kunalsen 's review for:

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie

3.0

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What can be more compelling than to hear about the experience of being stabbed by a religious fanatic, especially from a master storyteller? Rushdie's memoir about being stabbed more than three decades after the Iranian state declared a fatwa for his assassination and his subsequent unexpected recovery is a powerful story. The author combines his personal life with his immediate family and friends, giving it a more personal and intimate tone. He does not portray himself as a brave hero but just as an ordinary person, afraid of physical pain and mortality.

What he went through to recover is unimaginable. I wish he did not make such a big deal about common medical procedures, such as the insertion of a catheter, or the anxiety about prostate cancer, which is fairly common among men of his age. By doing so, he probably diluted the severity of the unusual pain and agony he went through earlier. Of course, it shows his honesty in admitting that he is not a particularly pain-tolerant person.

I just wish the book was much shorter. About halfway through, I felt he had said everything he had to say. What remained unsaid, I could imagine myself.