"Midnight's Children" is the first Rushdie book I've read, and only the second one by an 'exile Indian'. I'd heard so much about Rushdie's literary talent that I went off and bought it.

At first I was a little disappointed, I must say. Rushdie's prose at the beginning of the book is clever, intelligent, witty - but it didn't touch me emotionally. I very much enjoyed reading it, but I wasn't too interested in what was going on.

Then, before I'd noticed it, I was hooked. From the moment the narrator actually became a protagonist, I was involved in the plot. Driven on by the dozens of hints and foreshadowings, I simply had to know what would happen, and I began to care about most of the characters.

More than that, Rushdie's novel is a rich tapestry of politics, magic, metaphor; there's so much imagination in this book, but it doesn't become overladen as other novels sometimes do. The author juggles his multiple plot lines, characters and his version of history and India deftly, and for me reading this novel was a real joy.

P.S.: Some readers - and critics - have complained that Rushdie's India is not really India. So what? I believe that "Midnight's Children" can be enjoyed tremendously as an imaginative, clever, involving and intelligent novel. Why look for the 'truth' in it? While some readers with a limited knowledge of the country might take this novel's geography and history as 'the real thing', I don't think you should judge literature by its readers.

This is an amazing book - I had thought, when I started, that it may have been a very heady, difficult to read book (as so many Booker Prize winners are), but I found it very easy to read, despite Rushdie's very interesting style. He has a very unpretentious voice, almost young sounding, but Saleem is an ancient soul. He communicates well to those less ancient then himself.

It's absolutely crammed with little things to recommend it. I honestly can't fit them into a review. The amount of detail, the little stories all weaving themselves into each other, the colourful characters and events, the meticulous planning Rushdie has obviously done before writing - there is so much foreshadowing, it keeps you turning pages furiously! - and the overall impact of the book is amazing.

I can't recommend this enough. Read it!

Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" appears to be an allegory, spiced with satirical commentary, on the political course of modern India and the in-fighting of its various social and religious factions. It is an endlessly inventive book with a cheeky sense of humor and wild, exotic imagery, but it does not eschew somber moments. Rushdie presents this novel as the autobiography of Saleem Sinai, writing from his current residence at a Bombay pickle factory under the critical eye of his frequently interruptive lover/fiance Padma.

Saleem was born on the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the precise moment of India's independence from Great Britain and Pakistan's formation. He and one thousand other babies (the Midnight's Children) born in India throughout the hour each has some supernatural power such as witchcraft, time travel, gender alteration, etc., or otherwise is simply a mutant. Kind of like the X-Men, except they're too self-serving to band together and fight crime (and too bad, as there is a lot of narrative potential in this idea).

Saleem routinely hides in a washing-chest in his house to find inner peace away from neighborhood kids who taunt him for his large misshapen nose and other odd facial features. One day in the chest, he has a strange accident -- he sniffs a pajama cord up his nose, triggering an effect which causes him to hear voices in his head and realize he has telepathic powers. By telepathy, he establishes communication with the (heretofore unknown to him) other Midnight's Children, but they prove unwilling to unite. An operation performed on his nose to stop his severe dripping snot problem clears his nasal passages to reveal an uncanny olfactory ability, enabling him to sniff out emotions and ideas as well as smells.

Saleem also gives an extensive background on his family, beginning with how his maternal grandparents met, up to his pyromaniac-turned-singing-star younger sister. After his (Muslim) family relocates to Pakistan, almost all of them are killed in the 1965 India-Pakistan war, and in the 1971 war for the independence of Bangladesh, Saleem is conscripted in the Pakistani Army as a human bloodhound.

Eventually, Saleem marries Parvati, one of the Midnight's Children, the witch, who bears a child fathered by his arch enemy Shiva, another of the Midnight's Children, whose special attribute is his ability to crush people with his overdeveloped knees. Shiva works as an agent for the government of India, who demand to know the indentities and whereabouts of all the Midnight's Children, and Saleem is the only one who can tell them...

Like E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime," "Midnight's Children" blurs the line between historical fact and fiction, weaving fantastic events against a realistic backdrop of a land in turmoil. Saleem is an extraordinary character, not a hero in the traditional sense but a deformed symbol, a vessel for carrying and displaying the problems and hopes of the people of India.

IMAGINARY HOMELANDS is a collection of Salman Rushdie's writings from 1981 to 1991. They include essays, book reviews, interviews, and random musings dating from the beginning of his popularity after his novel MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN until the third anniversary of the death fatwa pronounced on him by the Ayatollah Khomeini for his book THE SATANIC VERSES.

