie doesn’t shy away from the hard parts of his experience, but he also highlights a lot of hope. His voice is conversational, confessional, and draws you in. Much of the story is meditative, and dwells on the inevitability of death, but also the joy of still being alive. It’s the kind of book that makes you sit down and think about how lucky you are to still live right now, despite the many terrible things in the world.
Very occasionally I found myself lost - he references a lot of names that I assume are other authors or literary agents or other people in his industry, who I assume may be somewhat well known, as if he expects the reader to know them too. But it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day - they’re people in his life and it’s easy enough to just classify the name dropping as “the author’s friends” and leave it at that.
The strongest relationship was Eliza, and his book has inspired me to look for her poetry, as the little bits of her writing he referenced was beautiful. Ultimately, this book is more about love than anything else, and I loved that about it.
Very occasionally I found myself lost - he references a lot of names that I assume are other authors or literary agents or other people in his industry, who I assume may be somewhat well known, as if he expects the reader to know them too. But it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day - they’re people in his life and it’s easy enough to just classify the name dropping as “the author’s friends” and leave it at that.
The strongest relationship was Eliza, and his book has inspired me to look for her poetry, as the little bits of her writing he referenced was beautiful. Ultimately, this book is more about love than anything else, and I loved that about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic