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The Satanic Verses

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The Satanic Verses

By: Salman Rushdie
Narrated by: Sagar Arya
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Just before dawn one winter’s morning, a hijacked aeroplane blows apart high above the English Channel and two figures tumble, clutched in an embrace, towards the sea: Gibreel Farishta, India’s legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices.

Washed up, alive, on an English beach, their survival is a miracle. But there is a price to pay. Gibreel and Saladin have been chosen as opponents in the eternal wrestling match between Good and Evil. But chosen by whom? And which is which? And what will be the outcome of their final confrontation?

©1988 Salman Rushdie (P)2020 Audible, Ltd Asian Epic Epic Fantasy European Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literary History & Criticism Magical Realism World Literature Magic Thought-Provoking
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Very well read. I could pick bones with Arya's regional British accents but that takes up such a minor part of the novel. Anyway, hats off to anyone who can pronounce Ecclefechan, regardless of where they're from.

I can see why it seems to get such good reviews from those who have lived as emigrants from the sub continent in the West, and perhaps it is because this is not my background that I struggled to empathise much with characters and general plot in the present day sections. However I found the various dream sections to be more vivid and engaging, which I suppose is to be expected with the author's surreal style.

I preferred Midnight's Children.

As for the controversy, I think someone approaching the book with anti-"submission" sentiments will find sections of the book quite gratifying. If I could sum up the book in one word it would be "mischievous". Bad language, cultural subversion and the author's penchant for punctuating significant events with scatological references adds to the irreverent nature of the novel. Full of brilliant imagery and self-reference, in particular I thought the image of the metropolitan police helicopter "urinating" its beam of light on the crowd of protesting immigrants was about as Rushdie-y as it comes.

At its heart I think it's a study into the struggle in the human soul between the eternal spiritual and the temporal material, whether in 4th century "Jahilia" or in 20th century L-O-N-D-O-N.

Irreverent, mischievous study of "what is real?"

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Unfortunately the narrator uses the kind of over-the top by a mile comic style that has never worked for me, it's extremely annoying. I see it actually works for some people so it's probably just a question of individual taste.
However, I have found it impossible to listen to and therefore have no idea what the book is about. I'm glad it's included with my account so I didn't need to pay for it.
Might try a regular book format one day.

The delivery makes it impossible to evaluate

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Loved listening to this book. Yet another masterpiece by a brilliant mind. I am going to listen to it again. Absolute gem.

Highly recommend!

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Magical realism meets religious fiction. I tried reading this a few time before but the writing style just didn’t work for me. However I’m so glad I downloaded it on audible. A fantastic story brilliantly performed by Sagar Arya

Sagar Arya makes it worth it

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Why do I say that? The narrative and the story delivery seems to polarise people.

Suffice to say I loved it!

I thought the narrator was a great storyteller. I felt I was there with each character and viewing history as the story unfurled. I started the story because one of my best friends shared a really cheeky juicy bit with me, which made me guffaw!

Rushdie has a lovely way of describing in his storytelling, weaving the history of Saladin & his dreams, his father’s, other characters, immigration and race relations, and even places into one delicious soup! Life and death is described throughout.

I think this book ultimately is about the human condition, about its complexities, about when you’ve made a decision about something or someone and the consequences good and bad that happen because of that.

I have a feeling I’ll be listening to it again real soon. That’s something I don’t often say to myself.

This book is like Marmite …

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