Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kscrimshaw 's review for:
The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie
I very nearly didn’t finish this book. It took me almost three weeks to get through the first third (very unusual for me). I recognized that it was well written and funny but it just didn’t engage me. In the first place, I was missing a lot of the references. Rushdie draws heavily upon Indian history, mythology, theology and general culture, subjects upon which I am not well versed. It also quickly became apparent to me how lacking is my knowledge of Islam. Secondly, it is just so large and ambitious with many different stories, sub –plots, allegories and dozens of characters, all of which and whom are constantly re-told from different views and realities. The supernatural and stark realism intertwine adding layer, after layer.
I did persevere and finish. And yes, it was worth it. As I began to take a larger view my appreciation and involvement grew. It doesn’t really matter that Rushdie is talking about Islam or India. What he is really talking about is belonging, belief and being human. At its core this is a story of two men trying to discover who they are and where they belong. Early In that struggle they deal, as we all do, with the places, ideas and the people that define them – holding some close, pushing others away. When a plane they are both on is hijacked, they are at first separated from everything they hold dear and held in a hellish limbo until they are literally thrown free from their lives.
Bearing witness to these men as they attempt to, at times recreate the lives they lost and at others completely recreate themselves from the soul on up, is fascinating, often funny and surprisingly touching when you least expect it.
I do, however think I would have been drawn in far more quickly and enjoyed it all more thoroughly if the editing had been a little more, well, more. While it is true that it does all hang together in the final analysis it also bogs down in places and the descriptions tend to meander like a literary Grandpa Simpson.
I did persevere and finish. And yes, it was worth it. As I began to take a larger view my appreciation and involvement grew. It doesn’t really matter that Rushdie is talking about Islam or India. What he is really talking about is belonging, belief and being human. At its core this is a story of two men trying to discover who they are and where they belong. Early In that struggle they deal, as we all do, with the places, ideas and the people that define them – holding some close, pushing others away. When a plane they are both on is hijacked, they are at first separated from everything they hold dear and held in a hellish limbo until they are literally thrown free from their lives.
Bearing witness to these men as they attempt to, at times recreate the lives they lost and at others completely recreate themselves from the soul on up, is fascinating, often funny and surprisingly touching when you least expect it.
I do, however think I would have been drawn in far more quickly and enjoyed it all more thoroughly if the editing had been a little more, well, more. While it is true that it does all hang together in the final analysis it also bogs down in places and the descriptions tend to meander like a literary Grandpa Simpson.