The Satanic Verses

Rating:
Summary: Playfully serious
Review: For a book that generated apopleptic rage from a large majority of conservative and mainstream Muslims, The Satanic Verses is a surprisingly playful and enjoyable read. It constantly demands the abandonment of religious certainty and replaces it with an all too world-weary search for truth and tolerance. As a current American citizen (and former British citizen) of Indian extraction, it was a joy to read. This book will not change your life or cause you to lose your faith in God. However, it will challenge you to wonder about exactly what ancient revelation means in the midst of a rapidly changing world. Religious purity often inadvertantly includes intolerance for others, and the grotesque changes that poor Saladin Chamcha endures underline the necessity of tolerance as a prime virtue in today's interconnected world.

Rating:
Summary: VERY SHARP
Review: This is so deep, sharp and analitical at the same time. It was needed and it was quite timely.

Rating:
Summary: A most important contemporary novel and a wild ride
Review: Salman Rushdie's THE SATANIC VERSES is an often touching, occaissionally brilliant, and always entertaining novel. Over 500 pages, Rushie ties together exploration of such themes as the crass consumerism of modern culture, the Indian immigrant experience in England, the origin of Islam in the idolatry of the Arabian peninsula, and the nebulous duality of good and evil. However, it is such a good time that one almost feels that the novel is *too* entertaining, that it doesn't maintain the decorum that Great Literature is supposed to have.

The novel begins as the Indian movie star Gibreel Farishta and Bombay-born Englishman Saladin Chamcha fall from the sky, their London-bound airliner having been blown up by Sikh nationalists. Miraculously they survive the fall of thirty thousand feet and wash up on an English beach. From here, Chamcha, arrested by police believing he is an illegal immigrant, begins to change into a devil, growing horns and cloven hooves. Farishta goes the opposite way, he becomes his namesake archangel and starts to have strange dreams, in which the reader is transported to, among other places, Mecca in the time of the prophet "Mahound." Although Farishta and Chamcha are now total opposites morally according to appearance, each continues to live their lives in an unpredictable fashion, and the ending, with Farishta's Joycean soliliquoy is truly a tour de force. The transformation and subsequent experiences of Farishta and Chamcha form the main point of THE SATANIC VERSES: there are no polar opposites, no God and no Satan, but rather ready two sides of a single coin. Rushdie has stated that one of his greatest influences in writing this novel was Mikhail Bulgakov's anti-Soviet satire THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, a book in which the devil is, ironically, made a suave hero. With such inspiration, it's plain that Rushdie wants to present an alternate view of human character, and THE SATANIC VERSES triumphantly rises above its predecessor, Bulgakov's rather shabby novel.

While most people are vaguely aware that the publication of THE SATANIC VERSES resulted in Rushie being forced to go into hiding after Iranian clerics led by the ayatollah Khomeini issued a death fatwa, few know just why the novel led to its author fearing for his life. Rushdie, born a Muslim, was sentenced not for merely speaking against Islam, which millions of people do daily. Rather, it was for "apostasy", or attempting to leave Islam once he was already a Muslim. According to the Qu'ran, attempting to leave Islam is to be punished by death. The book brought on this tempest in two ways. One is the book's antepenultimate section, ''Return to Jahilia" in which Rushdie openly declares - in a clever way which I shall not spoil for the reader - that he now believes Islam is a total sham. The second is the pathetic character of the exiled Imam, who is a thinly valid allusion to Khomeini himself. Of course, this all came to the attention of hard-line clerics by the book's skewering portrayal of the founding of the religion and repeated jabs against Muhammad's favourite wife Ayesha.

THE SATANIC VERSES does have one flaw, however, which for me made it only a four-star work: Rushdie often weaves in quotations and allusions to literature without doing anything meaningful with them. Rather, it seems like he is regurgitating the Western tradition in order to add further weight to his already excellent work. Perhaps Rushdie, like his character Saladin Chamcha, feels he must wholeheartedly embrace Englishness and show it off for his readers.

