Product Description
Just before dawn one winter’s morning, a hijacked jetliner explodes above the English Channel. Through the falling debris, two figures, Gibreel Farishta, the biggest star in India, and Saladin Chamcha, an expatriate returning from his first visit to Bombay in fifteen years, plummet from the sky, washing up on the snow-covered sands of an English beach, and proceed through a series of metamorphoses, dreams, and revelations.
Amazon.com Review
No book in modern times has matched the uproar sparked by Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, 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.
Anonymous @ 4:10 pm
Being a Moslem, and having recently returned from an extended stay in India, I read The Satanic Verses with keen interest and found that both of these experiences contributed immensely to my enjoyment of this complex work. It was a clever showcase of Rushdie’s typically brilliant prose, and a thoroughly compelling read. But be warned: many of the jokes and references probably would escape the average Western reader (by average, I mean one not familiar with Islam or Indian culture).
That being said, I noticed that many reviewers here say they do not find the book offensive to Moslems, while simultaneously admitting their own lack of knowledge regarding Islam. As a fairly well-versed Moslem, I can impartially state that Rushdie repeatedly criticizes, and even ridicules, the Islamic faith, in ways both subtle and overt, throughout this entire book.
Did Rushie’s criticism bother me? Not at all. Did it justify a Fatwa by the Ayatollah? Of course not. But can the book be reasonably interpreted as being offensive to some Moslems? Those who know the Islamic faith would be hard-pressed to argue otherwise.
Nevertheless, realizing that this is just a work of fiction by a gifted novelist, I enjoyed reading the book and recommend it to all my friends.
Peter Wang @ 5:48 pm
On the evening of September 10, 2001, the acclaimed, or is it notorious, British-Indian author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie, came to Houston to read from his latest work. A small crowd of Ayatollah-following extremist protesters picketed outside the Alley Theater. If that is all they’re up to now, I thought, perhaps we’ve heard the last of the jihad, the fatwa and the Islamic crazies. Little did I know what outrage awaited the next day.
When I found The Satanic Verses in the book store, I thought, If this is a war of ideas, a war for the mind, then my own little personal protest will be to read what my enemy does not want anyone to read. It had not occurred to me before, because the fervor of the fatwa led me to believe Salman Rushdie’s book was some sort of religious tract or angry political protest against Muslim fundamentalism, not a novel of brilliant imagination, sensual metaphor and lyrical poetry.
It is a story of India and Britain, and the inevitable clashes between, brought on by their long, and turbulent history together. It is a story about personal identity, racial identity and religious identity. It is a story of damnation and redemption, love and betrayal, betrayal and forgiveness. But most of all, it is a story about people. Deep, colorful and live, full of passion, humor and questions for the Almighty. It is, in short, a human story, so well crafted, that anyone, even someone like me who has little experience with India or Islam, can relate to its message.
Perhaps this accessibility is just what worried the Ayatollah Khomeni. By issuing his death sentence upon Salman Rushdie’s head, he drew widespread attention and sympathy for a talented writer who might otherwise have gone unnoticed outside his own circle of interest. Khomeni also demonstrated what power mere words could hold over those who rule by the absolutism of ideas.
“What does a poet write? Verses. What jingle-jangles in Gibreel’s brain? Verses. What broke his heart? Verses and again verses.”
Rushdie’s criticism for the religion of Islam/Submission, as spread by the Prophet Mohammed/Mahound, is sharp, angry and completely unapologetic. He even goes so far as to suggest that Mahound invented a lot of the “rules” of this religion for the sake of convenience, or compromise, in businesslike fashion,
for the more successful spread and maintenance of power of the Idea and its officials.
Throughout the story, Rushdie asks the question, Where are the words, or verses, attributed to God/Allah really coming from?
“All around him, he thinks as he half-dreams, half-wakes, are people hearing voices, being seduced by words. But not his; never his original material. – Then whose? Who is whispering in their ears, enabling them to move mountains, halt clocks, diagnose disease? He can’t work it out.”
No wonder Khomeni was afraid.
One amusing thing is that Rushdie was clearly aware of the danger he was creating for himself by writing and publishing his opinions.
“‘And now Mahound is coming in triumph; so I shall lose my life after all. And his power has grown too great for me to unmake him now.’ Baal asked: ‘Why are you sure he will kill you?’ Salman the Persian answered: ‘It’s his Word against mine’.”
I did not, however, get the sense that Rushdie was arguing against belief in God or even Allah. The book has too much life-affirming optimism for such a stance. His argument is against God’s misuse for the purpose of controlling or subjugating people; that submission is not for normal human beings. Normal
human beings wrestle with God, have doubts, questions, even anger. “What kind of idea are you?” He asks repeatedly throughout the book. “How do you behave when you are weak?” – Bend, compromise, in order to survive? “How do you behave when you are strong?” Hard, unyielding, pure? or Forgiving and merciful?
But even while all these heavy questions are being considered and discussed, Rushdie never loses his sense of humor.
“Gibreel’s vision of the Supreme Being was not abstract in the least. He saw, sitting on the bed, a man of about the same age as himself, of medium height, fairly heavily built, with salt-and-pepper beard cropped close to the jaw. What struck him most was that the apparition was balding, seemed to suffer from dandruff and wore glasses.”
With his lightning-fast wit and willingness to satire even himself, he reminds us all that, Hey, this is a book, a novel, and its first purpose is to entertain. The Ayatollahs, Imams and religious dictators need to lighten up.