As with any collection of essays, IMAGINARY HOMELANDS is inconsistent and not every essay will interest every reader. However, there's sure to be a lot of gems here for fans of Rushdie. The literary legacy of the 1980's is quickly being erased from the popular memory, and readers today are forgetting the output of that underappreciated decade. There are reviews here range from one of Graham Greene's last novels to physics superstar Stephen Hawking's A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME. Reading IMAGINARY HOMELANDS today is important to refresh one's knowledge of the 1980's from a literary standpoint. Also, Rushdie proves himself again a man deeply troubled by oppression. He often mentions Pakistan's ruthless US-supported General Zia, and in "A Conversation with Edward Said" deals with the issue of Palestinian identity. His review of V.S. Naipaul's "Among the Believers", a journal of travels through the new Islamic states that sprung up in the 80's, and his two essays on the reaction of Muslims to THE SATANIC VERSES are helpful works to read in this time when dealing with Islamic extremism is such a driving force in international relations. Critics have often found Salman Rushdie hard to classify, wondering if he is an Indian or British writer, or a "Commonwealth" novelist, and Rushdie confronts the madness of classifying everything in "There Is No Such Thing As Commonwealth Literature".

If you enjoyed greatly the wry irony of THE SATANIC VERSES and other Rushdie novels, IMAGINARY HOMELANDS may interest you. While it won't engage the average reader, fans of Rushdie will get a lot out of this collection.

For all those who have read and loved a Rushdie novel, Imaginary Homelands provides more of the same biting humor, insightful thoughts, and elegant prose as Rushdie shares with us his thoughts on everything from censorship to Stephen Hawking. A fair amount of time is spent on criticisms of various novels and authors and I, for one, found it fascinating to see what such an acclaimed author thinks of his peers. Given that this volume contains numerous essays, you will definitely want to pick and choose what to read and will probably end up doing so over an extended period of time. But you must at least take the time to read a little. As always, Rushdie's language is beautiful and forthrightness admirable.

some of my friends and i have formulated some good points of "good criticism" which includes writing in a manor that allows for the reader to believe that his/her point may not be correct, but somehow drive their point in further at the same time. Rushdie does this in an amazing way.

What a master of magical allegory Rushdie is! The only other book of his I'd read was "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" and I was immediately and completely swept away into his mythical tale which contained elements of the ancient and the contemporary, blended into a modern allegory of love, loss and memory. Again, with "The Moor's Last Sigh," Rushdie weaves a tale which encompasses the confused and sad history of India, the pain, joy and strength of her people, and the magical world of mystery and darkness that lies beneath, in the world of the imagination. The Moor cannot belong to the world he inhabits; his geneology doesn't fit, nor does his physiology. He is old before his time, due to his aging at double the rate of other humans, and his family history leaves him alienated in the society which he longs to be a part of. The characters are well drawn and all are unusual, to say the least. From his artist mother, a wild child herself, to his mafia-baron-like father and his sisters, Ina, Mina, and Mina, the family is portrayed as a source of life and love as well as of misery and embarrassment. All of India's social and economic problems are revealed in the adventures (and mis-adventures!)of this unusual family group. To discuss this novel's elements fully would take far more space than I have here, but suffice it to say that if you like a challenge, I'd recommend that you leap into this fascinating book. I personally enjoy the intellectual exercises necessary to fully comprehend Rushdie's prose, and even then I'm sure that I miss out on a great deal of it. Nonetheless, his work is well worth the effort and a joy to read.

Mr. Rushdie is very emphatic through the novel about the wickedness off all its characters, and how the concept of morality and respect are somehow alien to all of them. However, it is very difficult to feel any kind of animosity towards those beings, or to internalize their anguish, because all their actions are simultaneously justified so you have the feeling that eventhough the events of the novel are dramatic, in the end actions do not matter, because those who suffer the consequences are not worthy of any pity.

I guess that the book also demands a great knowledge of Indian XX century history, particularly after its independence, in order to capture and enjoy the irony and sort of black humor that runs parallel with the Zogoisby's family saga.

Finally, it is advisable to read this book with a good English dictionary by your side, even your native language is English ,because the author will demand form the reader to be immersed in the story as well as its idiom.

I have read other reviews of this same novel that take the slant of comparing situations in the novel to occurances in Rushdie's life, actual historical events in India...his work is called allegorical, symbolic...etc. And while I cannot dispute this, as I know precious little of India's history, and less about Rushdie himself, save for the SATANIC VERSES controversy...I offer a review as one who was purely entertained by my first indulgence of this wonderful writer.

Moraes Zagoiby traces his family roots back to the rise of the da Gama family in the spice trade. From the great aunt abandoned on her wedding night by a husband fleeing in her gown to meet his male lover for a moonlight sail...to the bitter rivalry of two feuding clans employed in the family business that end up in tragedy; to the great uncle who disappears with the ocean current one dark night; to young Aurora da Gama, who marries a foreman in the family business and eventually delivers Moor into the world, born with a club right hand, and a body that ages at twice the normal rate.

No matter how colorful his lineage, Moor's own story is as lively and entertaining as that of his family as he alternately blesses and curses his 'afflictions'; loses his heart on more than one occasion, and eventually strives to make a name for himself when the family banishes him.

