Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses

[SFG75]

I'm currently half way through it and I can definitely see why the book earned all of the press that it did. In regards to the writing, it is very intricate in detail. The first page features Saladin and Gibreel plummeting through the earth, though in high spirits performing various acrobatic manuevers. The language is very rich and sprinkled with eye catching detail. In being a history buff, I enjoyed reading the *controversial* part where the grandee attempts to subvert Mahmoud's influence by offering him to be on a grand council if in return, other deities that are like his are accepted. The mere mentioning of Mahmoud considering the bargain, not to mention the fact that "Mahmoud" is the name given to Mohammad by Rushdie, was very telling in why Rushdie faced the the threats that he did. I was unaware that Rushdie worked the Ayatollah Khomeini into the novel as "the Imam" in exile. In reading the section, I could envision the Ayatollah squared away in his French apartment with the thermostat turned up.

The writing is very good as mentioned earlier, but I've noticed a tendency among many of these eastern writers to be a bit prolixic whenever spirituality is discussed. The "magical-realism" that the book is written in is a challenge to the typical western reader who will be unaccomsted to reading about human beings falling to the earth one minute, only to end up surviving by floating to earth and where one of them becomes a half-bred goat in the next scene. I'm glad that I did finally buy this book as it has been a treat.

That's it for now, more to come.

 

[Heteronym]

I think you underestimate the popularity of such magical realists as Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luís Borges, Italo Calvino, Günter Grass, José Saramago, etc, in the West

 

[ions]

I think you underestimate the popularity of such magical realists as Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luís Borges, Italo Calvino, Günter Grass, José Saramago, etc, in the West

Where did SFG do that? I bought a Calvino just last week.

 

[Heteronym]

Ok, perhaps my choice of smilies was unfortunate. Apologies if I seemed sarcastic

My point was magical realists are popular in the West; hence readers should have no trouble accepting Rushdie's fantastic flights of imagination.

 

[SFG75]

Ok, perhaps my choice of smilies was unfortunate. Apologies if I seemed sarcastic

My point was magical realists are popular in the West; hence readers should have no trouble accepting Rushdie's fantastic flights of imagination.

Fair point, one that is valid I admit. To me, reading about the he-goat reminded me of the Bhagavad-Gita. There is just something in my mind that just couldn't...I don't know...square it away or synthesize it with what was going on in the plot. I went back and re-read, and good thing I did. In doing so, I was able to "see" even the most unreal *magical* parts in my mind's eye more clearly.

I can't say enough about the appropriately named Baal-what a guy.

 

[The waveguide]

Terrible book

In being a history buff, I enjoyed reading the *controversial* part where the grandee attempts to subvert Mahmoud's influence by offering him to be on a grand council if in return, other deities that are like his are accepted. The mere mentioning of Mahmoud considering the bargain, not to mention the fact that "Mahmoud" is the name given to Mohammad by Rushdie, was very telling in why Rushdie faced the the threats that he did.

The controversal part was the only part where I managed to keep my eyes open. Otherwise I found this book extraordinarily boring. What is this stupid cinema cover-story all around? What those boring love-affairs, where I lost already who-slept-with-whom and why? Rushdie tries to be cool, may be "western", without loosing his east charm? But this is one big mess.

Normally I like religion-based fiction. I was charmed with "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov, and I hungrily read "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ" by Saramago. But this book is a suffer for a reader (me, for instance )

The writing is very good as mentioned earlier, but I've noticed a tendency among many of these eastern writers to be a bit prolixic whenever spirituality is discussed.

Writing is good? Are you joking? In my literature exams as a kid at school I presented my ideas much clearer than this clown! He is trying to stick many words together - too many words which actually say nothing. Even his interesting part he hardly managed to present. It would be a good book if the writer would be a good friend of a greek town of Laconia. It could do as a nice short-story book. But why to torture the reader with all this unnecessary excessive word-shit?

To sum up: This book had a potential. But Rushdie spoiled it all

 

[SFG75]

I believe the actor's empty romances and the various things he surrounded himself with, were to emphasize the empty materialism that he had lived up to that point. As for the "boring" parts, I do agree, and have noted, that eastern writers tend to just go on...and on...and on about certain points. I generally don't find it as annoying as others do, but that is a tendency that I've noticed in more than a few Indian writers and others who have been exposed to eastern religions. It's hard to put in words, but the ability to get lost not on just one tangent, but five, seems to be the m.o. of these writers.