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Joseph Anton
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor, Salman Rushdie
- Length: 27 hrs
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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.
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- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author and biographer Charles J. Shields crafts this fascinating portrait of literary icon Kurt Vonnegut. The first authorized biography of the influential American writer, And So It Goes examines Vonnegut’s life, from his childhood to his death in 2007, and explores how the author changed the conversation of American literature.
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Probably only for die hard Vonnegut fans
- By Watery M on 12-22-12
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Eleanor and Hick
- The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady
- By: Susan Quinn
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1932 Eleanor Roosevelt entered the claustrophobic, duty-bound existence of the first lady with dread. By that time she had put her deep disappointment in her marriage behind her and developed an independent life - now threatened by the public role she would be forced to play. A lifeline came to her in the form of a feisty campaign reporter for the Associated Press: Lorena Hickok. Over the next 30 years, until Eleanor's death, the two women carried on an extraordinary relationship.
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An Icon who was real.
- By Francine Fields on 08-17-17
By: Susan Quinn
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Salinger
- By: David Shields, Shane Salerno
- Narrated by: Peter Friedman, January LaVoy, Robert Petkoff, and others
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Shields and Salerno illuminate most brightly the last 56 years of Salinger’s life: a period that, until now, had remained completely dark to biographers. Provided unprecedented access to diaries, letters, legal records, and secret documents, listeners will feel they have, for the first time, gotten beyond Salinger’s meticulously built-up wall. The result is the definitive portrait of one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century.
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Ingenious novel or biography? Hard to tell....
- By Melinda on 09-05-13
By: David Shields, and others
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World’s End
- The Lanny Budd Novels, Book 1
- By: Upton Sinclair
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Lanning “Lanny” Budd spends his first 13 years in Europe, living at the center of his mother’s glamourous circle of friends on the French Riviera. In 1913, he enters a prestigious Swiss boarding school and befriends Rick, an English boy, and Kurt, a German. The three schoolmates are privileged, happy, and precocious - but their world is about to come to an abrupt and violent end. When the gathering storm clouds of war finally burst, raining chaos and death over the continent, Lanny must put the innocence of youth behind him.
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didn't finish
- By Bird Miller on 05-08-22
By: Upton Sinclair
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Raven
- The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People
- By: Tim Reiterman
- Narrated by: Mitch Horowitz
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Tim Reiterman's Raven provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978. This PEN Award-winning work explores the ideals gone wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America.
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What a very thoroughly written book!
- By Traci P. on 04-22-17
By: Tim Reiterman
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The Wind in My Hair
- My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran
- By: Masih Alinejad
- Narrated by: Linda Henning
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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A photo on Masih's Facebook page: a woman standing proudly, face bare, hair blowing in the wind. Her crime: removing her veil, or hijab, which is compulsory for women in Iran. This is the self-portrait that sparked "My Stealthy Freedom", a social media campaign that went viral. But Masih is so much more than the arresting face that sparked a campaign inspiring women to find their voices. She's also a world-class journalist whose personal story, told in her unforgettably bold and spirited voice, is emotional and inspiring.
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An inspiring journey
- By Krishna Teja Rekapalli on 01-06-19
By: Masih Alinejad
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Lenin's Tomb
- The Last Days of the Soviet Empire
- By: David Remnick
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 29 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of John Reed's classic Ten Days That Shook the World, this best-selling account of the collapse of the Soviet Union combines the global vision of the best historical scholarship with the immediacy of eyewitness journalism.
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The moral complexity of a comic book
- By Tot on 02-22-19
By: David Remnick
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Limonov
- The Outrageous Adventures of the Radical Soviet Poet Who Became a Bum in New York, a Sensation in France, and a Political Antihero in Russia
- By: Emmanuel Carrère, John Lambert - translator
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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This is how Emmanuel Carrère, the magnetic journalist, novelist, filmmaker, and chameleon, describes his subject: "Limonov is not a fictional character. There. I know him. He has been a young punk in Ukraine, the idol of the Soviet underground; a bum, then a multimillionaire's butler in Manhattan; a fashionable writer in Paris; a lost soldier in the Balkans; and now, in the fantastic shambles of postcommunism, the elderly but charismatic leader of a party of young desperadoes."
By: Emmanuel Carrère, and others
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The Sisters
- The Saga of the Mitford Family
- By: Mary S. Lovell
- Narrated by: Annie Wauters
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity Valkyrie, born in Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler.
