The Enchantress of Venice - Salman Rushdie

 Fiction

Verdict: It's Rushdie - of course read it!

In a very unfortunate coincidence, Salman Rushdie has been in the news lately because some psycho stabbed him. I read this book while I was on vacation in the states. I know, I'm a wee bit behind.

God damn it, Rushdie has done it again. Either there's no point, or I am not able to figure out what the point was and what's going on underneath. I think everyone knows what's more likely.

Either way, the novel is about women. Witch/enchantress women to be specific. Rise and fall due to popularity/acceptance and just a healthy sprinkling of supernatural. I'll be perfectly honest, that's about all that stuck. It was slow in places, but worth it in the end, even just for surface value. Your typical Rushdie treasure.

I'm planning to dig into the cliff notes for this one. I fought my way though and desperately want to underestand what the hell was going on. Until then, I won't blabber. I wish Salman Rushdie the swiftest and most kick ass recovery ever. 

~Becky~ 

Quichotte - Salman Rushdie

Fiction

Verdict: Read it - just because Rushdie is worth reading.

Yes yes, here we go with Rushdie again. I have been on a mission to read all his work and am slowly getting through it.

This is a novel about a very underwhelming main character. He falls in love with a TV persona, creates a fictional son, and generally loses touch with reality. It's definitely very loosely based on Don Quixote, which Rushdie readily admits to. The novel is a weird one and I'm sure that as with all Rushdie novels, I'm missing a great deal of the undercurrent that explains his stories.

Dystopian themes aren't actually rare for Rushdie, but for some reason, I've just now realized this. Compared with the previous novel, this one was easier to read and shorter. I won't go on about it because it's a Rushdie novel - you have to read it to contemplate it. 

Read it!

~Becky~

Imaginary Homelands - Salman Rushdie

 NonFiction

Verdict: Read it

No readers, we are not done fangirling about Salman Rushdie.  I suspect I will never be done with that.  This book was picked up merely because Rushdie's name was on the cover. It turned out to be a bit different than I expected, but that's one of the joys (or risks, depends on perspective) of how I buy books. Imaginary Homelands is a collection of essays/book reviews that Salman Rushdie has written about other books. It was both difficult and fantastic at the same time. But then again readers, what else is to be expected of Salmon Rushdie?

Exploring into Rushdie's mind is always a fun adventure, and this was a different trip than going through one of his novels. We get to see not only what I am sure is a partial reading list from Rushdie, we also get to see what impresses him and what doesn't; the forces and authors who shaped him as an author. This is an exciting exercise for me, especially when the author is one I admire and is intelligent.

That being said, not all of the essays are easy to read (surprise surprise!) and some are boring. This actually made me mildly amused as it gives us a glimpse into Rushdie as a person. If you know anything about Rushdie, he is unapologetic about his opinions, even when they aren't popular and he sometimes comes off as extremely arrogant. This shines through in his writing of the essays as well.

I think my favorite essay in this collection has to do with Umberto Eco and Focault's Pendulum. Rushdie slaughtered it, saying it was over objectified and unnecessarily boring and odd. This was one book that my ex husband always glorified as being one of the pinnacles of intelligence if you could read and understand. We will of course not discuss his intellectual snobbery nor love of unnecessarily complicated things here. I of course had to try to tackle it. Yes readers, I am one of those. I also, of course, got bored out of my gourd and just figured I was punching way above my weight limit and just wasn't that smart. Reading what Salman Rushdie said put a huge smile on my face. 

My second favorite essay(s) was the response at the end of the book to criticism and backlash to Satanic Verses. Satanic Verses was my intro to Rushdie (and what a hell of an introduction!) and I have a special place in my heart for that novel. I've since read it 3 times and am still finding things to understand about it. Reading about Rushdie's purpose and mindset reading has helped me understand the novel further, which I definitely appreciate. I'm now inclined to read it again. 

Rushdie challenges people's views of many things and while it may be a frustrating endeavour to read him and understand all his intelligence and subtext, for a serious reader, these are good things rather than bad. Understanding the amazing writer's influences can help us become better writers ourselves and have better context to the world as readers.

Read it!

~Becky~

The Ground Beneath Her Feet - Salman Rushdie

Fiction

Verdict: Read it

Yes, yes, I have a thing for Salman Rushdie. Or rather Salman Rushdie's books. He seems like rather a prick but I forgive him on account of genius. 

This was a novel that I got from the library, didn't get around to reading, and had to regretfully return. Fortunately on my last trip to the bookstore, I found a copy. Now when Salman Rushdie gets to writing, the man gets to writing. This isn't a short novel, and I'll admit, it drags a bit as Rushdie weaves his magic and gets around slowly to his point.

The novel is about a love triangle between the narrator and two famous singers, who he happens to have grown up. Rushdie takes his time going into the backgrounds of the characters and families. Vina Aspara, the central focus of the novel, and she's got a complicated background. The story slowly wanders through their growing up, becoming famous, and ending in tragic and mysterious circumstances.

Underneath it all, it's a love story, even though it's a super unconventional one. Vina also is a hell of a heroine, though she's also a super unconventional one. The story does wander off into weird territory at the end.  As with all Rushdie works, there are things going on underneath what he's saying. In this instance, I can't figure out what he is saying in this one, but that's not surprising.

What I can say is that Rushdie's interpretation of a love story and a heroine make it worth reading.  Plus, it's Salman Rushdie. It's worth reading.

Read it!

~Becky~

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty Eight Nights - Salman Rushdie

Fiction

Read it

My love of Salman Rushdie novels is not really a secret. This was an extension of that appreciation. Unfortunately, it's a classic Rushdie - meaning there's a lot going on that is under the surface and I feel like I missed most of it. 

The story is easy to follow - it's a mythological type book with genies, and good and evil. It's also a very interesting love story in it's own way.  Ordinary people are called upon to settle a fight against evil forces - in the form of very real Djins. Rushdie enjoys himself setting up characteristics for both the good and evil djins, and makes them very accessible - they are almost human in their flaws. Rushdie cannot be rushed through the plot. His ponderous style takes a while to get used to, but one has to appreciate how methodical he is. 

I'm not going to say much more than this because you must read his novels to truly appreciate them, and anything else I say is just going to be noise at this point.

Read it!

~Becky~