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A review by aneides
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
4.0
I was pretty delighted with this quasi-fairy tale/adventure story (think 1,001 Arabian Nights) anchored in history but about halfway through, I was terribly lost and decided to restart the novel, taking notes and sketching out family trees as I went.
I don't especially agree with other readers' complaints that this story is sexist. True, the female characters aren't drawn with great depth, but most of the male characters are little more than caricatures as well. The whole "magical mystery woman" thing is a bit annoying, but mostly because it is overdone in a lot of fiction genres, including magical realism. These things make the book not as good as it could be... but not sexist. (I'm no Rushdie apologist. I've was seriously underwhelmed by the highly lauded Midnight's Children and have found most of his other work I've read rather middling.)
I did think the book was a bit overlong for the material and, due to the fact that I had to take notes to remember who was who (and I generally didn't feel like taking the damn notes), it took a lot longer to get through this book than it normally would have.
I don't especially agree with other readers' complaints that this story is sexist. True, the female characters aren't drawn with great depth, but most of the male characters are little more than caricatures as well. The whole "magical mystery woman" thing is a bit annoying, but mostly because it is overdone in a lot of fiction genres, including magical realism. These things make the book not as good as it could be... but not sexist. (I'm no Rushdie apologist. I've was seriously underwhelmed by the highly lauded Midnight's Children and have found most of his other work I've read rather middling.)
I did think the book was a bit overlong for the material and, due to the fact that I had to take notes to remember who was who (and I generally didn't feel like taking the damn notes), it took a lot longer to get through this book than it normally would have.