Jayson’s Reviews > Shalimar the Clown > Status Update
Jayson
is 73% done
Notes:
(1) It's interesting to consider acronyms (and/or initialisms) in this book.
- Previously, acronyms were posited as the language of post-war politics and bureaucracy: "Its aggressive uninterest in euphony, marked it out as power-speech. Power had no need for prettification, no need to make things easy."
- Fast-forward, and we see acronymic "power-speech" adopted by militant groups (e.g. JKLF, MNLF/MILF, HAJY).
— Sep 21, 2025 10:25PM
(1) It's interesting to consider acronyms (and/or initialisms) in this book.
- Previously, acronyms were posited as the language of post-war politics and bureaucracy: "Its aggressive uninterest in euphony, marked it out as power-speech. Power had no need for prettification, no need to make things easy."
- Fast-forward, and we see acronymic "power-speech" adopted by militant groups (e.g. JKLF, MNLF/MILF, HAJY).
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Jayson’s Previous Updates
Jayson
is finished
Notes:
(1) It's interesting how magical realism factors into the story: starting totally absent, it slowly crescendos—like a frog in boiling water—to a beyond-doubt event at the end.
- Mostly, it involves prophecy and telepathic intrusion—Boonyi, Kashmira and Shalimar the Clown could have really used some occlumency lessons!
(2) In sum: the book strives for maximum context, but spends too much time lost in the weeds.
— Oct 07, 2025 12:10AM
(1) It's interesting how magical realism factors into the story: starting totally absent, it slowly crescendos—like a frog in boiling water—to a beyond-doubt event at the end.
- Mostly, it involves prophecy and telepathic intrusion—Boonyi, Kashmira and Shalimar the Clown could have really used some occlumency lessons!
(2) In sum: the book strives for maximum context, but spends too much time lost in the weeds.
Jayson
is 93% done
Notes:
(1) "[Kashmira's] mother had stepped toward love, defying convention, and it had cost her dearly."
- Kashmira (FKA India) has seemingly been sold a bill of goods—I have no clue what "love" Boonyi stepped toward.
- With Shalimar the Clown, sure, marrying a Muslim defied Hindu convention, but it wasn't her choice and she left him as soon as she could.
- With Max, she was just his local sugar baby. No love there.
— Oct 06, 2025 01:10AM
(1) "[Kashmira's] mother had stepped toward love, defying convention, and it had cost her dearly."
- Kashmira (FKA India) has seemingly been sold a bill of goods—I have no clue what "love" Boonyi stepped toward.
- With Shalimar the Clown, sure, marrying a Muslim defied Hindu convention, but it wasn't her choice and she left him as soon as she could.
- With Max, she was just his local sugar baby. No love there.
Jayson
is 87% done
Notes:
(1) Re: Assassin, Sergeant Hilliker: "... we'll get him, ma'am, don't doubt it, this isn't Indian country, it's ours."
- Interesting to say to a woman named India, of Indian parentage, for whom an Indian connection was always denied.
- Interesting to say about an Indian assassin, who is indeed far from home and without kin nor refuge (unlike the rapist Gegroo brothers, who found sanctuary and escaped capture).
— Sep 30, 2025 11:00AM
(1) Re: Assassin, Sergeant Hilliker: "... we'll get him, ma'am, don't doubt it, this isn't Indian country, it's ours."
- Interesting to say to a woman named India, of Indian parentage, for whom an Indian connection was always denied.
- Interesting to say about an Indian assassin, who is indeed far from home and without kin nor refuge (unlike the rapist Gegroo brothers, who found sanctuary and escaped capture).
Jayson
is 80% done
Notes:
(1) Shalimar's real name is Noman Noman. Around two-thirds through, it dawned on me how Noman is a play on "No Man." That's symbolic in several respects—Noman Noman is "no man" plural.
- As an anonymous assassin, "no man" both in terms of being inhuman, as well as being invisible—or even death personified.
- As a cuckold, "no man" in terms of being emasculated.
- As a family name, "no man" as in being no more.
— Sep 25, 2025 08:45AM
(1) Shalimar's real name is Noman Noman. Around two-thirds through, it dawned on me how Noman is a play on "No Man." That's symbolic in several respects—Noman Noman is "no man" plural.
- As an anonymous assassin, "no man" both in terms of being inhuman, as well as being invisible—or even death personified.
- As a cuckold, "no man" in terms of being emasculated.
- As a family name, "no man" as in being no more.
Jayson
is 67% done
Notes:
(1) Shalimar the Clown: "All I ever learned how to do is walk across a rope and fall over like an idiot and make a few bored people laugh ... the real bad dream starts when you wake up ... And now that I’ve woken up there is something important I need to do also..."
- An actor gets political. Why am I not surprised?
