After reading about all the controversy surrounding this novel, I have been trying to locate a copy for years. When I spotted this sitting on the shelf of my favourite second hand book shop I was nearly frothing at the mouth to get it home and started!
I have read a couple of Salman Rushdie novels before, and really enjoy the lyrical narrative. There is something about the way he puts things, the use of metaphor, that just floats my boat! (Either that - or it just makes me feel more intelligent for reading it...) Quote from publishers weekly says "Rushdie's fanciful language is as concentrated and overwhelming as a paisley pattern" which pretty much sums it up.
Admittedly - I found this novel quite difficult to grasp. Much like War and Peace with name similarity and culture confusion, I did spend some time reading about "people" and feeling confused about exactly who they were, but persevered and ended up really enjoying this novel.
I should have read more about what the satanic verses really were before starting - not wanting to spoil the book, I left the reasarch till the end - it did however make things a lot clearer. A lot of the muslim/indian culture in-jokes sailed well over my head, but I was grasped by this unusual novel. With references of England and India, and almost an allegory about the continued struggle for India to find itself and the how young british indians see the world in a completely different light as well, the novel is firstly a book about people, and secondly a well-crafted story referencing the actual 'Satanic Verses' inspired by the life of mahammud.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses
The novel is centrally about two characters, who after falling from an exploding plane, land back to earth and become reborn, one as the arch angel "Gibreel" and the other as a devil. The book follows their transformation and piecing their lives back together.
While complex in content - it is STILL a good read - and I would recommend to anyone who has the time and sit relaxing over the beautiful prose and imagery of this novel.
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