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Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses

staceass

staceass

New Member
so... i've picked it up. i'm about to dig into it.
but i'm wondering... what am i in for?
googling has given me little about the book itself-- focusing more on the contraversy surrounding it. truth be told, i can't even really tell if anybody actually ENJOYED reading this book...

so tell me... what have i gone and gotten myself into here?
 
i did not read the satanic verses because i decided to read a more recent book of rushdie's, the ground beneath her feet
the book has 600 pages. the author would have done better to limit himself at 300. it is rather a classical type of writer with some tinges of soap opera. it is a good read if you have nothing else to read right now. but do not expect something extraordinary. he has a certain charm made up from his ironical contemporary view on the world, but he is rather redundant with it.
 
Amid the recent controversy regarding certain caricatures published by a newspaper in my country, I really want to read this novel. Of course, even if I don't like it, I will always sympathize deeply with Rushdie for the disgusting reaction of the muslim world over it.
 
I bought this book before Mr Rushie was in town for a lecture- I had planned on going but got sick and couldn't go.
I never got the book read, but it's on my TBR list for sure.
 
I've read it twice and on some levels I really enjoyed it and on others I didn't. His style of writing is very strange to a novice, because he doesn't really tell a linear story in the traditional sense. I mean, there are linear sections to the novel, but they are also interwoven and shuffled so as to create a wider pattern of meaning. This isn't a book that you can just gobble up like a typical novel for that reason, and also because the language he uses is strange and beautiful. His imagery is also breathtaking in places so you will want to savor it. But sometimes he tends to go on and on a bit, IMHO.

I say give it a try.
 
No, it's not. The title comes from the rumor, as expressed in the novel, that Satan came to Mohammad one night in the cave instead of God, and gave him verses that Mohammad thought were God's and therefore included in the Quaran. At least that's how I remember it being told in the novel.
 
I had to buy my copy from the Philippines as the book is banned in my country! Please don't direct the authorities to my house. :)

I've been interested in this one for a while now, and have always wondered what he could have cooked up enough to stir up a fatwa.

Not in my radar at present - a couple of books are in front of the queue.

ds
 
direstraits said:
I had to buy my copy from the Philippines as the book is banned in my country! Please don't direct the authorities to my house. :)

I've been interested in this one for a while now, and have always wondered what he could have cooked up enough to stir up a fatwa.

Not in my radar at present - a couple of books are in front of the queue.

ds
Click to expand...

I wonder why it is banned in our country? i think the society here is mature enough to handle such stuff...
 
Read it, and loved it to bits. It's the first book of his I read and it turned me into a fan instantly. I found myself going back and re-reading entire passages before moving on to the next, just because he writes such an odd and beautiful prose... some people are put off by that, but I really really love it. Hope I'll have the time to re-read it soon.

As for the controversy... it's certainly no worse than, say, "Master and Margarita".
 
The Satanic Verses is the only book of Rushdie's that I've not only thoroughly enjoyed but enjoyed so thoroughly that I've read it twice. I struggled through Midnight's Children, and never finished Shame, The Moor's Last Sigh or The Ground Beneath Her Feet, but for some reason I really enjoyed The Satanic Verses. As KristoCat says, it's not told in a normal linear way and to some extent you have to relax and just let it take you where it will, but the writing is excellent and the 'controversial' stuff is so subtly and respectfully done as to make the controversy laughable to any reasonable person.
 
musiqueperson said:
I wonder why it is banned in our country? i think the society here is mature enough to handle such stuff...
Click to expand...
Hmm... I can think of many reasons, and jumping on the bandwagon is somewhere on the list.

I have lots to say about Malaysia's censorship policies, which are, in brief, inconsistent, not transparent with no clear guidelines, overly rigid, presumptious, outrageous at times and rarely helpful. I won't say I'm a firm opponent of censorship, because it has its uses, but this country is not an exemplary example of censorship done right (putting it mildly).

