Shalimar the Clown
Ranked #17,957 in Books, Poetry & Writing, #790,448 overall
Shalimar the Clown - Book Review
As always Salman Rushdie's writing transports the reader into the heart of the places he writers about - in this case Kashmir, Los Angeles, and Paris during the second world war. Rushdie's descriptions, his perspective, and the parallels he draws are sublime.
Read Shalimar the Clown
Read Shalimar the Clown
Assassination
Shalimar the Clown is the story of obsessive, possessive lust and revenge, and the intertwining of disparate lives. As with several of Rushdie's books, he begins close to the end of the story, with the assassination of former ambassador Max Ophuls on the doorstep of his illegitimate daughter's apartment.
Romeo and Juliet in Kashmir
The second part is a Romeo and Juliet-style story of Kashmiri teenagers, known as Boonyi and Shalimar. Briefly, the story seeks a happier ending when their Hindu and Muslim families allow the intermarriage. But trouble is brewing in paradise, and Kashmir is caught between the feuding India and Pakistan.
The French Resistance
Next we return to Max Ophuls, with the story of Max's youth in Alsace, joining the French resistance when his Jewish parents were removed from their home by the Nazis, the same night Max was making plans for them all to leave the country. Max's skills as an artist develop into that of a forger, and his parents' printing company is invaluable for producing false documents and passports.
In the resistance, Max meets his future wife, and their joint story of daring and escape sees them become the poster couple for post-war euphoria.
In the resistance, Max meets his future wife, and their joint story of daring and escape sees them become the poster couple for post-war euphoria.
Shalimar the Terrorist
Penultimately is Shalimar the Clown's story, from tightrope-walking magician to Muslim terrorist.
All this is backstory to the almost ordinary love quadrangle between Max and The Grey Rat, and Shalimar and Boonyi, that destroys at least as many lives as Romeo and Juliet and The Illiad put together.
All this is backstory to the almost ordinary love quadrangle between Max and The Grey Rat, and Shalimar and Boonyi, that destroys at least as many lives as Romeo and Juliet and The Illiad put together.
Shalimar the Clown
Shalimar the Clown: A Novel
Amazon Price: $7.25 (as of 02/22/2012)
Shalimar the Clown was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, and is a frightening look at religious extremism and how easily it can come about.
My impressions of Shalimar the Clown
To begin with, the characters in Shalimar the Clown are full and vital and I was intrigued to find out how these people would, or could, succeed with their dreams. It's difficult to decide who to have hope for, when each character gains only at another equally loved character's loss. My only disappointment with this book was that Rushdie makes this decision for the reader, by reducing initially fascinating characters to caricatures - Boonyi, The Grey Rat, Shalimar, and, to a lesser extent, Olga Volga, and the annoying Colonel Tortoise and the Iron Mullah. Only Max and Kashmira remain rounded and retain the reader's empathy, which I thought weakened the book slightly.
Shalimar's ridiculous obsession is truly "clown-like", hence the title, but deadly, and unnervingly realistic. There is a great deal of historical comment on the emergence of our current social situation, and Rushdie's parallels paint a disturbing warning.
Rushdie is a master storyteller, and Shalimar the Clown doesn't disappoint. And even though I'll never understand the strange compulsion of literary writers for using omniscient point of view (and I would have loved this intimate story even more if Rushdie had allowed the reader to settle into the mind of one character at a time), I won't criticise its use in such skilled hands.
Shalimar's ridiculous obsession is truly "clown-like", hence the title, but deadly, and unnervingly realistic. There is a great deal of historical comment on the emergence of our current social situation, and Rushdie's parallels paint a disturbing warning.
Rushdie is a master storyteller, and Shalimar the Clown doesn't disappoint. And even though I'll never understand the strange compulsion of literary writers for using omniscient point of view (and I would have loved this intimate story even more if Rushdie had allowed the reader to settle into the mind of one character at a time), I won't criticise its use in such skilled hands.
Shalimar the Clown, and more from Salman Rushdie
- Shalimar the Clown
- Shalimar the Clown
- The Enchantress of Florence
- The Enchantress of Florence, Rushdie's latest book.
- Midnight's Children
- Midnight's Children. This book was awarded the Booker of Bookers - considered the best book to win the Man Booker prize in 25 years.
- The Satanic Verses
- The book that started Rushdie's long period of exile.
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
The Ground Beneath Her Feet: A Novel
Amazon Price: $5.15 (as of 02/22/2012)
In my opinion, The Ground Beneath Her Feet is Salman Rushdie's masterpiece. It was the first of his books that I read, and I remain blown away by the concept.
Reviewt copyright © Elsa Neal, 2007-2010. All rights reserved.
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