Joseph Anton

A Memoir

By: Salman Rushdie

Narrated by: Sam Dastor, Salman Rushdie

Length: 27 hrs

Publisher's summary

On February 14, 1989, Valentine's Day, Salman Rushdie was telephoned by a BBC journalist and told that he had been "sentenced to death" by the Ayatollah Khomeini. For the first time he heard the word fatwa. His crime? To have written a novel called The Satanic Verses, which was accused of being "against Islam, the Prophet and the Quran".

So begins the extraordinary story of how a writer was forced underground, moving from house to house, with the constant presence of an armed police protection team. He was asked to choose an alias that the police could call him by. He thought of writers he loved and combinations of their names; then it came to him: Conrad and Chekhov - Joseph Anton.

How do a writer and his family live with the threat of murder for more than nine years? How does he go on working? How does he fall in and out of love? How does despair shape his thoughts and actions, how and why does he stumble, how does he learn to fight back? In this remarkable memoir Rushdie tells that story for the first time; the story of one of the crucial battles, in our time, for freedom of speech. He talks about the sometimes grim, sometimes comic realities of living with armed policemen, and of the close bonds he formed with his protectors; of his struggle for support and understanding from governments, intelligence chiefs, publishers, journalists, and fellow writers; and of how he regained his freedom.

It is a book of exceptional frankness and honesty, compelling, provocative, moving, and of vital importance. Because what happened to Salman Rushdie was the first act of a drama that is still unfolding somewhere in the world every day.

This audiobook includes a prologue read by the author.

©2012 Salmon Rushdie (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"In Salman Rushdie... India has produced a glittering novelist -one with startling imaginative and intellectual resources, a master of perpetual storytelling." ( The New Yorker)

"Salman Rushdie has earned the right to be called one of our great storytellers." ( The Observer)

"Our most exhilaratingly inventive prose stylist, a writer of breathtaking originality." ( Financial Times)

Interesting story, but too long.

Would you try another book from Salman Rushdie and/or Sam Dastor and Salman Rushdie ?

Perhaps.

Would you recommend Joseph Anton to your friends? Why or why not?

It depends on the reader.

Did Sam Dastor and Salman Rushdie do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Mr. Rushdie's narration in the third person was quite successful and clear. Mr. Dastor's American accent was terrible.

What else would you have wanted to know about Salman Rushdie’s life?

It was a well written and fine biography.

Any additional comments?

I really liked this book as an account of the life of Mr. Rushdie, especially during the Fatwa. It was interesting and thought provoking. However, listening to the audio version, I found the constant list of individuals attending parties, visiting, etc. long and confusing. I knew some, but not others, and it was often difficult to place them.

More Respect for Salman Rushdie

A beautifully put story of the reality he had to endure and experience during those years. Rushdie manages to be respectfully progressive in his push for tolerance and freedom of speech

Great writer, too long

What made the experience of listening to Joseph Anton the most enjoyable?

I very much like the narrator Sam Dastor. I enjoy Salman Rushdie's sense of humor and use of language.
The name-dropping of all the famous people he knows and is at parties with seemed unnecessary and did not enhance the story.

What did you like best about this story?

I appreciated how Rushdie was able to see the humor in his situation although it was a very painful episode in his life.

Have you listened to any of Sam Dastor and Salman Rushdie ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have listened to the Satanic Verses narrated by Sam Dastor. I found that book more enjoyable and more interesting and funnier.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was particularly moved by Rushdie's devotion to his sons and to his writing.

a great listen but not so great performance

the reader's sibilants were too much for my otherwise middle quality earphones. his pronounciation of Peter Gzowski's + a former Cdn foreign minister's names were both disappointingly wrong

So good except when it isn’t

I was very moved by Rushdie’s vivid and intimate description of the ten years he endured in government protection following the fatwa. It’s also a compelling argument for free society and its basis in the free exchange of ideas.

Really, the only downside was when the generally quite capable narrator attempts non-British accents. A disaster! I was at first offended as an American (all the American characters, whether male or female - sound the same: like mid-century, midwestern, bad TV actors) until I realized that his other accents were just as terrible!

Narcissistic Entitlement

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better text - Rushdie entitlement is repugnant

Has Joseph Anton turned you off from other books in this genre?

No - I love memoir. Rather Joseph Anton should be embarrassed to be included with real self-reflective nonfiction, a genre of culpability and honesty, which uses the courageous first person instead of hiding behind "he."

What about Sam Dastor and Salman Rushdie ’s performance did you like?

The author's supercilious attitude was perfectly captured.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Fascinating story - I was hoping for enlightenment about a world that censors free speech and expression, but instead only heard how highly the author regarded himself, as he endlessly outlined his global impact and recounted his accolades (and trashed his detractors and ex-wives). There was no self-awareness, just a one-sided diatribe that obscured what could have been an in-depth reflection on the current religious fanaticism.

Any additional comments?

Don't give Rushdie another thought; just give him the number of a good shrink.

Bored to death

Any additional comments?

I feel horrible giving 1 star ratings to someones true life story. It just bored me to death. I'm sure other people will enjoy the listen but it was not for me. I listened to it 3x fast and still couldn’t find one section of the book that stimulated me. I have less then ¼ to go but I just don’t think I can bare it.That being said I bought this in part to support Salman Rushdie. I have a tremendous amount sympathy and respect for him and his books, just not this one.

Rushdie a Narcissistic Boor

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Rushdie's self absorption, understandable on a human level as someone captive to protective custody for years, still makes for miserable reading. I kept waiting for an eloquent, stirring rebuke to the forces of ignorance in the world, a call for each of us to have the courage to stand up to ignorance, but the book was mainly diary excerpts of the quotidian. Who slighted him, who supported him, what indignity he suffered, what famous person he met, what marital indiscretion he indulged in, how crazy his ex-wives were -- this is 90% of the book, and it was not any more satisfying, though a little better told, than if it were the memoir of my uncle Jack, the alcoholic celebrity chaser. I kept waiting for the arrival of 9-1-1 in the narrative, thinking that is when it would take off, but September 11th just becomes an I-told-you-so coda.I have a lot of sympathy for what Mr. Rushdie endured, but this book is dreary.

Would you ever listen to anything by Salman Rushdie again?

I never read any of his fiction, and always harbored an interest, but this mess of a book has given me pause.

Which character – as performed by Sam Dastor and Salman Rushdie – was your favorite?

The security guard who on his birthday gets drunk at the local pub and blurts out his identity.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Sure. Rushdie can turn a phrase, and shows the descriptive skill of someone who has been writing for a long time. Other moments, though, like his comparing his ex-wife's lover to Donald Duck in a long riff, make one cringe,

Make It Stop

This is the first and the last book I will listen to by this author. How could such a renowned author commit such boring, self aggrandizing name dropping? The literary conceit of writing it in third person doesn’t make it any less annoying. I don’t care who was present at every single party. Wi want to know the feeling of claustrophobic fear.

Tedious name dropping and petty payback

What a disappointment. I love most of Salman Rushdie's work, but I gave up on this one after the first of the four parts. It was like listening to the journal of a petulant, star-struck wanna-be, with all the boring details left in--what he ate; when he was sick; where he went for vacation; blah blah blah--interspersed with bragging about the famous people he met and sniping at the ones he felt slighted by. I just couldn't take 20 more hours of it. I guess he has become too famous and self-important to allow a good editor to take a scalpel to his writing and trim out the dross.