Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie

7 reviews

stephaniekrebs's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer and Stalking

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

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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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing

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.

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Content Warnings

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

reflective slow-paced

2.0

I am happy for Salman that he survived and sounds happy in his life and marriage, and happy for those who love him that he's alive. 

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

hazelgirl21's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime and Islamophobia

rready's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail