devanjedi's review against another edition
3.0
I'll make a mild recommendation for this book if you're a Rushdie fan, but if nothing else, read the chapter about his return to India after the fatwa years.
marksanders's review against another edition
2.0
I've always been fascinated by the events that lead to this memoir, but it should have been 300 pages shorter.
bibliotequeish's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this book would be little better than it was.
I was so intrigued to read about Rushdie's life in hiding and under protection.
I often found myself thinking that this memoir read like a novel.
This was Rushdie's reality but he was writing it like it was a story that he thought up, I felt like there was a certain level of detachment in his writing, maybe that is how he got though it, I can't begin to imagine.
I was so intrigued to read about Rushdie's life in hiding and under protection.
I often found myself thinking that this memoir read like a novel.
This was Rushdie's reality but he was writing it like it was a story that he thought up, I felt like there was a certain level of detachment in his writing, maybe that is how he got though it, I can't begin to imagine.
lostinthefunhouse's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
3.0
grushanna's review against another edition
3.0
I can't say it was a real page turner. Nonetheless, I liked it. At first it was a little bit strange to read this third person narrative approach, but I got used to it fast. While reading I remembered small facts I already knew or heard of. For me it was moving, entertaining, honest, sometimes boring, but still worth reading.
mamalemma's review against another edition
3.0
This is an incredibly long book, even to listen to. Part of it were riveting, but other parts dragged. Salman Rushdie has led a life that parallels none other. He is a deeply flawed man, noble in many ways, terribly self-centered in others. What is remarkable about this book is how bare he lays out the events and people of his life. None close to him are spared their foibles, and parts made me cringe (why would he include THAT? It seems so mean-spirited!) Ultimately, though, he paints an all together human portrait of people living through an extraordinary ordeal the best they can. Somehow, this raises the memoir to almost literature. I'm inspired to read his fiction even more than I was, though I doubt I would recommend this book to anyone other than a big fan of Rushdie or of the memoir genre.
jammasterjamie's review against another edition
5.0
I am a little bit biased as I think that Rushdie is easily one of our greatest living writers, and I am glad to say that this memoir did nothing to disuage me of that opinion. This was actually probably the easiest Rushdie read I've come across, but don't let that make you think he still isn't using beautiful language and perfectly composed sentences, because all of the Rushdie trademarks are still there, but maybe his prose is a little more focussed than usual in this one as the story is firmly rooted in reality. Regardless, if you're a fan of 20th Century literature, this book is a nice journey through an exceptional time in all of our lives, gives glimpses and small insights into some of our literary heroes (just as I suspected - John Irving is a really cool dude and Harold Pinter is a bit of an ass), and is a very well-composed time-capsule of our recent history. It is also a treatise on why the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression, and the freedom to always question authority is, in my opinion, the most important battle we have.
abarrera's review against another edition
3.0
The first thing that comes to mind is, LONG. Thankfully I'm not the only one to say this, but Rushdie himself agrees it was probably too long. It's a rather inconsistent autobiography. Some parts are exhilarating, while others are boring as hell. Salman has the nasty habit of dropping names as the fall drops leaves. Sometimes is nice, others are obnoxious. Overall, it's an interesting book to read to understand what the Satanic Verses controversy was all about and how books and writers change society and the way we understand our freedom. As he repeatedly states, freedom isn't granted, it's something you need to fight for.
annakmeyer's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty much this book made me not like him, which is generally the opposite of what a memoir is supposed to do.
sternjon's review against another edition
2.0
Prose is just electric at times, but the book is so colossally name-droppy regarding other writers and their kindness or betrayal that it's grating. The third person conceit is just pompous after awhile. Not sure I'll even finish. Disappointing in how self-involved he is. Will probably just read Midnight's Children.