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rayereads 's review for:
The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie
I had never read Rushdie before, and when I saw this available through my library’s overdrive I decided to pick it up.
Pros: I really loved his writing style. It is dense, and took me a little while to get into, but when I did I found it really enjoyable. Some authors slow down the pace when they get florid, but I found Rushdie really kept me reading and engaged, using language to speed the plot. I loved the magical realism elements (the old woman bringing her past back to life, while a total non-sequiter, is full of images that will stick with me.) And I actually enjoyed the cast of thousands, though this is a book that rewards people who can sit and read for long chunks of time, it can be hard to pop in and out and still keep track of who’s who.
Cons: Good lord this book is long. And as much as I enjoyed the florid prose and many characters, there were a lot of repeated story beats that I think could have been excised without impacting the story a bit. Characters had the same revelation multiple times, people have the same conversation… I think the story would have been stronger (and maybe 50 pages shorter) if he’d been a little more strategic with editing.
Pros: I really loved his writing style. It is dense, and took me a little while to get into, but when I did I found it really enjoyable. Some authors slow down the pace when they get florid, but I found Rushdie really kept me reading and engaged, using language to speed the plot. I loved the magical realism elements (the old woman bringing her past back to life, while a total non-sequiter, is full of images that will stick with me.) And I actually enjoyed the cast of thousands, though this is a book that rewards people who can sit and read for long chunks of time, it can be hard to pop in and out and still keep track of who’s who.
Cons: Good lord this book is long. And as much as I enjoyed the florid prose and many characters, there were a lot of repeated story beats that I think could have been excised without impacting the story a bit. Characters had the same revelation multiple times, people have the same conversation… I think the story would have been stronger (and maybe 50 pages shorter) if he’d been a little more strategic with editing.