The Satanic Verses

I can't answer any of the dumb questions Audible now wants to ask.

I first read the Satanic Verses in '92, wanting to see what all the fuss was about. I was astounded to discover a hilarious yet harrowing set of interlocking stories that upended my ideas about colonialism, Islam and India.

20 years later, it was just as great as the first time. I read my old copy at home and listened in the car to a great performance by a reader who does great Indian and English accents while conveying the tale's irony.

I still believe this is one of the great novels of the 20th century.

*Magical realism fiction,* or a head-on collision between Joseph Campbell, Aesop, and Christopher Hitchens. A thoughful, intoxicating, hilarious work filled with boatloads of allusions and multicultural symbols. Rushdie is a word-slinging wordsmith and his use of the language is comparable to Eco's, amazing laser-precision with words.

A literary feast, but a very demanding listen. I found I went with it best when I could just sit down and listen--without interruptions! (Had to re-listen to the first 2 chapters 3 x.) Rushdie himself said of this book,
"...it requires a long period of intense reading. It's a quarter of a million words"
(some of which you'll be looking up unless you understand the many cultures: Indian, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, etc.). I can appreciate the fact that this is a nearly perfect novel--I enjoyed it immensely, but I'm done with it... Scratch one off my *booket list*

*[If you're interested...Andrew Anthony wrote a fascinating piece for The Observer (10 Jan. 2009) entitled "How one book ignited a culture war"--looking back through the years since the publication of The Satanic Verses.]

A near perfect novel. I loved the writing. I loved the characters. I loved how Rushdie was able to master Heaven and Hell, saint and sinner, the welkin and earth in this dreamlike exploration of what it means to be an immigrant, an angel, a saint and a sinner. At times he writes like a post-modern satirist cum Pynchon, then suddenly he melts into his best post-colonial Achebe, and then off again on his magical realist, literary carpet à la Gabriel García Márquez. Rushdie's writing is a mountain you don't climb down, you fly off.

Not for the feint of heart, but immensely rewarding, it's everything I love in a novel. Motifs weave their way in and out of the narrative effortlessly, and plays on words sometimes raise eyebrows, sometimes induce a guilty snicker. The language and ideas are quite playful while being earnest at the same time.

Although it is very challenging, the book can be enjoyed on many different levels. It's the only audiobook I've listened to more than once, and I always find new things to appreciate with each listen. If you can be content with enjoying the work for its simpler pleasures the first time through, you may find yourself enjoying it a second time, too.

If you find it challenging, I encourage you to enjoy it for whatever you can take out of it the first time. You may find yourself, like me, compelled to give it another listen, and dive deeper into the historical and cultural themes that I found quite slippery the first time through. I used a bit of help I found online when I got too lost. If, like me, you are completely ignorant of the history of Islam (including the Old Testament stories of Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael, etc...) you may want to find a primer online.

A note about the performance: This book, more than others, depends on a strong performance, and Dastor delivered in spades. He brought the characters to life and added to the richness of the book. He finessed, spun, chortled, and deadpanned the language as necessary to give the listener the best opportunity to get everything the book has to offer out of the audiobook. Bravo, bravo, bravo.

I cannot judge this book harshly on the basis of my limited understanding. At once I understood, and did not understand. In order to get the most from the listening of this book, I looked up resources online. (google search: how to understand the satanic verses) I found some notes that were very helpful. Sometimes it's nice to find a book that makes you work for it. This is one such book. I now feel that my world view has broadened.

Even when the book was difficult to follow, there were so many things that made me stick with it. For instance, little jewels like these:

"A poet's work," he answers. "To name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep."

“From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.”

This is a powerful story on it's own, but it also seemed to me to be a conversation Rushdie was having with himself, struggling to find answers and his own place in the world. I think it's a conversation that many of us have had with ourselves at one time or another. Where do I fit in? Are any of these "truths" true? What kind of idea am I?

I have borrowed The Satanic Verses from the library, and stood in the bookstore with it in my hands, but I had never read it until now. I think I just wasn't ready for it. I am ready now. This book can move mountains if you will open your mind and let it in.