The subject matter of the book touches something that contests the validity of faith, and being sensitive, I understand why it can be viewed negatively. But:
a) are we building a global matured society that can think for itself; and
b) the rest of Rushdie's work is freely available in the country, except TSV. Hmmm.... why?

ds
 
I remember when Rushdie was forced to go into hiding over Ayatolla Khomeini's fatwa that was issued against him. In regards to the banning, I believe it had to do with the fact that the prophet Mohammad was portrayed as not being a very moral person. The Muslim population in Malaysia and Singapore is quite large if I remember correctly. While they may not dominate everything that goes on in those two countries, they undoubtedly have a say. Those two nations are quite moderate in their politics IMHO, and with such a diverse population as both have, I'd argue they banned it so as to not create any trouble or allow divisiveness between their given population. If you are the leader of either country, you don't want a controversial book coming in that might possibly start a civil war or lessen your power.

The notoriety has certainly overshadowed any other discussion of the book and whether or not it is a run of the mill book or a soon to be classic. This is one that I'm definitely planning on reading. I don't know why, but banned books have great appeal.;)
 
KristoCat said:
Great link, Sitaram :)
Click to expand...

The reason for my recent renewed interest in The Satanic Verses is a Farsi word I learned from, of all things, the DVD of the movie Crash.

The family owning the small store, with the broken lock and door, is obviously from somewhere like Pakistan, or India, but we are not really told where (or perhaps I missed that scene). But they were speaking Farsi, which I recognized, so I knew they were Iranian. The father uses a word, Farishta, and explains that it means "angel".

I suddenly realized that the first page of "The Satanic Verses" speaks of Gabreel ]b]Farishta[/b] falling to earth from a plane.

Gabriel Angel! Very amusing! We learn something new every day.
 
Wow, that is interesting! I also saw the movie Crash but I didn't pick that up (probably because I don't speak Farsi, but also because I was busy being concerned for the family, and about what the father would do).
 
And wasn't Gabriel the second most powerful angel in the Old Testament? Interesting that he was "second place." (Michael was the most powerful I believe.) I'm sure Rushdie did that on purpose too, but what exactly he might have been saying with that, I'm not sure.
 
Well, you see, in the Qu'ran, and in Islamic tradition, all of the 128 Surahs were revealed to Muhammed by the angel Gabreel (Gabriel). It was felt that Allah would not speak directly to anyone, which is in stark contract to the Jewish scriptures, in which Jehoveh-Yahweh-Hashem (take your pick) speaks directly to Moses.

Islamic tradition (this comes not from the Qu'ran but from Hadith), is that the angel Gabreel appeared to Muhammed in a cave where Muhammed often prayed and meditated. Gabreel swooped him up and squeezed the ferherkins out of him three times, commanding, "Proclaim." On the third squeeze, Muhammed uttered, trance-like, the formula, "Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim"

http://wahiduddin.net/words/bismillah.htm

which translates "In the name of Allah, the benificent, the merciful" and is the first sentence of the Qu'ran.

Now, as tradition has it, Muhammed was uncertain whether he was a genuine prophet, or simply mad. So, Muhammed went to his first wife Kadijah (and only wife at the time. For some odd reason, it was only after Kadijah's death that the other 8 wives made their appearance.) Kadijah went with Muhammed to the cave, sat on his right knee, and asked Muhammed, "Do you see the angel" and Muhammed said "yes". (By the way, I am not making this up, even though it is going to sound like some bad joke.) So Kadijah shifted to Muhammed's left knee and asked, "Now, do still see the angel" and Muhammed answered "yes." Next, Kadijah opened her clohing and exposed one breast, and said "Now, do you still see the angel?" and Muhammed said, "No, the angel went away." Kadijah, by her clever experiment, confirmed that this was a genuine angel, and not a demon, since the angel fled as the sight of the breast. Thus, Kadijah helped to convice Muhammed that he was indeed a genuine prophet, and not mad. Kadijah is considered the very first follower of Muhammed. All of Muhammed's wives are considered the mothers of all muslims, mainly because in the Qu'ran, Muhammed said so, and warned that therefore it would be monstrous for anyone to marry one of his wives after Muhammed's death.

Well, I must run and do an errand, but that is some of the story about Muhammed and the angel Gabriel.
 
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