Rushdie's wry, double-entendre brand of humor brought too many smiles to my face to count, or give the details of. His descriptive powers are almost lyrical at times, his wit both scathing and coy, and his emotions real enough to penetrate the hearts of all. The Moor endears, enrages, and enlightens all in the fictional world he inhabits, and all those drawn into it by reading Rushdie's prose.

Thankfully there are many other Rushdie novels to indulge in, and I am happy to have discovered a 'new' writer to add to my bookshelves.

Whereas I have no intention of commiting myself to this issue, the facts remains the same. Salman Rushdie (May God Punish Him) did blaspheme Islam, a religion that claim more than 1.2 billion people in this world, and that cannot be forgiven. I wonder what the so-called Muslim writers believe in when they wrote their essays. To me they are not Muslims at all, they just claim to be.

Given the gravity of this topic, I think that it is important explicitly to point out, to whoever reads this, that I am not an expert or an authority on Islam, in any way. However, like so many of us in these troubled times, I am trying to learn all that I can about the modern complexities of Islam. Probably most of you reading this are in the same frame of mind that I am! Therefore, in this humble capacity, I would like to share my thoughts on this brave, fascinating, timely anthology.

This book includes a selection of approximately one hundred essays, poems, and songs, by a vast array of thinkers, all writing from the very heart of the Islamic tradition. The voices collected here speak in a variety of modes, ranging from the literary, to the religious, to the philosophical. Some are heartfelt and emotional: others tough, rational, and lawyerly. All, however, join in emphatically, lucidly, intelligently criticizing Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against the author Salman Rushdie. All speak from an Islamic perspective -- indeed, there is even an opinion expressed by an actual Iranian ayatollah, Djalal Gandjeih.

These essays were originally penned by Islamic intellectuals in a wide-ranging panoply of occupations. Represented here are filmmakers, newspaper columnists, poets, psychoanalysts, sociologists, and more. They come from many countries. People familiar with Islam might not be surprised to find essays by relatively laid-back Moroccans, but there are also many sane, calm, clearly articulated voices coming out of Syria, Libya, Sudan... all over the Islamic world. What this variegated population of thinkers has in common, is an uncommon willingness to speak out, for what their faith tells them is right.

As an American, I was often struck by the kinship of spirit that many of these voices hold, to all that is best in my own country's heritage. If you read these essays, I can promise you that again and again, you will find yourself reminded of the First Amendment! The philosophical framework may differ, but the essential spirit of many of these essays cleaves to a very similar idea to (part of) that which the First Amendment embodies -- freedom of speech. I suppose that these essays demonstrate that what is best in humanity is, after all, universal, and might be expected to crop up in any society on Earth... I can tell you this much, I wish some of these Islamic thinkers were speaking out in America, during the McCarthy era! Their sane, fearless, moderating influence, even founded in the Islamic tradition, might well have had a highly beneficial impact upon the extremist, terror-laden, American political climate of the fifties. It may sound unusual to some readers that an Islamic religious philosopher from Syria could conceivably be more rational, reasonable, and worth listening to than a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, but, well, if you have trouble with the idea, you really might want to read this book. That's the value of the book to me personally -- it helps me to understand how much of the Islamic world can be sane, calm, humanistic, and sometimes even brilliant.

I would like to point out a few small, structural and stylistic issues about the book. For one thing -- writers are arranged alphabetically by last name. However, if you happen to be looking for a particular writer, you may need to roam around a little in the table of contents. For example, authors whose last name begins with "El" are sometimes listed under "E", and sometimes under the other part of their last name. Just be alert to that, and also to similar, possible alphabetizing errors that a copywriter might make, in transcribing from one alphabet to another. For browsing purposes, you might like to know that the table of contents includes each essay's author's name, country of origin, and profession. This can help you select what you'd like to read, if for example you'd like to clump the essays you approach, one country at a time. Furthermore, you might want to be aware that this book was originally published in French, and can, on occasion, sound almost distractingly Gallic in tone. (Not that there's anything wrong with that! Au contraire, I happen to remain a resolute francophile, despite the country's current lack of standing in the eyes of many Americans.) Anyway, sometimes the essays can sound oddly French, so just remember that many of the essays are TWO translations away from Arabic, and that they may have picked up a tincture of French stylistic features along the way.

Finally, to help you follow a few of the more esoteric, philosophical essays here, I would like to recommend that you consider seeking out a copy of "The Political Language of Islam," by Bernard Lewis, and/or "A History of Islamic Legal Theories: An Introduction to Sunni Usul Al-Fiqh," by Wael B. Hallaq.

Basically, I recommend the living daylights out of this book. I hope you are able to locate a copy, and if you're feeling ambitious, that you encourage your local librarian to find a way to display this book prominently. Books like this have the potential to go a long way toward developing a balanced view of Islam, amongst an all-too-often confused, fearful American populace.

