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A review by bookswithchaipai
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I have often found Salman Rushdie’s allegorical writing style cryptic and confusing with melodramatic prose. But when I read The Golden House and then Quichotte, I caught a glimpse of the intelligence behind the allegory and then I learnt to read between the lines.
Victory City, surprised me with its absorbing prose, styled as a translation of an ancient historical epic - Jayaparajaya, written by Pampa Kampana, a Goddess who lived on earth for 243 years in the 1400’s. Responsible for the rise of an empire in India from mere seedlings, she expertly guides us through the winding rise and fall of the wondrous empire of Vijayanagara.
Rushdie has expertly melded fairy tales, the Ramayana and Mahabaratha and also actual Historical events which shaped India in the 1500’s, and gave birth to a tale of such proportions which had a spellbinding effect.
I saw traces of Sleeping Beauty, the Portuguese occupation, the Vanvaas of the Pancha pandavas, the dictation of the Mahabharata to Ganesha by Vyasa and also the narration of the Kurukshetra War by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra.
The futuristic viewpoint of an empire run by women, with first born woman ascension to the throne, and companionship without marriage embedded in the ancient storyline made it very refreshing.
Unlike his other novels, despite the enigmatic trademark glimpses of magical realism and fantasy, this book is highly readable, and reads more like a fairy tale, filled with fables and chunks of history which we encountered in our history textbooks - case in point - King Krishnadevaraya the emperor of VIjayanagara.
Released six months after the knife attack on Rushdie, this book was completed much before, but he could not physically promote the book because of health reasons.
Victory City, surprised me with its absorbing prose, styled as a translation of an ancient historical epic - Jayaparajaya, written by Pampa Kampana, a Goddess who lived on earth for 243 years in the 1400’s. Responsible for the rise of an empire in India from mere seedlings, she expertly guides us through the winding rise and fall of the wondrous empire of Vijayanagara.
Rushdie has expertly melded fairy tales, the Ramayana and Mahabaratha and also actual Historical events which shaped India in the 1500’s, and gave birth to a tale of such proportions which had a spellbinding effect.
I saw traces of Sleeping Beauty, the Portuguese occupation, the Vanvaas of the Pancha pandavas, the dictation of the Mahabharata to Ganesha by Vyasa and also the narration of the Kurukshetra War by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra.
The futuristic viewpoint of an empire run by women, with first born woman ascension to the throne, and companionship without marriage embedded in the ancient storyline made it very refreshing.
Unlike his other novels, despite the enigmatic trademark glimpses of magical realism and fantasy, this book is highly readable, and reads more like a fairy tale, filled with fables and chunks of history which we encountered in our history textbooks - case in point - King Krishnadevaraya the emperor of VIjayanagara.
Released six months after the knife attack on Rushdie, this book was completed much before, but he could not physically promote the book because of health reasons.