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Great story, terrible reader
- By Victoria on 02-27-14
By: Mary S. Lovell
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Mark Twain: Man in White
- The Grand Adventure of His Final Years
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
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Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Shelden illuminates Mark Twain’s twilight years in this brilliant account of the legendary author’s life. Drawing heavily on Twain’s own letters and journals, Mark Twain: Man in White recounts both Twain’s private family experiences and his larger-than-life public image.
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Fantastic book
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-10
By: Michael Shelden
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Use an audiobook to really enjoy Satanic Verses
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Salman Rushdie holds the literary world in awe with a jaw-dropping catalog of critically acclaimed novels that have made him one of the world's most celebrated authors. Winner of the prestigious Booker of Bookers, Midnight's Children tells the story of Saleem Sinai, born on the stroke of India's independence.
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Outstanding book, superb narration
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Shame
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The novel that set the stage for his modern classic, The Satanic Verses, Shame is Salman Rushdie's phantasmagoric epic of an unnamed country that is "not quite Pakistan". In this dazzling tale of an ongoing duel between the families of two men - one a celebrated wager of war, the other a debauched lover of pleasure - Rushdie brilliantly portrays a world caught between honor and humiliation.
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Should have quit at chapter 2
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Salman Rushdie is celebrated as “a master of perpetual storytelling” (The New Yorker), illuminating truths about our society and culture through his gorgeous, often searing prose. Now, in his latest collection of nonfiction, he brings together insightful and inspiring essays, criticism, and speeches that focus on his relationship with the written word and solidify his place as one of the most original thinkers of our time.
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SALMAN RUSHDIE
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 07-24-21
By: Salman Rushdie
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Shalimar the Clown
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When Maximilian Ophuls is murdered outside his daughter's home by his Kashmiri Muslim driver, it appears to be a political killing. Ophuls is the former U.S. ambassador to India and America's leading figure in counter-terrorism. But there is much more to Ophuls and his assassin, a mysterious man calling himself "Shalimar the Clown", than meets the eye. One woman is at the center of their shared history, a history of betrayal and deception.
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Incredible
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Rushdie never fails to engage.
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Use an audiobook to really enjoy Satanic Verses
- By David Edelberg on 11-24-12
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Outstanding book, superb narration
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Should have quit at chapter 2
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SALMAN RUSHDIE
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 07-24-21
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Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
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From Salman Rushdie, one of the great writers of our time, comes a spellbinding work of fiction that blends history, mythology, and a timeless love story. A lush, richly layered novel in which our world has been plunged into an age of unreason, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights is a breathtaking achievement and an enduring testament to the power of storytelling.
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1001 whimsical, capricious, and wanton jinn
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The Moor's Last Sigh
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Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie combines a ferociously witty family saga with a surreally imagined and sometimes blasphemous chronicle of modern India and flavors the mixture with peppery soliloquies on art, ethnicity, religious fanaticism, and the terrifying power of love. Moraes "Moor" Zogoiby, the last surviving scion of a dynasty of Cochinese spice merchants and crime lords, is also a compulsive storyteller and an exile.
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The performance is enchanting.
- By Kelly on 05-04-18
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Knife
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Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art, and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. Knife is a gripping, intimate, and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again.
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Triumph of Life
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East, West
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A rickshaw driver dreams of being a Bombay movie star; Indian diplomats, who as childhood friends hatched Star Trek fantasies, must boldly go into a hidden universe of conspiracy and violence; and Hamlet's jester is caught up in murderous intrigues. In Rushdie's hybrid world, an Indian guru can be a redheaded Welshman, while Christopher Columbus is an immigrant, dreaming of Western glory. Rushdie allows himself, like his characters, to be pulled now in one direction, then in another.
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Wow!!
- By Crazy cat lady on 07-09-19
By: Salman Rushdie
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Quichotte
- A Novel
- By: Salman Rushdie
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- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Inspired by the Cervantes classic, Sam DuChamp, mediocre writer of spy thrillers, creates Quichotte, a courtly, addled salesman obsessed with television who falls in impossible love with a TV star. Together with his (imaginary) son Sancho, Quichotte sets off on a picaresque quest across America to prove worthy of her hand, gallantly braving the tragicomic perils of an age where “Anything-Can-Happen.” Meanwhile his creator, in a midlife crisis, has equally urgent challenges of his own.
