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chavonnwshen's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
fanchera's review against another edition
2.25
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.
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
eve81's review against another edition
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Content warning for attempted murderredrobin25's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Blood
raebelanger's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
4.0
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
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing
vireogirl's review against another edition
4.5
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.
Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death, and Grief
samchase112's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Death, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, and Terminal illness
kjboldon's review against another edition
2.0
I wish I found this a better book. I found it riddled with tired cliches, especially about his wife. In one sentence he says she and he bopped at a rock concert. I felt like he was writing as if magnanimous about her writing and her art, but felt an undercurrent of condescension and sexism running through it. And that condescension was greatly magnified when he tried to imagine a dialogue between himself and his would-be assassin.
Reading that section I sometimes had to stop, and I sometimes flinched from the page, at the arrogance and ego of Rushdie, even while I could tell he was doing his best to be empathic, and thought he was being magnanimous.
Terrorism is wrong, death threats are wrong and what happened to Rushdie was a tragedy. But this book didn't strike me as insightful or empathic, a complaint I've had with his other writing. It affirmed for me that he is not an artist whose work moves me.
Go in peace and love, Salman and your family. I'm sorry for what happened to you.
Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail