The Satanic Verses
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3.4 • 73 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Question: What is the opposite of faith? Not disbelief. Too final, certain, closed. Itself a kind of belief. Doubt.
Discover Salman Rushdie’s critically acclaimed magical realist study of good and evil.
'A masterpiece' Sunday Times
Just before dawn one winter's morning, a plane blows apart high above the English Channel and two figures tumble, clutched in an embrace, towards the sea: Gibreel Farishta, India's legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices.
Washed up, alive, on an English beach, their survival is a miracle. But there is a price to pay. Gibreel and Saladin have been chosen as opponents in the eternal wrestling match between Good and Evil. But chosen by whom? And which is which? And what will be the outcome of their final confrontation?
'A great novelist, a master of perpetual storytelling' V.S. Pritchett
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Banned in India before publication, this immense novel by Booker Prize-winner Rushdie ( Midnight's Children ) pits Good against Evil in a whimsical and fantastic tale. Two actors from India, ``prancing'' Gibreel Farishta and ``buttony, pursed'' Saladin Chamcha, are flying across the English Channel when the first of many implausible events occurs: the jet explodes. As the two men plummet to the earth, ``like titbits of tobacco from a broken old cigar,'' they argue, sing and are transformed. When they are found on an English beach, the only survivors of the blast, Gibreel has sprouted a halo while Saladin has developed hooves, hairy legs and the beginnings of what seem like horns. What follows is a series of allegorical tales that challenges assumptions about both human and divine nature. Rushdie's fanciful language is as concentrated and overwhelming as a paisley pattern. Angels are demonic and demons are angelic as we are propelled through one illuminating episode after another. The narrative is somewhat burdened by self-consciousness that borders on preciosity, but for Rushdie fans this is a splendid feast. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; first serial to Harper's; BOMC alternate; QPBC alternate; author tour.
Customer Reviews
H5 DCH
Loved this book. One of those that needs re-reading again and again. Intriguing, enchanting and beguiling. Rushdie's style and prose is mesmeric.
The satanic verses is a terrible book...
I found it difficult to read such a badly written book and quite frankly found it difficult to even give it one star.
Not for me
Salman Rushdie has an imagination as vast as his intellect, but too great for a fella like me. To get the most out of this novel without a lot of hard work, you should know your Koran and at least something of the panoply of Asian mythology. I don’t and I lost heart as this great humorous fantastical tale could not draw me in.