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A review by guerrillabooks
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
3.0
This particular title landed in my TBR in an untraditional and arbitrary way. I received my monthly audible credit on the 9th and I was looking through my wish list to see which title I was going to use it on when it dawned on me that I needed to choose one that was at least the price of the monthly fee of $14.99 or else I would be getting financially gipped in a time when every penny must be allocated to its maximum potential. (The other titles on my wish list that are only $8ish should be purchased outright, and not with my 1 credit that comes with membership.)
[a:Salman Rushdie|3299|Salman Rushdie|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1217934207p2/3299.jpg] is an author that I am convinced everyone should experience once (in the same vein as Austen, Dickens, Steinbeck and a myriad others) and since I have yet to satisfy my own conviction, I decided to use my credit to purchase a Rushdie audiobook.
I am not quite halfway through as of right now, but I am finding myself thoroughly impressed by the man's writing/tale-weaving prowess.
I have always been a dabbler in the world of writing, journaling, reading and reflecting but it has only been these past 5-ish months that I have taken my reading, reviewing and reflection to a serious level, such that I am able to read more than ever before and with a purpose - to discover what it is that I like and why I like it and how it is done and by whom. I have found all of these elements to be crucial to the work that is produced: what is the work, who is doing the work, how is the work being done, and why is the work being done.
more thoughts to come as I continue to read the book...
Most recent observation on Mr. Rushdie's writing as I find myself half way through - it doesn't fair well (for me) as an audiobook. I've never realized how much I rely on the SPACE in a book to help me follow along with a story. The space really does provide so much assistance when it comes to change of narrator, flashback, flashforward... not to mention that visually seeing a character's name (especially a foreign one) helps me to remember that characater better.
I love reading a book that requires you to exercise your grey matter - and this one does the trick - I have found it difficult to multitask while listening (one of my favorite treats from an audiobook) because if I space out for the briefest of seconds, I missed a crucial tie-in.
Upon finishing the book, and reading what others had to say, I have set my mind at ease.
I was torn between Rushdie's obvious talent, immagination, oft times brutish humor and my lack of passionate, emotional involvement in the plot or characters. I never really found something potent to latch onto. At first, I concluded that there was something wrong with me. I had not the substance to appreciate the book UNTIL I read the following reviews/comments from The Guardian, NYTimes, The Australian, and the LATimes - I agreed with all they had to say basically, the good and the bad.
A sumptuous mixture of fable and history
This ingenious and ambitious novel — no less than a defense of the human imagination — left me unmoved.
This book is unusually concupiscent, even for Rushdie. Overexcited, perhaps, by the Kama Sutra, which he cites as a source, Rushdie goes to town with scenes of harem life and brothels. This novel is as much a celebration of sex, of every kind and degree of expertise, as it is of the potency of tale-telling.
Told in his habitual high style of magical realism -- Rushdie weaves a baroque fairy tale that takes us from Akbar's empire to Machiavelli's Florence.
[a:Salman Rushdie|3299|Salman Rushdie|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1217934207p2/3299.jpg] is an author that I am convinced everyone should experience once (in the same vein as Austen, Dickens, Steinbeck and a myriad others) and since I have yet to satisfy my own conviction, I decided to use my credit to purchase a Rushdie audiobook.
I am not quite halfway through as of right now, but I am finding myself thoroughly impressed by the man's writing/tale-weaving prowess.
I have always been a dabbler in the world of writing, journaling, reading and reflecting but it has only been these past 5-ish months that I have taken my reading, reviewing and reflection to a serious level, such that I am able to read more than ever before and with a purpose - to discover what it is that I like and why I like it and how it is done and by whom. I have found all of these elements to be crucial to the work that is produced: what is the work, who is doing the work, how is the work being done, and why is the work being done.
more thoughts to come as I continue to read the book...
Most recent observation on Mr. Rushdie's writing as I find myself half way through - it doesn't fair well (for me) as an audiobook. I've never realized how much I rely on the SPACE in a book to help me follow along with a story. The space really does provide so much assistance when it comes to change of narrator, flashback, flashforward... not to mention that visually seeing a character's name (especially a foreign one) helps me to remember that characater better.
I love reading a book that requires you to exercise your grey matter - and this one does the trick - I have found it difficult to multitask while listening (one of my favorite treats from an audiobook) because if I space out for the briefest of seconds, I missed a crucial tie-in.
Upon finishing the book, and reading what others had to say, I have set my mind at ease.
I was torn between Rushdie's obvious talent, immagination, oft times brutish humor and my lack of passionate, emotional involvement in the plot or characters. I never really found something potent to latch onto. At first, I concluded that there was something wrong with me. I had not the substance to appreciate the book UNTIL I read the following reviews/comments from The Guardian, NYTimes, The Australian, and the LATimes - I agreed with all they had to say basically, the good and the bad.
A sumptuous mixture of fable and history
This ingenious and ambitious novel — no less than a defense of the human imagination — left me unmoved.
This book is unusually concupiscent, even for Rushdie. Overexcited, perhaps, by the Kama Sutra, which he cites as a source, Rushdie goes to town with scenes of harem life and brothels. This novel is as much a celebration of sex, of every kind and degree of expertise, as it is of the potency of tale-telling.
Told in his habitual high style of magical realism -- Rushdie weaves a baroque fairy tale that takes us from Akbar's empire to Machiavelli's Florence.