29 April

review by Mala Raman

At our last discussion evening, we talked about our very challenging read, The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie.  While most of us did not finish the book, all agreed that Mr. Rushdie does not make it easy for his readers.

The quick plot summary: Just before dawn one winter’s morning, a hijacked jetliner explodes above the English Channel. Through the falling debris, two figures, Gibreel Farishta, the biggest star in India, and Saladin Chamcha, an expatriate returning from his first visit to Bombay in fifteen years, plummet from the sky, washing up on the snow-covered sands of an English beach, and proceed through a series of metamorphoses, dreams, and revelations.

So why did most of us try so hard with The Satanic Verses? (more…)