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The Best Narration I have Ever Heard
- By Bubikon on 12-12-19
By: Salman Rushdie
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The Jaguar Smile
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"I did not go to Nicaragua intending to write a book, or, indeed, to write at all: but my encounter with the place affected me so deeply that in the end I had no choice." So notes Salman Rushdie in his first work of nonfiction, a book as imaginative and meaningful as his acclaimed novels. In The Jaguar Smile, Rushdie paints a brilliantly sharp and haunting portrait of the people, the politics, the terrain, and the poetry of "a country in which the ancient, opposing forces of creation and destruction were in violent collision".
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simply Amazing!
- By Cesar Briones on 07-01-18
By: Salman Rushdie
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Midnight's Children
- BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Nikesh Patel, Meera Syal, Anneika Rose, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
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Saleem Sinai is born on the stroke of midnight on 14th-15th August 1947, at the exact moment that India and Pakistan become separate, independent nations. From that moment on, his fate is mysteriously handcuffed to the history of his country. But Saleem's story starts almost 30 years earlier, when his grandfather, Dr Aadam Aziz, falls in love with a woman concealed behind a perforated sheet.
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Superb
- By Sharlotte on 11-16-18
By: Salman Rushdie
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Fury
- By: Salman Rushdie
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- Unabridged
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The world renowned author of The Satanic Verses and The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie is a Whitbread Award winner and recipient of the Booker Prize. His first truly American novel, Fury is a metaphorically rich black comedy that reflects the pressure-cooker of modern life. Malik Solanka, irascible doll-maker and retired historian of ideas, suffers the pain of wanting without knowing exactly what it is he wants.
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surprisingly good
- By David on 11-21-07
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The Golden House
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On the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration, an enigmatic billionaire from foreign shores takes up residence in the architectural jewel of “the Gardens,” a cloistered community in New York’s Greenwich Village. The neighborhood is a bubble within a bubble, and the residents are immediately intrigued by the eccentric newcomer and his family.
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PERFECTION
- By ilene on 09-28-17
By: Salman Rushdie
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The Ground Beneath Her Feet
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 27 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Salman Rushdie is widely considered one of a handful of truly great living writers. The internationally acclaimed, Booker Prize-winning author's storytelling shines in this epic love story, a modern retelling of the myth of Orpheus.
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Okay, Salmon, We get that you're a genious already
- By Julie A Quinn on 04-23-09
By: Salman Rushdie
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Haroun and the Sea of Stories
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Discover Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie's classic fantasy novel. Set in an exotic eastern landscape peopled by magicians and fantastic talking animals, Salman Rushdie's classic children's novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories inhabits the same imaginative space as The Lord of the Rings, The Alchemist, and The Wizard of Oz.
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Great story and great story teller
- By marce on 05-22-18
By: Salman Rushdie
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The Enchantress of Florence
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Firdous Bamji
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the imperial capital of the Mughal Empire, a traveler arrives at the court of Emperor Akbar. The traveler, Mogor dell'Amore, has a tale to tell, and as the words flow out of him, the tale's rich tapestry of power and desire begins to take on a life of its own.
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The Enchantress of Florence ... Why?!
- By Jeff Virant on 07-20-08
By: Salman Rushdie
What listeners say about Joseph Anton
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ES
- 12-10-13
Indignation, Love, Imagination and Art
Salman Rushdie, writing his memoir in the third person, illustrates the relationships and values and mistakes and triumphs that characterized his response to the outrage of being a writer targeted by the Iranian fatwa. He writes about his loves and imperfections, his angers and the pain he felt at the frequent criticism (often distorted) in the British press as the Fatwa and the risk to his life extended on year after year. Vivid friendships with many notable writers, artists and musicians run throughout the text, and were the web that helped him and his family survive the emotional burden of maintaining security in face of repeated renewals of the threats against him coming from the Iranian government each year. This is a memoir in which the multiple losses-- through divorce, death, estrangement, and personal vulnerability-- play next to the threat of violent death as the result of terror. Perhaps it is most moving when the 65 year old Salman writes to his 52 year old self that it is time to grow up. In this moment, he remembers some of the most painful (and unfortunate) choices he made and faces them with grace and responsibility. Throughout, his love of imaginative worlds and their possibilities shines through, as does his absolute commitment to the sacred values of free speech and human rights.
Sam Dastor is a wonderful reader and creates an amazing variety of voices and accents. Great performance!
This is a long and lovely listen.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Diane
- 11-23-12
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.
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- Payam GH
- 04-22-19
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
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- Padma devi
- 12-30-12
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.
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- karfrica
- 05-30-19
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
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- Lana
- 09-11-22
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!
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- john
- 09-24-12
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.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Daniel
- 06-08-13
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,
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- Shax
- 09-05-13
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.
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- Jane
- 07-11-19
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.
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