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Summary: Family, Insanity, Magic & Art
Review: What a master of magical allegory Rushdie is! The only other book of his I'd read was "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" and I was immediately and completely swept away into his mythical tale which contained elements of the ancient and the contemporary, blended into a modern allegory of love, loss and memory. Again, with "The Moor's Last Sigh," Rushdie weaves a tale which encompasses the confused and sad history of India, the pain, joy and strength of her people, and the magical world of mystery and darkness that lies beneath, in the world of the imagination. The Moor cannot belong to the world he inhabits; his geneology doesn't fit, nor does his physiology. He is old before his time, due to his aging at double the rate of other humans, and his family history leaves him alienated in the society which he longs to be a part of. The characters are well drawn and all are unusual, to say the least. From his artist mother, a wild child herself, to his mafia-baron-like father and his sisters, Ina, Mina, and Mina, the family is portrayed as a source of life and love as well as of misery and embarrassment. All of India's social and economic problems are revealed in the adventures (and mis-adventures!)of this unusual family group. To discuss this novel's elements fully would take far more space than I have here, but suffice it to say that if you like a challenge, I'd recommend that you leap into this fascinating book. I personally enjoy the intellectual exercises necessary to fully comprehend Rushdie's prose, and even then I'm sure that I miss out on a great deal of it. Nonetheless, his work is well worth the effort and a joy to read.
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