Shalimar The Clown – Salman Rushdie
My fourth Rushdie book. The first one I read was "The Moor's last sigh". My mother had a tough time making me live a normal life till I finished reading it. I picked up "The midnight's children" with much excitement and found his strong "Rushdie Style" a bit too much. Still, the book made a descent read. It was "Fury" next time. Even if you get it as a freebie, for God's sake don't waste your time on this book. It needed reassurance by looking at the cover page to believe it was a Rushdie book.
"Fury" was a disaster; made me vow not to pick up any of the Rushdie books. I happened to read some reviews on the book afterwards. They say that is the worst ever Rushdie. I try to pick up books after checking out the reviews. Having read two of his other books, I didn't even think twice before picking up "Fury" without any reviews. That was a disaster.
"The Moor's last sigh" is simply the best out of the four I have finished. I didn't even realise that there is a suspense till I got to the last pages. And the revelation left me dumbstruck. Man, it is damn worth a try. The Zogaibi & Da Gama families and The Chipkali movements, his lady love etc etc etc.
"Shalimar The Clown" is OK. I would rate it same as or slightly above "Midnight's children". Even before I reached half way through the second chapter (it has only five big chapters), I could guess the rest. Still, the book could get me to read the whole thing, just to find out how it happened.
India :- The first chapter. Captivating.
Boonyi:- Second chapter. Beautiful and happening in the beautiful Kashmir.
Max:- Complicated. Second World War, Hitler. Even Charles De Gaulle himself makes a cameo appearance !!!!!
Shalimar The Clown: Can be well predicted still good.
Kashmira:- The end. Again, just as expected.
This man has got an amazing ability to mix up fiction with history. How easily is he talking about Second World War and Ratty Rhodes and Max Ophulus and the university and Charles De Gaulle as if everything else is as much real as the world war.
One thing that struck me is that he is unusually realistic in this book. Boonyi's friend gets raped and he DIDN'T write that "the night after she realised she has got two wings and flew up to the heavens". Rather the lady commits suicide at the end. There are certain aberrations while Shalimar the Clown escapes from the jail, but that was not over done.
The bottom line is "borrow & read".
My fourth Rushdie book. The first one I read was "The Moor's last sigh". My mother had a tough time making me live a normal life till I finished reading it. I picked up "The midnight's children" with much excitement and found his strong "Rushdie Style" a bit too much. Still, the book made a descent read. It was "Fury" next time. Even if you get it as a freebie, for God's sake don't waste your time on this book. It needed reassurance by looking at the cover page to believe it was a Rushdie book.
"Fury" was a disaster; made me vow not to pick up any of the Rushdie books. I happened to read some reviews on the book afterwards. They say that is the worst ever Rushdie. I try to pick up books after checking out the reviews. Having read two of his other books, I didn't even think twice before picking up "Fury" without any reviews. That was a disaster.
"The Moor's last sigh" is simply the best out of the four I have finished. I didn't even realise that there is a suspense till I got to the last pages. And the revelation left me dumbstruck. Man, it is damn worth a try. The Zogaibi & Da Gama families and The Chipkali movements, his lady love etc etc etc.
"Shalimar The Clown" is OK. I would rate it same as or slightly above "Midnight's children". Even before I reached half way through the second chapter (it has only five big chapters), I could guess the rest. Still, the book could get me to read the whole thing, just to find out how it happened.
India :- The first chapter. Captivating.
Boonyi:- Second chapter. Beautiful and happening in the beautiful Kashmir.
Max:- Complicated. Second World War, Hitler. Even Charles De Gaulle himself makes a cameo appearance !!!!!
Shalimar The Clown: Can be well predicted still good.
Kashmira:- The end. Again, just as expected.
This man has got an amazing ability to mix up fiction with history. How easily is he talking about Second World War and Ratty Rhodes and Max Ophulus and the university and Charles De Gaulle as if everything else is as much real as the world war.
One thing that struck me is that he is unusually realistic in this book. Boonyi's friend gets raped and he DIDN'T write that "the night after she realised she has got two wings and flew up to the heavens". Rather the lady commits suicide at the end. There are certain aberrations while Shalimar the Clown escapes from the jail, but that was not over done.
The bottom line is "borrow & read".
posted by Dew Drops at 12:20 AM
6 Comments:
have never read a rushdie... but going by the strong recommendation here, i just might pick up the moor's last sigh.
Nice review.It's generally the case that writer's produce their best works before achieving fame and so is the case with Salman Bhai.Been waiting for my friend to get done with this,so I can borrow it:).You just convinced me further.
@ww
i think he wrote "the moor's last sigh" before other four. may be after the first, our expectations are also high!!!!!!
anyway, i won't call myself a rushdie fan. rather, i think i wont hav the patience to read thru one more of his. but ya, i wud like to get the banned book. the forbidden are always the most longed for ;)
the couple of times that i courageously undertook a reading, rushdie has always escaped me. ;)maybe i am just plain lazy, but i like to read books that drive the nail right in.
:)
i started reading The Midnight children but gave up, coz of the hard Rushdie's style. I dont like a complicated language, a language should be as simple as the nature is. anything else is a totally flaunting.
@anil
i think u shud give "the moor's last sigh" a try. if u survive the intial couple of pages, i guess u'll like it
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