Salman Rushdie's fable "Luka and the Fire of Life" is a fun book about Luka, the son of Rashid Khalifa, a storyteller, and Soraya, a woman of scientific bent. Rashid and Soraya were older parents with a son already full grown when they had Luka, so Luka feels vaguely embarrassed, more so than do most adolescents in search of adventure. That his older brother Haroun already had an awesome adventure of his own (told in Rushdie's earlier "Haroun and the Sea of Stories") just put pressure on Luka to find something, anything that he could call his own. That Luka has two interesting pets -- a bear he calls Dog and a dog he calls Bear -- that came from a dying circus only adds to Luka's internal frustration that he hasn't yet had adventures -- and now that he's hitting puberty, he wants his own adventure.
This is a fable and has the conventions of a fable or fairy tale, yet it's a modern one in that Rushdie nods many times toward the audience as if to say, "Guess what? I'm having fun with this, and you should, too." It's mostly a wry commentary on families, life, and how everyone is searching for his own identity in his own way -- but it's done so well, and with so much brio, that it's almost impossible not to like it even though if you've read many fables or fairy tales, you know how this is going to end.
So plot by itself is really not the upthrust of this book; rather, I'd say this is a book to seek out if you enjoy language, social commentary, and a sideways look at our ever-shrinking world. It's enjoyable, witty, fast-paced in its own way (remember, it's fast-paced for a _fable_), and fun.
Four stars. Recommended.
Barb Caffrey