Darren Hughes @ 7:47 pm
The Satanic Verses has been dubbed (amongst many other things!) `the most famous book most people will never read’. If true it’s is a real shame, because at the centre of all the extreme opinion that surrounds the book, the condemnation, acclaim and analysis, is an incredible and accessible novel far greater than the sum of its few controversial parts. Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha `crash land’ together in England from India and are both profoundly transformed by the experience. Farishta begins to develop an angelic halo, while Chamcha metamorphoses into a cloven-hoofed devil complete with horns and bad breath. Both men suffer, in different ways, the brutality and indignity of their transformations in Rushdie’s evocation of a tense and brooding London. Ultimately it is the `demonic’ Chamcha who finds fulfilment by returning to India, the `angelic’ Farishta is not so fortunate. Merging fantasy and reality, Rushdie uses the subversive excesses of `magical realism’ to explore the demands of migration and how those demands can destroy the fragile assurances of identity and belonging most of us take for granted. Farishta is haunted by the nightmares of his lost Muslim faith, Chamcha by the impossible dream of reinventing himself as an Englishman. Through these and the experiences of other often outrageously conceived characters, Rushdie reflects on how people suffer, and are made to suffer, for the sake of a little certainty. If it all sounds a little heavy, don’t be put off. Above all this is a great piece of story-telling, funny, extraordinary and completely absorbing. Rushdie works his usual narrative magic, writing on a grand exuberant scale that takes in everything from sex and death to flying carpets and hot wax, but also the delicate intimacies of desire and despair. Poignant and staggeringly imaginative, The Satanic Verses explores continuing cultural obsessions with purity and stability in a world increasingly lacking in either.
Anonymous @ 9:47 pm
First of all let me start by reviewing the book. Satanic Verses is a difficult, hilarious and severe work . Since I had a Pakistani friend translate some of the Urdu where most of the attacks against Islam are, I also have a pretty good understanding of its content. I am a muslim, and not a particularly religious one, but I feel ver compelled to point out the blatant rascism most of the world shows over this contrevorsy(rather than Mr.Rushdie), I view it as a good thing to critisize religion in general because for all its virtues over the years it has been responsible for more blood shed than any single conflict ever had. Yet most of the western press says that the “muslims” want Rushdie’s head and even open minded jounalists like Roger Ebert the film critic who’s reviews I grew up with says “Islam is a religion not comatable with our western culture , indeed the chilling death sentence show its limitation on freedom of speech.” Let make this very clear, I and most of the other 1.3 Billion muslims couldn’t care less what a sociopath like Ayatullah whatever says, I live in Tunisia and don’t even speak his language, nor do I wish to be judged by what a moron like Louise Farakan says they don’t represent me or any Muslim I know. Yet most of you know this yet when one of these idiots says something it is the muslims who are qouted. If you are going to critisize Islam( and there are grounds for that) read the scripture itself, which for the most part is very open minded. Many events such as the prophet having dinner with a Jewish family, and never once is the wearing of veil advocated in the Quran. Indeed of all organised religion Islam is probably the most open minded , a fact that is obscured by the people who practise it (mostly third world countries living under dictators, and it is this povertly and a certain illiteracy that is reponsible for the dogmatic appearance of Islam. In the Seventh and Eightth centuries Arabian authours regularly questioned God, how can religion cuase so much Bloodshed (Crusades, Middle East, Bosnia). indeed it fits Rushdie’s discription a devil with angelic features. I am generally dis-illisioned with any sort of faith that makes people narrow minded and cold, I have a natural dis-like for people who follow religious law as a manual for life, and as an Individual of faith(any faith) I think God wants to be questioned and that is why he gave the ability to question and doubt, Mr.Rushdie’s book is not a fan of Islam , but it is an elequent attack , and those who disapprove should respond with “elequent” attacks of their own .
Christopher A. Smith @ 12:10 am
An incredibly original and creative novel.
Many readers have been drawn to this novel by the provocative controversy which surrounds it. If you’re reading Satanic Verses looking for a shocking denouncement you will likely be disappointed. Unless you’re a scholar of the Islamic faith you likely won’t understand what all the fuss is about.
I read this novel over ten years ago and have re-read it in bits and pieces many times since. Aside from the imaginative interwoven plot the most compelling feature of Verses is Rushdie’s amazing lyrical writing style. Love him or hate him Rushdie is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant authors writing in the English language, and practically every section of prose could be enjoyed on it’s own independent of the story. There is more word-play and double meanings is Verses than you could find in a dozen readings; every time you read a chapter you’ll find something new.
Aside from a general interest in the various religions of the world I profess no great knowledge of the Koran, therefore undoubtedly there is symbolism in Verses that I missed/didn’t understand. Some elements of this book that won’t be accessible for the lay reader. But based purely on its creativity and masterful prose this book is a worthwhile, entertaining, and challenging read.
(A background note: Satanic Verses was the first Rushdie novel I read, and I promptly fell in love with his work. I subsequently read The Moor’s Last Sigh and East West, and promptly feel right back out of love. Satanic Verses was the novel that Rushdie was born to write; in his lyrical prose, humor, and surrealistic mix of realism with the fantastic he creates an amazing work of art. Nothing he has written comes close. Unless you’re a die-hard Rushdie fan, a scholar of Indian society and the interrelation between East and West simply read this novel and skip the rest.)