Victory City
A Novel
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4.1 • 9 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries—from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize–winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie
“A major accomplishment by one of our greatest living writers . . . It does not resemble any other novel I could name.”—Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hours
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2023: TIME, The Toronto Star, The Washington Post, The Guardian, USA Today, The Tampa Bay Times, The Week, CNBC, Business Insider, Kirkus Reviews, and Literary Hub
In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga—“victory city”—the wonder of the world.
Over the next 250 years, Pampa Kampana’s life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga’s, from its literal sowing from a bag of magic seeds to its tragic ruination in the most human of ways: the hubris of those in power. Whispering Bisnaga and its citizens into existence, Pampa Kampana attempts to make good on the task that the goddess set for her: to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception. As years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, the very fabric of Bisnaga becomes an ever more complex tapestry—with Pampa Kampana at its center.
Brilliantly narrated in the style of an ancient epic, Victory City is a saga of love, adventure, and myth that is in itself a testament to the power of storytelling.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Legendary novelist Salman Rushdie draws us into a mythological epic about an imperfect deity trying to lead an entire human society. After witnessing her mother’s death, nine-year-old Pampa Kampana becomes the earthly embodiment of a goddess. She creates Bisnaga, a new civilization that she hopes to lead as a benevolent ruler, but soon finds out the hard way that guiding people isn’t easy—even when you’ve breathed life into them yourself. Rushdie brings a knowing wit to this engaging parable, presenting the story as a modern translation of an ancient text, complete with editor’s notes. From the carnal desires that often mess up rulers’ lives to full-scale wars with nearby nations, Pampa’s exploits over her 250 years of godly life make for fascinating reading. Victory City left us breathless.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rushdie (Midnight's Children) conjures a rich if undercooked story of a doomed empire and its creator, a woman who lived to be 247. A Sanskrit manuscript is found buried in a clay pot in present-day southern India. On it is a narrative poem by Pampa Kampana, who, as a child in the 14th century, is granted magical abilities by a goddess to empower women. After nine silent years in a cave, Pampa is visited by two soldiers turned cowherds. Pampa hands them a sack of seeds and instructs them to "grow a city." Through their work, Pampa conjures the city of Bisnaga, where people are "born full-grown from the brown earth." Though Bisnaga's palace guards are strong and noble women, the male soldiers sent out to conquer the surrounding lands are greedy and ruthless. Having taken a turn away from the promise early on of a feminine utopia, the novel grows ponderous with yet another story of violent, narrow-minded men. Still, there's plenty of clever commentary on human corruption and religious purity ("In this way Pampa learned the lesson every creator must learn, even God himself. Once you had created your characters, you had to be bound by their choices"). Fans of Rushdie's magical realism and narrative trickery will find much to admire, even if this won't be remembered as one of his better works.
