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A review by christynhoover
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was my first foray into Rushdie who (whom?) I have for some reason feared would be "too daunting". It wasn't. And I was not disappointed.
I listened to the audiobook so, as is often the case, much of it rushed past me --the philosophical, mythological, and theological discussions between characters in places. I would benefit from reading a hard copy.
I'll let Rushdie's characters speak in this passage from the Epilogue:
"...[A] world ruled by reason, tolerance, magnanimity, knowledge, and restraint....is the world in which we now live.... Fear did not, finally, drive people into the arms of God.... Instead, fear was overcome.... For hundreds of years now, this has been our good fortune, to inhabit the possibility for which [they] yearned: a peaceful civilized world, of hard work and respect for the land. A gardener's world, in which we all must cultivate our garden, understanding that to do so is not a defeat, as it was for Voltaire's poor Candide, but the victory of our better natures over the darkness within."
I listened to the audiobook so, as is often the case, much of it rushed past me --the philosophical, mythological, and theological discussions between characters in places. I would benefit from reading a hard copy.
I'll let Rushdie's characters speak in this passage from the Epilogue:
"...[A] world ruled by reason, tolerance, magnanimity, knowledge, and restraint....is the world in which we now live.... Fear did not, finally, drive people into the arms of God.... Instead, fear was overcome.... For hundreds of years now, this has been our good fortune, to inhabit the possibility for which [they] yearned: a peaceful civilized world, of hard work and respect for the land. A gardener's world, in which we all must cultivate our garden, understanding that to do so is not a defeat, as it was for Voltaire's poor Candide, but the victory of our better natures over the darkness within."