A review by blairmahoney
Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

4.0

Many years ago I wrote an MA thesis on Rushdie's work and I've long considered him to be one of my favourite writers, even if I've been a bit disappointed by some of his recent works. In many ways this novel is classic Rushdie: taking influence from from classic works (in this case, Don Quixote) and giving that influence a postmodern/postcolonial spin as he wrenches it into the modern world in a way that encompasses the ideas of migration and belonging. This is one of the more metafictional works he's produced, operating on two main levels within the text itself as we discover the story we've started reading is actually the creation of a writer who has some similar life experiences. On top of this we also feel the third level of Rushdie himself as he draws on elements of his own life. Mostly it works really well, but occasionally it feels a little strained, as when he riffs on Ionesco's play Rhinoceros in one set-piece chapter that feels a little at odds with the rest of the novel. It's a road trip set in Trump's America that actually resonates interestingly with two other 2019 novels that I've recently read: Gary Shteyngart's Lake Success and Valeria Luiselli's The Lost Children Archive. It's definitely worth checking out for people who've appreciated Rushdie's work in the past and were wondering if he still has it. Shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize.