Monday, August 10, 2009

Shalimar the Clown -- Not Especially Funny But Worth an Audiobook Download


I finished a Salman Rushdie book on audiobooks. Not Satanic Verses yet, but I did it and it was wonderful. I feel I've achieved something, but it wasn't really difficult at all.

Reading Salman Rushdie was a bit daunting since he was quite the literary lion, international, and wrote the Satanic Verses. Remember he immediately he had a fatwa put out on him for writing SV because he had offended Allah and had the whole Muslim world furious with him? I wondered then if this was a guy I wanted to read. But his writing was touted and I went for it.

Shalimar the Clown was actually not the favorite of the critics but to me it was thrilling. I love the way he writes, I learned about India and its customs and about the difficulties it is going through. It was a little difficult figuring out who was who at first since the names were Indian, very strange and I was only listening to them. But soon it worked. I got the names down without knowing how they were spelled.

The F-bomb was dropped quite often but I didn't care. I wondered at first if I should persevere, but on I went. His words are elegant and his phrasing is so rich and beautiful. And I was so sorry when it was over. Talk to me if you read it too.





1 comment:

Jamie said...

I am always interested in hearing about a good book from a friend. I don't usually pay much attention to what the critics say since my uneducated opinion rarely sides with their opinion.

Recently I have been reading the Crosswicks Journals from Madeleine L'Engle. Madeleine has become my favorite author. My wife enjoyed "A Circle of Quiet" so much that she has obtained several copies and given them to her friends.