Satanic Verses: Amazon.ca: Salman Rushdie: Books

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From Amazon.com

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From 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.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt

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Customer Reviews

65 Reviews

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
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1 star:		(10)

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4.1 out of 5 stars (65 customer reviews)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars knowing about Islam DOES help a lot..., April 11 2002

By A Customer

Even if you don't know anything about Islam, the book is still beautiful and entertaining and you'll get a lot out of it. But don't believe the people who say that you don't need to know anything beyond who Muhammad is to understand it completely. I read the book right before I started a class on Islam, and I understood a lot of the main messages. After I took the class, though, so many things started to make more sense. For example, Rushdie renames Mecca "Jahilia", which in Islam refers to the 'age of pagan ignorance'. (So he's calling the most holy city a place of ignorance...) That's just a tiny example; most of them are a lot more detailed. There are so many incredibly complex things that are going on in this book, that you simply can't understand it all if you don't know anything about Islam. I would still encourage anyone to read it though. Maybe it'll spark an interest to learn more about the religion.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a WONDERFUL book, May 19 2002

By	Greg (Wading River, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This book is incredible. Rushdie has a unique, lyrical prose style that makes this book a joy to read. The Satanic Verses deals with two men who fall from a hijacked airpane and survive. After the fall, (hmm) they undergo a series of transformations: one man, Gibreel Farishta, is changed into an archangel, while Saladin Chamcha changes into a demon. The story also deals with immigration: the loss of one's homeland and the mistreatment and bigotry with which immigrants are treated. Beyond that, Rushdie is dealing with the intertwined nature of good and evil. Where the book has been accused of blasphemy are the passages in which he opposes the black/white polarization of good and evil in organized religion. I would not recommend this book to a devout Muslim, Catholic, or any unquestioned believer in any dogmatic religion. It questions many beliefs about God and about life. However, I do not feel Rushdie is an atheist, only a believer who does not want to be told what to think. This book is a great masterpiece, second only in Rushdie's catalogue to Midnight's Children. (Well, I haven't read Ground Beneath her Feet yet, but MC is the best I've read so far.) I highly recommend this book and Salman Rushdie. I would read Midnight's Children first if you're a Rushdie newbie.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, Dec 31 2006

By	Y.A. (Philly, PA) - See all my reviews

THE SATANIC VERSES is a great humanistic book. This, along with Franzen's THE CORRECTIONS made up my great reading for the past year. The message I got from the book is that good and evil are simply two attributes of the same human essence as opposed to being the workings of special agents (angels and devils). Angels, devils, revelations, inspirations are all devices of the rich human imagination. Thoughts belong wholly to the thinker, and the actions belong wholly to the doer.

This message is not of course novel. Rushdie's deliverance, however, is ingenious. The two protagonists, two adult males, fall from the sky after a plane accident. The traumatic incident gives Rushdie the justification to set his heroes on a journey where the reader is led to review the concepts of good and evil through the eyes and minds of the two characters. Both characters are Indian.

But I do believe their plight is pretty universal. Salahuddin Chamcha is a man at odds with his father and with his country culture for reasons that we come to recognize as believable and human and real. Gibreel Farishta, on the other hand, is living a surreal life as an Indian movie icon, depicting on the screen all sorts of religious figures in the wide spiritual spectrum found in India. After the incident, Chamcha found himself being transformed to a devil, while Gibreel turned to an angel. Their experiences and later transformations and the stories given through their minds are then used potently by Rushdie to deliver his humanistic message.

I picked from THE SATANIC VERSES another subtle idea in what i believe to be Rushdie's spiritual world view. While we are told that revealed religions and inspired ideas are in fact only the brain children of their "prophets", we are also told that they are not without any use. They provide a powerful mental and spiritual support, albeit imaginary, at moments of extreme human vulnerability, e.g. when dying. Chamcha's father, born Muslim and disillusioned adult, did not mention God on his deathbed (in popular Islamis belief, a dying person is strongly advised to profess his belief in God and the prophet as the ultimate sign of faith. failing to do so may deprive the dying one from after-world blessings).

At the death instant, Chamcha sees his father with signs of terror on his face, and we wonder: Has Rushdie finally conceded to the "inspired idea". However at the last moment, Chamcha's father dies with a smile on his face. So it seems the long-programmed beliefs in after-life blessings and heaven finally produced a pleasant image that carried the old believer through an otherwise painful and terrifying experience. The same happened in the story of the "butterfly prophet" dreamt by Gibreel.
And so Rushdie's message in the final analysis centers on the potency of human ideas.

These ideas, which we sometimes choose to call revelations or visions or inspirations, are *the* true source of evil and of good and of misery and of happiness. Rushdie's spiritual landscape does not necessarily exclude the idea of God, but it also does not seek to confirm it. Believe what you want about the origin of Cosmos, Rushdie seems to say, but always assume full responsibility for your ideas and actions. And don't take your beliefs too seriously lest you find on your hands a pretext for violence.

So what's with Rushdie and Muslims. I am a Muslim. I definitely understand that some of Rushdie's imagery can be very shocking to a traditional Muslim, especially that he uses Islam and Mohammed to illustrate his idea that revealed religions are not revealed at all. I, however, despise the death fatwa. the idea of silencing an idea with violence is repulsive to me. It is only an indication of intellectual weakness and cowardice. I found the book very interesting and thought provoking. And I will always appreciate a book that so tickles my mind. Must also highly recommend Franzen's THE CORRECTIONS, for if you haven't read it, you need to!

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Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Impossible to Follow
The Satanic Verses was a huge disappointment. The plot was all over the place and failed to interest me at all. How could this novel have caused so much hype?

Published on Dec 17 2006 by AZ Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a STORY not a book based in facts
I'm an open-minded person, and have also striven to be fair and honest in my dealings with people, regardless of race or colour or creed or religion. Read more

Published on Mar 6 2006 by Ambrosia Blue

1.0 out of 5 stars Too much hype...
When this book came out I thought it might be a good read but decided to wait until all the hype around it was over to better make an accurate judgement. Read more

Published on Oct 31 2005 by balrais1

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard but awesome
I really enjoyed while reading this book. Though I am not an english native speaker I made it quite well with the original version. Read more

Published on Jun 4 2004 by manuvalencia

1.0 out of 5 stars " The Good, The Bad, And The ugly"
These are the three things you can notice in this book:

1. The Good: that he has a command of the english language;

5.0 out of 5 stars An almost overwhelming, but deeply pleasurable task.
__________
Fluff or Not? NOT
__________

Similar to several other reviewers I freely admit a lack of robust understanding of all that went on in Rushdie's 'Verses'... Read more

Published on Oct 21 2003 by Heidi Kneller

5.0 out of 5 stars Satanic Verses from Bobs Books
The book arrived within 5 days of my order.This was a very good turnaround time. Bobs Books is a good source that you can trust. Read more

Published on Jun 23 2003 by D. Hall

4.0 out of 5 stars Shocking. Thought-provoking. Humanistic.
The Satanic Verses is a great humanistic book. The message I got from the book is that good and evil are simply two attributes of the same human essence as opposed to being the... Read more

Published on May 19 2002 by Yasser S. Abououf

1.0 out of 5 stars Over-rated, over long, over the top
This is a really very disappointing read. If it had not been for Rushdie's networking and the controversy he courted this book would gone out of print long ago. Read more

Published on April 4 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Story first, jihad later...
I don't get why the Ayatollah wanted this guy dead. Don't pick this book up expecting some blasphemous, controversial diatribe, cause it ain't there. Read more

Published on Mar 28 2002 by Gordon Smith

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