Rating: 
Summary: I don't get it!
Review:
I bought 'The Satanic Verses' to see what all the hullabaloo was about. Rushdie had threats on his life over this? Unbelievable!
Had Rushdie not insulted the Islamic faith, I can't conceive that the book would have received such notice. In fact, I didn't get far enough into it to follow the plot, and I couldn't get interested enough in the tale to locate the insults which so infuriated the Arab muslims. It reads like a fantasy, which I suppose it was intended to be. For those inclined to this sort of writing, I assume it is considered great. For those of us used to more mundane writing and more straightforward plots, I think this is a pass. I wish Salman Rushdie the best, but I'm afraid he cannot count me as one of his fans. (I appreciate the fact that he has the courage to insult the towel-heads, however.) Salaam! Joseph (Joe) Pierre,
Author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books
Rating: 
Summary: A top-rate author with an uneven, but scintillating novel
Review: "The Satanic Verses" was the fourth of the major Rushdie novels I have read (after "Midnight's Children", "The Moor's Last Sigh" and "The Ground Beneath Her Feet"); and I must admit, it took me two separate goes to complete the work. This fact I attribute to the unevenness of the work -- the narrative disjunctions introduced by Gibreel's dream sequences and the separate fates of Gibreel and Saladin after the airplane explosion. Rushdie exacts quite a bit of patience from the reader as he bounces from Mahound in Jahilia to Titlipur and the Ayesha Haj all the way back to London then on to Bombay, strewing the most diverse of characters throughout the book and finally pulling them all together for a tragi-benedictory finale. Still, patience, in the end, is rewarded, as the story-telling is excellent and the language, as usual, spectacular. This is not a philosophically weighty book, and Rushdie is certainly not a brooding, philosophical man. He is a narrative artist with an incisive eye, an attuned ear, a critical mind and a verbal armory to master any challenge he takes on. Nonetheless, I rate this book number three of the four I have read, after "The Moor's Last Sigh" and "Midnight's Children". In these two, Rushdie is equally brilliant, but more even, more consisent in his development of the overall narrative structure. Still, "The Satanic Verses" is so full and so rich that I might change my ranking if I read it again; and a Rushdie slightly off his stride is still vastly superior to the immaculate output of other, lesser writers. The bumpy ride is worth it, despite the wear and tear on the mental shock-absorbers and the long road to that final scene....
Rating:
Summary: super
Review: I want read this book because I am very interested in this field.
Rating: 
Summary: Grow up!
Review: It is all very well to make a tand against Islam, if that was Rushdie's want, but over this book; its not worth it. I don't see how any religious leader could really have taken offence over such a puerile novel as this. The writing is amateurish, the premise is stupid and the attacks against the Islamic faith are contrived and ill-concieved.
This novel is not worth the time, effort or controversy which is lavished upon it. I give this one star only because it is a required minimum Ð it isn't even worth that.
Rating:
Summary: So far the worst book I ever read!
Review: This was my first and probably the last book I read of Rushdie. I got to be honest, I could not finnish it, I tryed 3 or 4 times. My mind simply closed of. First of all I found the story extremly boring and second af all I dislike his style very much, the way he goes back and forth in time! I do recomend people to read it though, because there seems to be very different ideas about it; people either love it or hate! For me, worst book I have ever read...and I have read a couple! Would give it 0 stars if I could! Arni
Rating: 
Summary: Rushdie is the Eastern Hemisphere's Best Kept Secret
Review: The Satanic Verses is a simple book to read. It is the story of Good vs. Evil -- a tale that anyone can relate to, but Rushdie is more than just a simple author. He is the master of complexity and intricate detail. While the story he is telling is simple, his language is like divine poetry. Having heard so much about him and as a young Indian-American, I took the time to read this novel. His only disadvantage is that he is not a western writer and, thus, can consequently alienate his western audience. Readers with an eastern background can better understand the code he writes in. Nonetheless, this does not take away from the story. I reccommend this novel because of its uniqueness. The west has its Shakespeare and its Faulkner and its Dickens; the east its Rushdie, its Tagore and its Narayan. For modern readers, Rushdie is the best kept secret of the east.
Rating:
Summary: A complete waste of time
Review: This book is just vapor and nothing else. I think people read it because of the controversy surrounding it. It really is a waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: Surreally Dark but... Delicious
Review: "Question: What is the opposite of faith? Not disbelief. Too final, certain, closed. Itself a kind of belief. Doubt." (p.92). Being the first book that I have read from Rushdie, I must say that The Satanic Verses is indeed breathtking literature. Religious implications aside... the manifestation of its technical content through both direct representations and simulated shadowplays offers both intelligent and mesmerising depths to the reader; a trait which I dare claim to be extremely rare in today's affiliated circles. Rushdie's sense of humour is also demonstrated via simple and crude analogies throughout the book, peppering the otherwise dark and surrealistic tale at different intellectual levels. I am a Christian myself and I must say that this book has to be read with an open and articulate mind (especially for followers of both the Islamic and Christian faith)... intolerance and self-righteousness of religious groups can destroy a man's life. We don't see Churches of the world persecuting Stephen Hawking for his theories, do we?
Rating:
Summary: not bad
Review: I was drawn to this book by all the hype surrounding Rushdie's death sentence. The two main characters, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha, are likeable and well developed. They are very human, too. I found I could sympathize with Gibreel's feelings of disillusionment concerning his religion. I often found the story a bit confusing and over my head, such as the beginning Ayesha's story or the naming of the Ellowen Deeowen book. But the general storyline isn't difficult to follow. A great book to read if you're brushing up on SAT vocabulary. I think the contraversy enshrouding "Satanic Verses" is a bit blown out of proportion; I enjoyed the book's unique insight into Islam.
Rating:
Summary: Life Changing
Review: One of the most important pieces of literature of the century, and not only because of its controversy. Excellent for its twisting and turning and hidden meanings. Excellent because it will mean different things to different people which is the true aim of a masterwork. Those who criticize Rushdie for his seemingly incoherency sadly miss the point. The fact that he doesn't wrap everything up in an easy to read package is the impetus for thought and life re-evaluation.
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