That post by the guy from Japan is a disgrace. He's says he's not committing himself, but then he proceeds, in essence, to support the fatwa against Rushdie (pbuh). So what if Rushdie offended some Muslims (the vast majority of whom, though claiming to be offended, have never actually read the book). The phrase "Satanic Verses" refers to an actual event that occurred in Islam, and was definitively reported by the medieval Arab scholar al-Turabi. Thus, the phrase and the events depicted in the book are firmly based on Islamic history. They are not just gratuitous attempts to slander Islam. There are plenty of former Christians who say bad things about Jesus and Christianity, but the rest of us don't go around pronouncing death sentences on them for writing books. They will have to answer for their actions and beliefs when they meet God in eternity.

Buy this book. The writers who are a part of it have engaged in a bold and courageous act, and at no small threat to their own personal safety.

Me gustaría recomendar este libro a personas que tengan su nivel de autoestima por los suelos, ya que este libro es demasiado deprimente y a mi en lo particular me hizo sentir como una cucaracha que sido aplastada por toda la humanidad mas de cuatro veces. Salman es muy buen escritor, pero le falta algo para mantener interesada al lector, ese algo que le sobra a J.J. Benitez, creo que Rushdie tiene el potencial y hasta podría ser mexicano algun día(si le hecha ganas). Obviamente estoy aqui para recomendarles el libro, pero me gustaría serle franco al decirle que no se emocionen demasiado.

Si uno gusta la buena prosa, historias entrecruzadas, citas de excelencia por parte del autor, humor negro, filosofía y un liberalismo intelectual a ultranza, sin duda "Versos Satánicos" es una buena alternativa. Personalmente lo disfruté de principio a fin. El problema es que no cualquier alma atormentada (de esas que leen libros de superación personal creyendo estar a un paso de la erudición) puede hacerle frente a la vorágine de situaciones y pensamientos que Rushdie despiadadamente libera en su obra. Lástima. Lo que si es un hecho: no se detenga en "Versos Satánicos". Rushdie tiene más libros. No sabrá cual es el mejor de todos.

I picked up this book at random in a used bookstore, and as I have always enjoyed Salman Rushdie's writing I thought I would give it a read. I was wholly amazed by what I learned.
First of all, I can honestly say I did not catch any of the slights to Islam when I read The Satanic Verses, as I am very uneducated in Islamic culture. After starting the Rushdie File, I became uncertain as to whether I understood any of the main points of The Satanic Verses, but I do remember enjoying it. So there is at least a small lesson about the Islamic religion (especially as it relates to The Satanic Verses) in this book for anyone who is uninformed about it.
Even more importantly, however, and not entirely separately, is how much there is to be learned about Islamic culture. A lot of the articles go very far in explaining just why the Muslim community was so outraged by the passages, which, from an average Western sensibility, is not necessarily clear. And if you are like me, it might be hard to read certain parts of this book. I had a very hard time reading the calls for Rushdie's death, and an even harder time trying to understand why and how masses of people could react the way they did. It is a good educational experience for anyone who is baffled by the differences in culture that were brought to light by this incident. Some of these articles do not paint the Islamic culture in a flattering light, especially in my opinion, as a person who would never support censorship. But one of the best articles of the bunch talks about the difference between "interpreting" and "advocating" - that the West must understand Islamic culture and why our viewpoints can be so different before we can try to live in the same world peacefully, but also reminds that that is different from agreeing with how the other culture behaves.
This book also brings home the point that there are never only 2 sides to any issue. Every person will have a different viewpoint, and it is important for every person to think for herself before just accepting one party line or the other. This is displayed in The Rushdie File by the enormous amount of divergent opinions represented by the choice of material included, and there is guaranteed to be something for everyone to both agree and disagree with.

If you've read Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and want to know more about the controversy over the book and the death sentence placed on him by the Ayatollah Khomeini, this book provides a variety of articles from critics, political leaders, authors, and reporters on the events that occurred after publication of Rushdie's novel and the issues that caused them. I found it to be very helpful in understanding what parts of the book exactly were found to be particularly offensive by Muslims, since my own knowledge of Islamic traditions and culture is lacking. Since it is a compilation of many sources, it provides a wide array of opinions and perspectives that help to shed light on differing views of censorship, freedom, tolerance, and sacredness.

In 1986, the seventh year of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, and three years before he got a fatwa from Ayatollah Khomeini, Salman Rushdie visited Nicaragua, travelling to Managua, Camaopa, celebrating the seventh anniversary of the revolution, and the Blue Fields area near the Atlantic Coast. I originally bought this book when I was interested in finding any of Salman Rushdie's books. I found it mildly interesting. This past winter, I took an upper division History of Central America at Fort Lewis College and after learning more about the Somozas and the Nicaraguan Revolution, I dug up Rushdie's book and one, it made more sense, two, I was more intrigued than merely interested.

Rushdie introduces the background to the Nicaraguan revolution that forced Anastasio Somoza Debayle's resignation in 1979 and even goes into the background of Augusto Sandino, the nationalist rebel leader executed by Anastasio Somoza Garcia's Guardia Nacional, and the Somoza dynasty that lasted forty years.

