Scan barcode
A review by cc_loves_books
The Golden House by Salman Rushdie
2.0
Pretentious, melodramatic, misogynist, transphobic, islamaphobic, and, did I mention pretentious? Sigh. This was my first time reading Rushdie since university twenty years ago. It makes me wonder if the books I used to revere were actually any good, or if he has always hated women and “others” as much as he seems to now.
The book gets two stars rather than one as it was still compelling at times, when the narrator wasn’t spiraling off on a) cinema rants or b) mythology rants. But I couldn’t find myself caring about any of the characters, nor their histories, nor their dramatic deaths, nor the random insertions of modern politics (Trump as the Joker? Clinton as Batgirl? Come on..) If Rushdie he had turned the dial down by about 75% (and removed the aforementioned phobias) then this could have been decent.
The book gets two stars rather than one as it was still compelling at times, when the narrator wasn’t spiraling off on a) cinema rants or b) mythology rants. But I couldn’t find myself caring about any of the characters, nor their histories, nor their dramatic deaths, nor the random insertions of modern politics (Trump as the Joker? Clinton as Batgirl? Come on..) If Rushdie he had turned the dial down by about 75% (and removed the aforementioned phobias) then this could have been decent.