The Satanic Verses: A Novel
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "[A] torrent of endlessly inventive prose, by turns comic and enraged, embracing life in all its contradictions. In this spectacular novel, verbal pyrotechnics barely outshine its psychological truths."--Newsday Winner of the Whitbread Prize One of the most controversial and acclaimed novels ever written, The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's best-known and most galvanizing book. Set in a modern world filled with both mayhem and miracles, the story begins with a bang: the terrorist bombing of a London-bound jet in midflight. Two Indian actors of opposing sensibilities fall to earth, transformed into living symbols of what is angelic and evil. This is just the initial act in a magnificent odyssey that seamlessly merges the actual with the imagined. A book whose importance is eclipsed only by its quality, The Satanic Verses is a key work of our times. Praise for The Satanic Verses "Rushdie is a storyteller of prodigious powers, able to conjure up whole geographies, causalities, climates, creatures, customs, out of thin air."--The New York Times Book Review
"Exhilarating, populous, loquacious, sometimes hilarious, extraordinary . . . a roller-coaster ride over a vast landscape of the imagination."--The Guardian (London)
"A novel of metamorphoses, hauntings, memories, hallucinations, revelations, advertising jingles, and jokes. Rushdie has the power of description, and we succumb."--The Times (London)
"Exhilarating, populous, loquacious, sometimes hilarious, extraordinary . . . a roller-coaster ride over a vast landscape of the imagination."--The Guardian (London)
"A novel of metamorphoses, hauntings, memories, hallucinations, revelations, advertising jingles, and jokes. Rushdie has the power of description, and we succumb."--The Times (London)
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Community Reviews
I didn't plan on reading this book before reading Rushdie's Midnight's children, but oh well, here I am for a reason that majority of people already know. This book started with a silly, comical tone but it was laced with satire and criticism at the core. sometimes the story is incomprehensible in terms of what's actually happening in the book and what's happening in the dream but If I look past some of these unnecessary whining and confusing storylines, the book itself has many qualities of being a revolutionary book.
For example the reimaginations of the origin of Islam and blending it with relevant situations of today was done extremely well. In the other dreamscapes rebirth of Ayesha in a different situation and how she ends up being a symbol of metamorphosis and change(I am not sure how accurate my analysis is though, so don't come at me) Now If I talk about our two protagonists here then I want to say that The contradictory ending of them !!! Gibreel turned to an angle at first and his luck was pretty good but his life became so much pain after his repeated negative actions toward people who are close to him. On the other hand, Saladin had a tough time after becoming a supposed devil but his life turned out to be much better than before even though I can't say that he was any better than Gibreel tbh but IMO it so nothing can be (at least something which has independent consciousness) on the edge of any extreme pole, we all have angle and demon qualities in us.All these aside I love how He incorporated immigration identity in some of the really catalytic events like the cafe fire
all that being said I do think people who would want to read this for enjoyment purposes only would be disappointed cause the book is often draggy and if you are not into a religious allegory that much you would find most of the book meddlesome and unreadable but if you do like allegory and you want to broaden your horizon, you sould give it a try.
3.5 stars out of 5
For example the reimaginations of the origin of Islam and blending it with relevant situations of today was done extremely well. In the other dreamscapes rebirth of Ayesha in a different situation and how she ends up being a symbol of metamorphosis and change(I am not sure how accurate my analysis is though, so don't come at me) Now If I talk about our two protagonists here then I want to say that The contradictory ending of them !!! Gibreel turned to an angle at first and his luck was pretty good but his life became so much pain after his repeated negative actions toward people who are close to him. On the other hand, Saladin had a tough time after becoming a supposed devil but his life turned out to be much better than before even though I can't say that he was any better than Gibreel tbh but IMO it so nothing can be (at least something which has independent consciousness) on the edge of any extreme pole, we all have angle and demon qualities in us.All these aside I love how He incorporated immigration identity in some of the really catalytic events like the cafe fire
all that being said I do think people who would want to read this for enjoyment purposes only would be disappointed cause the book is often draggy and if you are not into a religious allegory that much you would find most of the book meddlesome and unreadable but if you do like allegory and you want to broaden your horizon, you sould give it a try.
3.5 stars out of 5
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