Rushdie got to meet some of the big nine Sandinista leaders, including President Daniel Ortega, vice president Sergio Ramirez, and agriculture minister Jaime Wheelock. However, they justify press censorship because they are at war with the Contras and America, and any press sympathetic to the US will undermine the regime. Seems reasonable, as the U.S. funding of Contras and the mining of Managua's harbours were acts of war by the U.S.

Not only are the Contras portrayed as terrorists, but Reagan isn't seen in a favourable light, understandably. Rushdie writes "Scarecrow Ronald Reagans hung--by the neck--from roadside trees." And in Ortega's speech to the people of Esteli, "Quien es culpabile?" the people roar back: "Reagan!" Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto even recalls a conversation with a Reagan administration official who tells him "Just do as we (the U.S.) say," serving as a reminder of U.S. hegemony in Central America and its refusal to abide by the Hague judgment, which ruled that the U.S. contra aid and force was a violation of international law.

Rushdie also visits Bluefields, where there are Miskito, Sumo, and Rama indigenes alienated by first the Somozas and the Sandinistas. One tragedy is that there are only 23 Ramas left and any attempt to preserve their language is hampered by the fact that many of them have few teeth, putting the mockers on proper enunciation. One of the people he meets is Mary Ellsberg, daughter of Daniel Ellsberg of the Pentagon Papers, who is totally sympathetic to the plight of the indigenes there.

Rushdie's interview with Violeta Chamorro, widow of La Prensa editor Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, and later to be elected president, reveals Ms. Chamorro as someone who tries to manipulate a few facts and is biased against Ortega--she claims that Ortega was not elected democratically and yet according to foreign observers and an 80% voter turnout, he was. Rushdie agrees that yes, it was wrong for the Sandinistas to shut down La Prensa, but he questions Chamorro's candour.

As in his books, Rushdie writes with a wry, sometimes humorous style prevalent in his best novels. e.g. "my breakfast of rice and beans--'gayo pinto,' it was called 'painted rooster'--began to crow noisily in my stomach." Or when joining the foreign volunteer workers in singing "we shall overcome," he says "Like so many people who absolutely can't sing, I get sentimental about old tunes; the lump in the throat provides an excuse for the painful fractured noises emerging from the mouth." But his lyrical writing found in Satanic Verses and Midnight's Children also shines through.

This book is definitely critical of the Reagan administration's policies, but it paints an even-handed view of the Sandinistas, listing their ideals while at the same time detailing repressive measures that would not have been implemented had U.S. anti-communist paranoia not led to funding the Contras.

This is a good book with a original perspective of the story of Nicaragua. Even though Rushdie is a notable critic of the Sandinista government, he feels attracted by the Sandinista's fight and ideas. He manages throughout the story to mention thoughts and points of view from other local thinkers and poets.

"The Jaguar Smile," Salman Rushdie's record of his 1986 visit to Nicaragua, is a fascinating work with great value as an intellectual and historical document. The book is divided up into chapters, each of which stands alone as a unified and satisfying essay. The book as a whole paints an ironic portrait of Nicaraguan life during the Sandinista revolution.

Rushdie makes no claim to be objective; he is sympathetic to the Sandinista government and recalls being given cordial official greetings by some of the major Sandinista figures. But despite this affinity, Rushdie doesn't hesitate to cast a critical, and even satirical, eye on what he sees. In particular, he is wary of the Sandinista policy of press censorship: "[W]hat worries me is that censorship is very seductive. It's so much easier than the alternative."

Rushdie's keen powers of observation take in many of the institutions and personalities of Nicaragua, and he offers pungent insights on some of the racial, linguistic, political, and aesthetic issues facing the nation. "The Jaguar Smile" is particularly fascinating when Rushdie writes of his encounters with such eminent Nicaraguan authors as Gioconda Belli and Sergio Ramirez; reading Rushdie's accounts made me eager to seek out books by these writers.

Rushdie's prose--often amiable, occasionally cynical--is a pleasure to read. "The Jaguar Smile" is neither a comprehensive history of Nicaragua nor an unambiguous political manifesto, and should not be viewed as such. But as a skilled writer's record of his impressions of a nation at a crossroads in its history, this book is an impressive achievement.

After receiving a few mean-spirited e-mails about my review of this book, I feel I must clarify a few issues.

Again, I've gone through nearly 30 books about 9/11. After you get past the austere black cover, this paperback falls with a thud.

Simply put, this book tries too HARD to be profound. You see images you've seen before, such as the sequence of shots of one of the jets slamming into the south tower of the WTC. Nothing new.

Two things bug me: Layout and content.

In the layout, you get the feeling the editors are trying to SLEGEHAMMER the reader with the obvious. I hate this. For example, in some essays, certain words and phrases are laid out into single lines, as if they are poetry. Then there is the awful decision to use fonts of varying sizes to EMPHASIZE certain passages. This is a pretentious device that, I'm sorry, calls TOO MUCH ATTENTION to itself. It is completely unnecessary and smacks of a patronizing tone intended to magnify the depth and gravity of what occurred on 9/11. We all know about that dark day. We DON'T need it pushed into our faces under the umbrella of "literary art."

