From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…

The Satanic Verses

Salman Rushdie

Start date: February 15, 2016

Finish date: March 15, 2016

Discussion: Side Reads - Fiction

Why we're reading this: An offshoot of The Novel project
[close] An offshoot of The Novel project

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Side Reads - Fiction

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What Members Thought

Apr 08, 2012 El rated it really liked it

Shelves: 20th-centurylit-late, 1001-books-list, india

Here are a few things I picked up along the way:

-I didn't understand all of it. I probably didn't understand even enough of it.
-But that didn't really matter. All that stuff I didn't understand? Was written so beautifully and so interestingly that I just wanted to lie down and let Rushdie pour his words all over me. Which, erm, isn't meant to sound as sexual as it appears to be when I look at written that way.
-There's this whole bit that involves butterflies that absolutely took my breath away. ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Feb 15, 2016 Janice (JG) rated it really liked it

I fell in love with Rushdie when I read Midnight's Children because he so clearly loved his subject (India and Indians), and he made me love it too. Rushdie's writing is always wonderfully juicy and bawdy and unexpected and delightful, and you can expect the same from him with The Satanic Verses. However, for me, Satanic Verses is no Midnight's Children.

The fatwa calling for Rushdie's death by some Muslims was harder to understand than if the British had put out a contract on him for the libel ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2009 Meghan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: to-read-own, own, modern-classics

I would probably give this one 6 stars if I knew more about Islam, Hinduism, and India. There's a lot I missed because of my ignorance. But I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez and I love Haruki Murakami so it's not unreasonable that I now love Salman Rushdie because he writes like them. It's an epic story about faith and love and the battles we humans face within ourselves and with each other. But mostly, I love this book because Rushdie puts words together that make dreams feel solid and real. He is ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2025 Jenny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own-it, guardian-1000-sci-fi-fantasy

Love the mix of fantasy and reality in this book. At first wasn’t certain whether I liked the ending.
Last sentence could possibly be considered a spoiler:
I guess I’ve concluded that if there does not need to be a devil to excuse the presence of evil in humanity, then there does not need to be a higher power to explain love and goodness in humanity.

Like · see review