I'd certainly recommend THE SATANIC VERSES. While not a perfect novel, it is one of the most worthwhile reads in contemporary English literature, and spurs the reader to learn about many of the topics Rushdie presented, such as the archaeological exploration of early Islam, the experience of Indian and Pakistani immigrants to London, and religious fundamentalism. Furthermore, since the novel caused such a tempest in the media and was brought to the attention of the world, it's important to read the novel to understand exactly why the fatwa happened.

Rating:
Summary: Picturesque
Review: It is easy to see why fundamentalists would issue him a death sentence, if he said the same things about the origins of Christianity as he says about the origins of Islam, fundamentalist Christians would be calling for his head, too. Of course, this is a work of fiction which calls into question faith in a general sense and the ways it violently divides our society. It is a beautifully crafted story. Rushdie weaves together such vibrant images and one can clearly see the physical transformation that his main characters undergo. It is like seeing a movie while you read the book. The story is remarkable and creative and complex. This book is not as light hearted as _Midnight's Children_ but I suspect that was his purpose to make us think in a more serious way about the way "faith" can transform people and send them into conflict. The book does, nonetheless, possess several laugh out loud moments. Some knowledge of the Islamic faith definitely adds to the enjoyment of this and most of his books, because of his heavy use of Islamic imagery.

Rating:
Summary: Rushdie Revisited
Review: It's difficult to read this novel whilst detaching yourself from its history and notoriety. I first read it upon its publication in the UK, and remember being distinctly underwhelmed by it. Re-reading it some fourteen years later, I'm more impressed by it as a piece of fiction.

As to its impact upon Islam, well I'm not a Moslem so I can't really assess that with any confidence, other than to say that I could perhaps appreciate (though not fully understand) why the sections of the book depicting Mohammad ("Mahound") might cause offence among some Moslems. I can't delve any more into the rights and wrongs of that aspect of the book.

The novel itself is "very Rushdie": the dividing lines between straightforward narratives of contemporary times (some of which I thought were extremely good), allusion, historical fiction, metaphor and fable are blurred. Are the main characters dreaming much of the book's action, are things in fact "real", or is it all a mixture of present perceptions and recall of cultural upbringing? The characters themselves are sometimes very real, at other times they become avatars, quasi-mythological or religious figures.

I think that Rushdie was trying to touch upon the cultural/religious disorientation caused by the mixture of Eastern culture with the modern West. This is exemplified by the Indians living in London ("how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"). The Indian characters all experience a loss of certainty, even of their role in life - they are Indians but at the same time are becoming non-Indian but not-British, not least because they are repelled by the reality of London and are (surprise, surprise) rejected by their "hosts".

I think that "The Satanic Verses" is a vast allegory of that disorientation, but perhaps, given recent events, stands as a greater warning about the real misunderstandings between two very different cultures.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking. Thought-provoking. Humanistic.
Review: 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 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 book 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.

Rating:
Summary: knowing about Islam DOES help a lot...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Over-rated, over long, over the top
Review: 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. Too many critics were too afraid to say that emperor has no clothes, and praised this book, because of politics and not for reasons of literature. This book is nothing but second rate magic realism applied by a third rate mind- whose odepial conflict and self-loathing is given free rein, to produce a fourth rate text. It is stange that such a purile work is considered to be philosophical. His treatment of Islamic history is both bigoted and ignorant, his ideas regarding unbelief and faith never go beyond bar room bluster. Reading the book is like being trapped in an elevetor with Cliff from Cheers- but without the humour or humanity. Don't waste your money- the book is no longer chic and its expensive to serve as door-stop. Spare the trees that would die in vain for such a rant.

Rating:
Summary: Story first, jihad later...
Review: 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. But there is a great story here, which will suck you in and steer you to places far and wide. If you like writers whose imaginations are boundless and whose language is pristine (unlike mine), then read The Satanic Verses.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite book
Review: The Satanic Verses opened my eyes to many things about Islam. I am sure that when you read it you'll feel the same.