Unfortunately, quite a few people abandon Satanic Verses in book form as being "incomprehensible" and strangely "flat." The problem is that although "Verses" is a difficult book, rightly compared with the complexity of Joyce's "Ulysses," it's not "impossible" by any means. It simply needs to be read aloud.
Each of the very memorable characters has a unique accent, coming as they do from different parts of India, the U.K., and even (for one brief moment) the U.S. To try to read these without an accent takes away much of the joy of this book.
Actor Sam Dastor is probably the world's expert on Indian accents and from the first minutes of the audiobook (definitely listen to the sample!) you know you'll be in for a treat.
Yes, the novel is complex. Yes, you may need to check the plot outline on wiki, or even consider a study guide (not needed but probably would add a lot). However, as Satanic Verses progresses and characters transmogrify into angels and goats, and a goddess with her butterlies guide a devoted village to a very wet redemption, you'll also see how this novel offended every fundamentalist Muslim on the planet and remains banned in every Muslim country except the secular Turkey.
If you were once put off by this very important book, by all means download the audiobook and prepare yourself for a good time

This book is fascinating at times but you better have wikipedia ready and, more so, a knowledge of world religions. Especially, as a listen, where you can't really (or at least on my little ipod shuffle) stop and linger over confusing passages, this book is very difficult to comprehend. For example, after the plane crash, when he shifts right to Jahilia, I thought I had literally lost my place in the novel.

I really loved the twang of the various dialects. Rushdie is a genius of language and Dastor reads amazingly.

I loved the way Jabril spoke to Saladin.

If there was a movie of this book it would start world war three!

My incredible, life long educator, fiercely agnostic, grandmother, since past, was a great admirer of Rushdie. I wanted to try him out. For now I have no plans to go on reading him. I need folks like Franzen, Irving, TC Boyle, and Eugenedes. Maybe when I've reached a more scholarly level I'll get more out of the work of this brave and masterful writer.

Wanting to prepare to read Joseph Anton, I found that Sam Dastor’s reading of Satanic Verses brought the book alive for me. Having bought the hardcover, in my little private feud with censors, the day Khomeini issued his death verdict for Rushdie, I have periodically attempted to read it but have never been able to “get into it”.

Dastor changed all that as I listened and followed along with the print, enjoying the examination of differences in countries, religious tales, dream sequences, people in personal jealousies, divided cultural yearnings and loyalties, and mental confusion and illness--all with humor and literary references. Rushdie is a master of language and Dastor’s reading reflects his intelligence.

I am now eager to hear Dastor read Rusdie’s memoir, Joseph Anton, about his life after Khomeini’s edict. Since the heart of Satanic Verses is about the life of the “alien” or “exile” I expect a deep connection of its real message to Rushdie’s life.

Note: There is a transposition of a section in the chapter “Ayesha” p. 214 -225 (starting in Part 2 of the download, Chapter 3 of 6 at 26:20 minutes) that the audible version moves to p.240, concluding the “Ayesha” section. I found it confusing, but it is part of the “serial visions” of Gibreel so if you feel a little confused without a text in front of you, don’t worry--it is all there and will be understandable in the end.

After hearing Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie & narrated by Sam Dastor, I felt I HAD to listen to this book and see what all the fuss was about. I remember the hubhub about the book when it first came out, but I never gave it a thought to pick it up and read it. Good thing I didn't back then, I would never have finished it. The names, I would have constantly stumbled over them. But maybe the story line would have been easier to understand in print?? The listen was extemely hard to follow. As best as I can tell, it follows the main characters through several of their "other lives" & how they are interwined through eternity?? I am just not sure. But Sam Dastor made the listen interesting. It was fun hearing him spout off all those Indian names like he lived there and then change accents to fit the characters. It was also very interesting to hear how Indians talk to each other. My only experience has been the overly polite version on the other line when you call tech support or at the gas station (sorry...do not mean to offend.)

I listened through the entire thing, hoping for understanding. But it was confusing. I have to confess I just did not get the book. Nor do I get what all the drama was surrounding the book. It is just a book about ficticious characters. Whatever evil slams there were against Islam probably just went over the heads of most readers (as it did mine). So what was the big deal?

Because parts of this were quite fascinating, while still confusing the heck out of me, I do hope this is made into a movie. Maybe seeing what is going on will help to understand it. The book is a part of history, whether you agree with it or not. It is important to read & understand, then appreciate all that Mr. Rushdie endured to get it published. Kudos to him for sticking it out! I don't know that I would have had the fortitude.

The narration is beautiful, it really makes the story come alive.

It's complexity and characters.

This is my first.

Voyage.

I highly recommend it.