The Satanic Verses

Book Description

Critics

• Angels in dirty places

  Somebody switches on a tape recorder; a meretricious disco version of a psalm of David, 'How shall I sing the Lord's song in a strange land,' booms and twitters into a semi-apocalyptic version of London. Ellowen Deeowen, as the childrens' rhyme has i ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sun, 26 Sep 2010

• Let’s get the hell out of here

  Here, in these three novels, are three representations of the state of the art. In The Satanic Verses the narrator, who may or may not be the Devil, confides that ‘what follows is tragedy.– Or, at least, the echo of tragedy, the full-blooded original ... (read full critics)

  lrb published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

5 Reviews

• 

  "Then she found him. - And maybe he'd invented her, too, a little bit, invented someone worth rushing out of one's old life to love. - Nothing so remarkable in that. Happens often enough; and the two inventors go on, rubbing the rough edges off one another, adjusting their inventions, moulding imagi ... (continue)

  "Then she found him. - And maybe he'd invented her, too, a little bit, invented someone worth rushing out of one's old life to love. - Nothing so remarkable in that. Happens often enough; and the two inventors go on, rubbing the rough edges off one another, adjusting their inventions, moulding imagination to actuality, learning how to be together; or not. It works out or it doesn't."

  "Some days he finds himself among walking corpses, great crowds of the dead, all of them refusing to admit they're done for, corpses mutinously continuining to behave like living people, shopping, catching buses, flirting, going home to make love, smoking cigarettes."

  "'I am nothing,' Ayesha said. 'I am a messenger.'
  'Then tell me why your God is so anxious to destroy the innocent,' Osman raged. 'What's he afraid of? Is he so unconfindent that he needs us to die to prove our love?'"

  "Fact is, [...] religious faith, which encodes the highest aspiration of human race, is now, in our counrty, the servant of lowest instincts, and God is the creature of Evil."

  "I must think of myself, from now on, as living perpetually in the first instant of the future, he resolved [...]. But a history is not so easily shaken off; he was also living, after all, in the present moment of the past."

  Is this helpful?

  Control Freak said on Oct 2, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  The Testament meets Tristram Shandy

  It took me 5 years to summon the courage to read it. It took me 2 months to finish it. It's not simple, at all: it's rich, crammed, slow, baroque, preposterous, spiced, honest, all-round, sick, balanced, funny, harsh, new, old. Most of all, it's good, and evil. Its English is smashing. I caught myse ... (continue)

  It took me 5 years to summon the courage to read it. It took me 2 months to finish it. It's not simple, at all: it's rich, crammed, slow, baroque, preposterous, spiced, honest, all-round, sick, balanced, funny, harsh, new, old. Most of all, it's good, and evil. Its English is smashing. I caught myself thinking, more than once, "when I read this again...". This doesn't happen that often!

  Here's my advice: Read it slowly.

  Is this helpful?

  Daniela Vladimirova said on Mar 24, 2011 | 2 feedbacks

• 

  Miracles, and the nature of evil, and no revelation.

  A powerful reflection on ideas, how they change the world, and about the multiplicity of evil; about how inexplicable are the connections between human and divine. The product of an author that knows what to reveal and what to conceal: a masterpiece.

  I'm so involved in reflections about its implica ... (continue)

  A powerful reflection on ideas, how they change the world, and about the multiplicity of evil; about how inexplicable are the connections between human and divine. The product of an author that knows what to reveal and what to conceal: a masterpiece.

  I'm so involved in reflections about its implications, I can barely describe the density of this book. Read it straightaway.

  Is this helpful?

  sturmer said on Jan 16, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  Highly Recommended

  This is a brilliant book, my favorite of Rushdie's and one of my general favorites. Rushdie has pieced together layer on top of colorful layer, and his natural humor is present in large quantities. A fascinating look at the Muslim Indian diaspora. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone.

  Is this helpful?

  currerbell said on Oct 29, 2010 | Add your feedback

• If you need any help, go here: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/anglophone/satanic_verses/

  Is this helpful?

  Bardsfingertips said on Jul 29, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
  (73)
  • 5 stars
  • 4 stars
  • 3 stars
  • 2 stars
  • 1 star
• English Books
• Paperback 576 Pages
• Edition: 1st Picador USA Ed
• ISBN-10: 0312270828
• ISBN-13: 9780312270827
• Publisher: Picador
• Pub date: Dec 01, 2000
• Dimensions: 1355 mm x 903 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Hardcover, Audio CD, Library Binding, School & Library Binding, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages 繁體書, Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Livros em Português, llibres en català, Libri Italiani, Nederlandse Boeken, Svenska böcker, Român carte

Groups with this in collection

• NY Times Notable Book Club (475)
• Malaysian Bookworms (64)

Prices Change currency & sellers