false 12781 35 No book in modern times has matched the uproar sparked by Salman Rushdie's <i>The Satanic Verses</i>, which earned its author a death sentence. Furor aside, it is a marvelously erudite study of good and evil, a feast of language served up by a writer at the height of his powers, and a rollicking comic fable. The book begins with two Indians, Gibreel Farishta ("for fifteen years the biggest star in the history of the Indian movies") and Saladin Chamcha, a Bombay expatriate returning from his first visit to his homeland in 15 years, plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their jetliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations. Rushdie's powers of invention are astonishing in this Whitbread Prize winner. 1434467 book 1988 The Satanic Verses: A Novel total:6988|5:2180|4:2459|3:1528|2:569|1:252| 6988 26710 12852 802 3 18 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Jun 27 13:22:56 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 27 13:32:02 -0700 2007 ...more...]]> 4 15 false false Fri Dec 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Sep 06 04:47:14 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 24 17:11:41 -0700 2009 1
But before that, a comment on the controversy. My main reaction is sadness that such a potentially great work of literature has been overshadowed ...more...]]> 3 6 false false Mon Dec 10 10:37:23 -0800 2007 Thu Sep 06 14:27:39 -0700 2007 Mon Dec 10 10:31:46 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 7 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Jul 13 06:08:20 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 13 06:19:23 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Tue Dec 25 16:50:50 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 04 10:20:34 -0800 2008
He writes lushly, extravagantly, with story tripping over story, subplot over sub sub plot. Characters tromp throug...more...]]> 5 5 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 27 23:51:42 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 11:10:17 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 4 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 00:27:13 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 18 21:53:03 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 3 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 26 13:03:22 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 27 17:02:42 -0700 2007
The "confusion" is not a bad kind of c...more...]]> 5 4 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Apr 24 18:39:00 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 24 18:46:19 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Feb 23 06:23:29 -0800 2007 Fri Feb 23 06:35:19 -0800 2007
Admittedly, I found this to be a super-complex read: all the dream sequences as well as the way the different le...more...]]> 2 2 false false Sun Dec 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Oct 31 11:54:03 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 08 10:56:32 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 3 false false Thu Jun 26 15:59:31 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 15:59:57 -0700 2008 2 3 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Jul 10 10:33:29 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 25 16:44:40 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 4 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 15 15:05:28 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 19 09:32:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 2 false false Wed Dec 10 03:31:51 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 03:34:00 -0800 2008
I found the writing pretentious, with very little story. It has the potential to...more...]]> 4 2 false false Thu May 22 07:22:24 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 08:33:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Jan 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 05:57:32 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 19:27:28 -0800 2009 a bit exceedingly heavy-handed with the symbolism (I mean, Indian expatriate who denies his Indian roots turns into the incarnation of evil? Come on!), but makes up for it by his pungent prose. Beware though. If sentences like, "Exit Pimple, we...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Oct 16 12:27:46 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 08 02:29:04 -0800 2009
Twenty years after controversy and confusion, I picked this book almost as an obligation, wondering if the publicity was its greatest quality. In fact, on its own, this is, in my opinion, a great novel -- a story which incorporates so many elements all th...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Sep 24 12:59:06 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 24 13:05:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 31 13:07:54 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 31 13:27:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=12781