 | Time is not a linear flow, as we think it is, into past, present, and future. Time is an indivisible whole, a great pool in which all events are eternally embodied and still have their meaningful flash of supernormal or extrasensory perception, and glimpse of something that happened long ago in our linear time. |  F. Waters |
MY BOOK WORLD
Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses: A Novel. New York: Random, 1997 (1988).
In some respects this novel is a simple one. Two men—both Indian actors—fall from the sky when the jumbo jet they’re riding in is split apart by a bomb, apparently. And unlike all the other passengers, only these two men survive. The rest of the novel is spent telling about the spectacular lives of these two men, whose stories sometimes mesh together. I have to admit that this may be one of the most complex contemporary novels I’ve ever read. Though I probably won’t read it again, I believe I would have to in order to understand it more fully.
At the time it was published (late 1980s) Salman Rushdie was nearly crucified for writing it. That seems to be one of the complexities I don’t understand. Why? I guess I would have to be Muslim to get why this novel was so offensive to such a wide swath of such readers (if they indeed did read it). Rushdie does create and recreate worlds that are beyond belief, but he does so in such a manner that one does believe every word. He takes every liberty that an author can take to create or recreate original language and poetry, verses as it were. I read the book aloud to my partner, and I believe that did help me to soak up more of the novel—even if I didn’t understand everything that happened.
Up Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Mary Lee Settle
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Thorstein Veblen
THURS: A Writer's Wit | J. K. Rowling
FRI: My Book World |Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
In some respects this novel is a simple one. Two men—both Indian actors—fall from the sky when the jumbo jet they’re riding in is split apart by a bomb, apparently. And unlike all the other passengers, only these two men survive. The rest of the novel is spent telling about the spectacular lives of these two men, whose stories sometimes mesh together. I have to admit that this may be one of the most complex contemporary novels I’ve ever read. Though I probably won’t read it again, I believe I would have to in order to understand it more fully.
At the time it was published (late 1980s) Salman Rushdie was nearly crucified for writing it. That seems to be one of the complexities I don’t understand. Why? I guess I would have to be Muslim to get why this novel was so offensive to such a wide swath of such readers (if they indeed did read it). Rushdie does create and recreate worlds that are beyond belief, but he does so in such a manner that one does believe every word. He takes every liberty that an author can take to create or recreate original language and poetry, verses as it were. I read the book aloud to my partner, and I believe that did help me to soak up more of the novel—even if I didn’t understand everything that happened.
Up Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Mary Lee Settle
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Thorstein Veblen
THURS: A Writer's Wit | J. K. Rowling
FRI: My Book World |Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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