The Moor's Last Sigh,
(1995) Salman Rushdie
Ever since there was a bounty on his head, the desire to read his books increased. Even though I have not had the chance to lay my hands on the coveted book that attracted the world's attention to his work (Satanic Verses), I nevertheless managed to read more than 4 of his books.
Just as his other books, his work is quite a hard read. The text is quite compact with loads of information that the readers have to digest. I had to take a break from reading this book to dwell into something less taxing to unwind. He, being an Indian lives up to the trademark of one, of being very verbose, expressive, long winded and not economical with his word. It is not that it is a bad thing. His indulgence in circumlocution and tangential talk illustrates his wide knowledge of things and his occasional swipe at things considered sacred to some. To drive his point into his flow of story, he brings in unrelated things like mythology, history and religion.
In the same vein, this book involves all of the above. It narrates the protagonist, a half Jew half Catholic in India, telling the story of his family. It is a brooding account a sad man who is born with a rare display where he aged twice the rate of an average human, his dysfunctional family on both sides of his family tree and especially his flamboyant mother and her antics. It takes us through the history of India and it ends in the Moorish land of Spain.
It is a very imaginative book and works just fine for a sarcastic and truth seeking person like me....
(1995) Salman Rushdie
Ever since there was a bounty on his head, the desire to read his books increased. Even though I have not had the chance to lay my hands on the coveted book that attracted the world's attention to his work (Satanic Verses), I nevertheless managed to read more than 4 of his books.
Just as his other books, his work is quite a hard read. The text is quite compact with loads of information that the readers have to digest. I had to take a break from reading this book to dwell into something less taxing to unwind. He, being an Indian lives up to the trademark of one, of being very verbose, expressive, long winded and not economical with his word. It is not that it is a bad thing. His indulgence in circumlocution and tangential talk illustrates his wide knowledge of things and his occasional swipe at things considered sacred to some. To drive his point into his flow of story, he brings in unrelated things like mythology, history and religion. In the same vein, this book involves all of the above. It narrates the protagonist, a half Jew half Catholic in India, telling the story of his family. It is a brooding account a sad man who is born with a rare display where he aged twice the rate of an average human, his dysfunctional family on both sides of his family tree and especially his flamboyant mother and her antics. It takes us through the history of India and it ends in the Moorish land of Spain.
It is a very imaginative book and works just fine for a sarcastic and truth seeking person like me....
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