Meanwhile, about the Chomsky essay: It's short but it's awful. It's laid out, again, in a way that feels like "padding." His message reads like an "I told you so" lesson. Here's what he does: He points to America's "sins" of the past and then turns them around in a way that makes you want to believe that it's NOW THE UNITED STATES' TURN TO SUFFER. This is horrible. His opinions are the stuff of fiery pamphlets handed out on street corners. (BECAUSE WHO WOULD PAY FOR THIS?)

OK, what's good about this book? Well, some of the transcripts of phone calls and a handful essays from victims and witnesses are well done. Why? Because they ARE NOT pretentious. But when others try to be "inspirational," they end up stating the obvious. I can't help but feel most writers were given an outlet to "vent" their own emotions, which have more relevance to the writer than to the reader.

If you want more for less, pick up the December 2001 issue of American Heritage Magazine. There you get five-star opinions about 9/11 from individuals of world repute. It has a "permanence" this book lacks and it doesn't feel rushed together.

In sum, it's fine to read what people like Joan Rivers, Deepak Chopra, Richard Dreyfuss and others "feel" about 9/11. But is it worth PAYING for? You can't judge quality by "good intentions." This is a rush-to-market volume featuring opinions from most who have (or who will have) little if any impact on our lives. Why not opinions from Giuliani, Bush, Blair, Sharon and Arafat, even those recorded by the news media in the AFTERMATH of 9/11? Why not more views from individuals who can effect CHANGE? This book could have been GREAT.

Trust me, this is NOT the definitive book of "think pieces" about 9/11/01.

If you disagree, fine. It's your money. But my advice is to borrow before you buy. There are other books worth buying. This one isn't.

Features a collection of moving photos and thoughtful essays, which capture much of what the world saw and felt September 11, 2001. Notable contributors include Deepak Chopra, author; Gary Fabiano, photojournalist who was trapped under the rubble; Robert Kennedy, Jr., politician; Liam Neeson, actor; Shashi Tharoor, Senior UN Official and author; and more. . All proceeds from this book will go to support the International Red Cross Federation.

This book is not easy to find. I finally ordered it from Amazon.com and I was amazed by it. I read all the critiques to this book. I usually like or do not like a book. I love this book, it is very factual, accurate and explores the feeling of about 30 people that had somenting to say about 9-11. It does not matter to me who they are and what they do, what matters is that the essays touch on fears that I had and still have. I do not pretend this book to change the world but to give me feeling and images to hang on to. On each essay I can find someting I can relate to and this makes the book special, it makes it personal. Highly recommended.

Novelists must always deal with the mechanics of getting readers to suspend willingness to disbelieve. In his new novel The Ground Beneath Her Feet Salman Rushdie carefully creates and reinforces the speaker/narrator, Rai, as one capable of understanding and interpreting the complicated lives of Vina Aspara and Ormus Cama, a famous rock and roll couple who start at the level of the real and eventually reach the mythic level of a modern day Orpheus and his beloved. Probably no novelist worried more over technical and psychological aspects of storytelling than the great American Henry JAMES. Using what he called the Central Intelligence, James placed at the center of his novels an observer who was sufficiently close to the action and sufficiently sophisticated to realize and relate what was happening. In the professional photographer, Rai, Rushdie places a person at the center of events and developments to relate to readers the rock and roll story of Vina and Ormus. When the question of how Rai can know some psychological or spiritual detail about the inner life of the rock composer genius Ormus, Rai tells us that Vina is fond of winding-down after love making by spinning long monologues of hers and Ormus's lives together or of some spiritual quirk in Ormus's makeup. Getting skeptical readers to give up the willingness of disbelieve is no easy task. Some novelists don't seem to understand this charge. In The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Rai occasionally treats us to a meaty monologue about his own skills and character. He is an adult who has witnessed unspeakable horrors in his professional working life. The three words, given to him by another professional photographer mentor, which guide his professional life whether in VietNam or in the midst of a jungle massacre are "Get up close." Readers come to trust Rai because they become convinced he has intelligence and integrity. Readers also know that Rai is getting them up close. Rushdie should be given stars for the careful attention he gives to establishing and reinforcing the authority of the speaking voince in the Ground Beneath Her Feet.

it is impossible for me to begin a "review" of the book, The Ground Beneath Her Feet." well, i guess it isn't impossible.

what i mean to say is, this book made my eyes water, my mind enter states of intense restlesness, and my mouth smile so hard it hurt at times, that i am quite often speechless when asked about this novel.

this is by far rushdie's most human book. sure, as some nay-saying people point out, he is *too* clever all over every page times one-hundred. true. that is because he is a clever person, i think. also, the book drags on, goes everywhere without going anywhere, etc., etc.... whatever. there is such intense beauty /hilarity/ originality /reality /fantasy /artistry in so many of the passages in this book, just when your heart/mind/funny-bone gets over the last brilliant passage, the next is upon you. god bless 'em.

