Book Review: The Satanic Verses

Man, it took me more than two months to finish this. Even at 561 pages, that's pretty bad for me. I blame it partly on inconsistent interest and partly on difficult reading. Those who have known Salman Rushdie only from children's books should prepare for a severe departure: Not only does it include sex and swearing, but I haven't had this much trouble following along since 11th grade, when I had to read William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!. The poetic flair (read: unorthodox grammar and coinages) in almost every paragraph may help keep it interesting, but it also slowed me down and quickly lost any humorous appeal. I soon stopped bothering to look up words from Indian languages.

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In truth, my difficulty in comprehension had less to do with what happened than why. I think that's why I decided to slog to the finish: I kept getting curious where Rushdie was going with such a strange mix of arcs and events. Even now, it's not spite of spoilers that keeps my summary short so much as uncertainty of which developments really matter. It'll be quite a while before I feel like giving the author another try on an adult novel.


Next up is a birthday present from last week, Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold, my introduction to the Vorkosigan series. I figure that a shortish sci-fi not known for controversy promises a breath of fresh air.