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A review by zefrog
The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey by Salman Rushdie
2.0
"I have no idea what I just read and I'm too stunned to try and figure it out"
This was my immediate reaction on finishing this rambling, complex and overwhelming tome. The book has become famous because of the repercussions of its publication for its author. I was curious to see what all the fuss was about.
It turned out to be a fairly slow read presenting the reader with a dense tapestry to try and make sense of, something I didn't feel I was always able to do. I think this was partially due to the style of writing which is often rather opaque and didn't flow very well for me. The first few pages in particular made me wonder if I would not be better off given up there and then. Thankfully things mostly improve as the book progresses and towards the end reading Verses becomes almost enjoyable.
It still remains the case, though, that I am not sure what point Rushdie is trying to make. Very often I felt I was missing the cultural and religious references I was presented with, which probably didn't help with my general lack of appreciation and understanding. Thie book is clearly a critique of religion (and more specifically of Islam, although, with the predominant presence of the Archangel Gabriel in the narrative, we could have hoped for something about Christianity too) but it's not really obvious if the author sees religion as a con or faith as a mental illness, or perhaps both. In any case, I couldn't help but think that he could have been more concise and more explicit in what he was trying to say.
On the whole, it was OK (hence the 2 stars) but I feel most of the substance of Rushdie's thesis passed me by, because of the length and intricacy of the narrative, and the writing. I'll have to see but I don't think the book will stay with me very long.
I can't help but wonder if the fame of the book is not really the result of a massive case of Streisand Effect, and if we would still be bothering with it has the religious zealots not seized on it and made it such a cause célèbre, even if the themes still felt very topical, exactly 30 years after publication.
This was my immediate reaction on finishing this rambling, complex and overwhelming tome. The book has become famous because of the repercussions of its publication for its author. I was curious to see what all the fuss was about.
It turned out to be a fairly slow read presenting the reader with a dense tapestry to try and make sense of, something I didn't feel I was always able to do. I think this was partially due to the style of writing which is often rather opaque and didn't flow very well for me. The first few pages in particular made me wonder if I would not be better off given up there and then. Thankfully things mostly improve as the book progresses and towards the end reading Verses becomes almost enjoyable.
It still remains the case, though, that I am not sure what point Rushdie is trying to make. Very often I felt I was missing the cultural and religious references I was presented with, which probably didn't help with my general lack of appreciation and understanding. Thie book is clearly a critique of religion (and more specifically of Islam, although, with the predominant presence of the Archangel Gabriel in the narrative, we could have hoped for something about Christianity too) but it's not really obvious if the author sees religion as a con or faith as a mental illness, or perhaps both. In any case, I couldn't help but think that he could have been more concise and more explicit in what he was trying to say.
On the whole, it was OK (hence the 2 stars) but I feel most of the substance of Rushdie's thesis passed me by, because of the length and intricacy of the narrative, and the writing. I'll have to see but I don't think the book will stay with me very long.
I can't help but wonder if the fame of the book is not really the result of a massive case of Streisand Effect, and if we would still be bothering with it has the religious zealots not seized on it and made it such a cause célèbre, even if the themes still felt very topical, exactly 30 years after publication.