if i weren't such an inarticulate neanderathal i would tell you how his epic writing is more than a match for all the widely diverse themes (some of his most poignant critiques of culture), time and space continuums, lunatic minds and worlds encompassed in this book. i would mention that his characters, rai, ormus, vina, are some of the most memorable people i have never met. i would mention how the reader is always at his mercy- when he wants you to feel, you feel- and how, fortunately, rushdie is merciful to those in need of complete satisfaction. too bad i'm not that articulate.

in any case, if you're just a casual reader, there are 1,000 and 1 reasons for you to read this book. if you are one of those intense stay-in- on-the-weekend- to-read-the-latest-from- this-or-that- contemporary-super-duper-intellectual- cutting-edge- blah-blah-blah-author people, then you probably make me look like the ignorant buffoon i am and there are even *more* reasons for you to read The Ground Beneath Her Feet. VTO forever!

"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" is Rushdie's latest offering to the world. It is yet another eruption of the rumbling force trapped under the landslide of hate and fanaticism. It is a voice from the underground pleading to be set free. The mythical framework used by Rushdie is the Orpheus-Eurydice legend. Orpheus ventured to the land of the dead to bring Eurydice back to life. Paralleling this myth is its Indian counterpart: that of Kama and Rati. Kama was destroyed by the third eye of Shiva but, when Rati pleaded, Shiva soon relented and restored him to life. These two legends are worked into Salman Rushdie's novel.

Ostensibly it is a love-story: the story of Vina Apsara and Ormus Cama, both star singers, much in love with each other, locked in a volatile relationship that can neither be consummated easily nor abandoned as a lost cause. Hovering between the two is Umeed Merchant, a.k.a. Rai, a professional photographer, also hopelessly infatuated with Vina Apsara. Rai is the narrator of the foredoomed love-story, the Tiresias who sees all and suffers all, the bard who can see and narrate Past, Present, and Future. The narrative begins with the disappearance of Vina Apsara on Valentine's Day of 1989 (which in reality was the day when Khomeini passed the infamous fatwa against Rushdie), loops back in time to recount events that took place in the past, and returns in a circumlocutory manner to the main story, thus completing a full circle. The myths used are timeless, but they are placed in a contemporary situation, making the story comprehensible to us in the present times.

What is unusual about Rushdie's latest gift to his readers is the music content of his book. Rushdie is no stranger to popular music. His earlier works have several references to popular songs, but in the present book music is an integral part of the story. Without it the story of Vina and Ormus would fall apart. During the last ten years, among the few people that the author has been in touch with is the rock group U2, whose lead singer, Bono, is his close friend. In fact, U2 was supposed to bring out a new album to coincide with the release of Rushdie's book. The book itself was to be marketed with a CD-ROM. However, the recording of the songs got delayed and the book has hit the market before the songs. The U2 album will shortly be released, we are told, and it has a few haunting lyrics from The Ground Beneath Her Feet.

Coupled with the music that weaves in and out of the story, is Rushdie's inimitable play with words. With language. With the known world as we percieve it. With history, as he distorts facts, combining reality with fantasy. His style remains irreverent, even arrogant, in the manner it challenges traditional usage, as in his erratic punctuation, when he repeatedly places a question mark and a comma together (?,). He deliberately thumbs his nose at the conservative reader in his idiosyncratic naming of his characters - Doodhwalla, his wife Gol-Matol, their daughters Halwa and Ras Gulla. True, sometimes the parody becomes annoying - for instance when Ormus's near-fatal accident is with a truckload of shit! But this is part of Rushdie's devil-may-care style: the brazenness of one who can look reality in the face, and yet see his own version of it. Who can unashamedly, unabashedly drop all pretences and be what he is because nothing, really nothing, matters any more. So, this is Rushdie. Take it or leave it!

What, one may ask, is the impact of the book? Perhaps it is too early to say. There has been too much of hype. Expectations have been inflated and analytical responses need more time. Perhaps, when the tremors have ceased and life gets back to normal it will be possible to determine the impact of this Rushdie-quake. Where is the epicenter? What is the intensity on the Richter scale? Is it a 6.8 or an 8.2? The music of Ormus and Vina still resounds, sometimes mournful, sometimes triumphant. Perhaps, when the last notes of music fade away and its echoes linger in the mind, or when we accept all of Rushdie's stylistic/verbal gimmickry, when we can finally turn to the unpretentious aspects of the book, only then will we be able to actually hear and understand the crie de coeur of an exiled writer from his subterranean refuge. Only then will his words hit us with their full impact: She was my ground, my favorite sound, my country road, my city street, my sky above, my only love, and the ground beneath my feet. Go lightly down your darkened way, go lightly underground, I'll be down there in another day, I won't rest until you're found. Let me love you true, let me rescue you, let me lead you to where two roads meet. O come back above, where there's only love, and the ground's beneath your feet.