- And for the reason I assume most actors get political: They want to be more than just clowns.
— Sep 20, 2025 01:10AM
(1) Shalimar the Clown: "All I ever learned how to do is walk across a rope and fall over like an idiot and make a few bored people laugh ... the real bad dream starts when you wake up ... And now that I’ve woken up there is something important I need to do also..."
- An actor gets political. Why am I not surprised?
- And for the reason I assume most actors get political: They want to be more than just clowns.
Jayson
is 60% done
Notes:
(1) This compares and contrasts willing and unwilling sexual pariahs.
- Giving birth at an orphanage, Boonyi is mocked by survivors of sexual slavery for pursuing a life of sexual servitude.
- Returning to her village, Boonyi learns she'd been declared "dead." A fate shared by her friend, Zoon Misri—"dead" from being gang raped.
- In all cases, willing or unwilling, the result's the same: you end up an orphan.
— Sep 17, 2025 10:30PM
(1) This compares and contrasts willing and unwilling sexual pariahs.
- Giving birth at an orphanage, Boonyi is mocked by survivors of sexual slavery for pursuing a life of sexual servitude.
- Returning to her village, Boonyi learns she'd been declared "dead." A fate shared by her friend, Zoon Misri—"dead" from being gang raped.
- In all cases, willing or unwilling, the result's the same: you end up an orphan.
Jayson
is 54% done
Notes:
(1) Is it just pretense? Or does Max honestly believe he can hide his serial infidelities from his wife, the former spy?
- Albeit retired, she still has top-level surveillance and intelligence contacts.
(2) It's interesting how Max's daughter India was originally named Kashmira by Boonyi.
- A bit on-the-nose, but a decent allegory of Kashmir's short-lived bid for independence and its forced accession to India.
— Sep 11, 2025 10:10PM
(1) Is it just pretense? Or does Max honestly believe he can hide his serial infidelities from his wife, the former spy?
- Albeit retired, she still has top-level surveillance and intelligence contacts.
(2) It's interesting how Max's daughter India was originally named Kashmira by Boonyi.
- A bit on-the-nose, but a decent allegory of Kashmir's short-lived bid for independence and its forced accession to India.
Jayson
is 47% done
Notes:
(1) Max's WWII resistance activities are described as "terrorism."
- Given the time of writing, this may have been meant to counter the idea of terrorism being strictly Islamic.
(2) I hate to sound Anglo-centric, but, whether it's European or South Asian, this book has way too many complicated foreign-language names for me to remember and keep straight.
- Moreover, most of these characters simply don't matter!
— Sep 08, 2025 09:05PM
(1) Max's WWII resistance activities are described as "terrorism."
- Given the time of writing, this may have been meant to counter the idea of terrorism being strictly Islamic.
(2) I hate to sound Anglo-centric, but, whether it's European or South Asian, this book has way too many complicated foreign-language names for me to remember and keep straight.
- Moreover, most of these characters simply don't matter!
Jayson
is 40% done
Notes:
(1) We get a sort of relay-race handoff where the narrative baton is passed from Boonyi/Noman to Max Ophuls.
- It's a handoff marked by sexually-charged eye contact between Boonyi and Max.
(2) Rushdie does his darndest to make Max seem super-cool, like a cross between Ian Fleming and James Bond.
- It all seems too try-hard. "The Flying Jew" isn't doing it for me as a super-suave and roguish resistance fighter.
— Sep 04, 2025 04:15PM
(1) We get a sort of relay-race handoff where the narrative baton is passed from Boonyi/Noman to Max Ophuls.
- It's a handoff marked by sexually-charged eye contact between Boonyi and Max.
(2) Rushdie does his darndest to make Max seem super-cool, like a cross between Ian Fleming and James Bond.
- It all seems too try-hard. "The Flying Jew" isn't doing it for me as a super-suave and roguish resistance fighter.
Jayson
is 34% done
Notes:
(1) The over-sexual 14 year-old Boonyi, who fancies herself a temptress and manipulator of men, inadvertently draws the affection of a colonel and a teacher/spy.
- Ironic (or simply delusional), in this religious patriarchy, to believe she has any power over men.
(2) Pandit Gopinath does the Clark Kent eyeglasses trick.
- He drops his "fogyish pose" and "looked younger and steelier, a man to be reckoned with."
— Aug 31, 2025 11:00PM
(1) The over-sexual 14 year-old Boonyi, who fancies herself a temptress and manipulator of men, inadvertently draws the affection of a colonel and a teacher/spy.
- Ironic (or simply delusional), in this religious patriarchy, to believe she has any power over men.
(2) Pandit Gopinath does the Clark Kent eyeglasses trick.
- He drops his "fogyish pose" and "looked younger and steelier, a man to be reckoned with."
