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A review by rebeccabateman
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
2.0
If rare rubies and diamonds were buried in a barrel of sewage would you reach through the depths and grasp them? Or would you shudder and recoil?
I'm not sure I would encourage this acquisition; just as I'm not sure I can recommend this book.
Still, I waded through the filth and found beautiful gems. (I just need to go take a shower now.)
I suppose [a:Gabriel Garcia Marquez]'s [b:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320|One Hundred Years of Solitude|Gabriel García Márquez|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327881361s/320.jpg|3295655] prepared me for this book. Once you understand Magical Realism, you have a greater appreciation for what is being accomplished, and this work of Salmon Rushdie's has a very similar feel to OHYOS (including warped sexual themes and oodles of misogyny).
Here are two early examples of his wonderful use of imagery (there were more throughout, but I became so engrossed at those times, that I forgot to note them:
Language upon a silver tongue affords enchantment enough.
There were so many chains winding around him that he could imagine, in the darkness, that he had somehow been encased in a larger body, the body of a man of iron.
However, despite some lovely moments, and some fascinating correlations of history that made me want to do more research, Rushdie failed to develop any of his characters. They were all hollow one and two dimensional figures. His style of prose was beautiful but also tediously repetitive and rambling.
The jewels of this novel are sublime, but how they would have sparkled with more editing and less detritus.
Note: He uses the F Bomb more than he uses punctuation.
I'm not sure I would encourage this acquisition; just as I'm not sure I can recommend this book.
Still, I waded through the filth and found beautiful gems. (I just need to go take a shower now.)
I suppose [a:Gabriel Garcia Marquez]'s [b:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320|One Hundred Years of Solitude|Gabriel García Márquez|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327881361s/320.jpg|3295655] prepared me for this book. Once you understand Magical Realism, you have a greater appreciation for what is being accomplished, and this work of Salmon Rushdie's has a very similar feel to OHYOS (including warped sexual themes and oodles of misogyny).
Here are two early examples of his wonderful use of imagery (there were more throughout, but I became so engrossed at those times, that I forgot to note them:
Language upon a silver tongue affords enchantment enough.
There were so many chains winding around him that he could imagine, in the darkness, that he had somehow been encased in a larger body, the body of a man of iron.
However, despite some lovely moments, and some fascinating correlations of history that made me want to do more research, Rushdie failed to develop any of his characters. They were all hollow one and two dimensional figures. His style of prose was beautiful but also tediously repetitive and rambling.
The jewels of this novel are sublime, but how they would have sparkled with more editing and less detritus.
Note: He uses the F Bomb more than he uses punctuation.