Forget the banality of the lyrics. Forget the clichéd expressions of longing. What we have here is the voice of the author trapped under the garbage of human hate and fanaticism. What we have is a bleak, mournful, failing voice. A voice asking to be heard. Asking for reprieve.

And what is our response?

The silence of the Gutless!

MANJU JAIDKA

This novel consists of the thoughts, impressions, and actions of one Professor Malik Solanka, rich and marginally famous from his invention and marketing of the Little Brain dolls, recent émigré to New York, a middle-aged man fleeing his past life and loves and trapped in an internal argument with his own emotions, living with alcohol and gaps in his memory.

And for the first ninety pages of this book, this portrait of the Professor and his observations about the various ills of the American culture is all we get. There is no action. There is little explication of his earlier life. There are a large number of very facile remarks about the culture, the economy, the generation gap, political non-competence, about the true rulers of the world. And we are treated to the first cornerstone of Rushdie's theme, Solanka's uncontrolled personal fury, striking out at himself and innocent by-standers.

If this was all there was to the book, yet another look at a marginally psychotic, conflicted individual, it really wouldn't have been worth reading. Rushdie is too good a writer to fall into that trap, however, and having gotten in his licks at the American culture as he sees it, the real story can now begin. Starting with a rather unusual affair with the queen of a group gen-Xers, we are treated to an exploration of the mental effects of incest and gather some additional insight into the items that helped formed Solanka's character and his current problems. Unfortunately, incest is treated here as an absolute evil, with no exploration of alternative cultural modalities and relative levels of sin, things which would have improved the point of this section. As an outgrowth of this affair, the Professor is inspired to start a new project, and interactive web-based science fiction story.

As a story-within-a-story, this is no better than grade B pulp from the fifties. As an allegory for later events in the book and as another model for his theme, it serves a significant purpose, and it is quite believable that such a story would become immensely popular, putting the Professor back in the limelight and in contact with people from his earlier life. Here we finally get to look at the whole man, and even if it is not a very pretty picture, it is at least comprehensible.

The last section of the book is yet another level of allegory, forcefully stating in yet one more way Rushdie's theme of fury being the driving force behind creativity, murder, heroes and cowards, world domination and the battle of the sexes.

Rushdie peppers his prose with multiple literary, personality, and event references. While most of the time such references add to the content and ambience of the story, there are places here where I felt it was overdone, to where I felt that Rushdie was showing off, rather than trying to advance or add to the story. Characterization for anyone except Solanka is very sketchy, and occasionally there are characters introduced, given a fair amount of development space, and then effectively dropped from the story.

The various levels of story and allegory bounce against each other, giving more depth to this book than would otherwise have been present, but at the same time I found most of it too obvious, on par with Rushdie's too easy observations and criticisms of American culture, with a net feeling of skating on a lake, thinking the ice is all there is, when the real depth is there below your feet, if you could just get to it. As it is, this story's potential excellence remains locked below the ice, and we are left with the mild entertainment of skating in circles and figure-eights.

I started this book expecting the greatness that I had found in The Satanic Verese and Midnight's Children (both of which I actually finished unlike a lot of people who enjoy bashing them without actually getting past the first page). Rushdie is a master of style. He entertains by using unconventional punctuation and diction. He uses present day allusions on every page to weave a metaphorical tale. In Fury he develops a weak character in order to clearly define his weaknesss. The novel is a study of human character, of the emotions and ideas that drive people to do what they do. The plot is, as always, a labyrinth, but is really quite simple compared to Rushdie's other work. This book is not for everyone...hell, it may not be for anyone except Rushdie. That's why his works are so great, he writes things in a ways he understands. If you miss his allusions or metaphors, it's not going to make him feel bad...it's your loss. If you want a quick introduction to Rushdie I suggest you pick up Fury. If you want a book for an enjoyable read as you hop on a plane for your next business trip stick to Clancy and Steele.

"Fury" was my first encounter of a Salman Rushdie novel, and I was very impressed. This my friends, is great contemporary literature!

The novel is a multi leveled incursion into the life of a middle aged creative soul who is tormented by his past, trying to find salvation in the complex post modern world. You are put on a journey of exploring human relationships in and out of marriage, in and out of friendships and in and out of reality.

The story unfolds more like a web site than a traditional chronological history in written form. The reader is transported with the main character, Malik Solanka, throughout different parts of his life in the same manner as hitting links on a web page but always coming back to the home page of his present life.

On these web pages structured as literature, you will find mystery, science fiction, love, politics, social commentary, anguish, murder, sexual tension and many surprises, all in the quest of finding the authentic Self.

I also enjoyed the play and examination of the modern American (Western) culture, its hold on materialism and the quest for fame and power all the while being juxtaposed against the backdrop of traditional (Eastern) culture in India.

For me, "Fury" was a great introduction to Salman Rushdie and I look forward to stepping into the lives of his earlier works to again find his magic with the written word.