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The Satanic Verses (Paperback)

by Salman Rushdie (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
Price: £5.63 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this book with Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

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Price For Both: £10.62

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  • This item: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

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Product details

  • Paperback: 560 pages
  • Publisher: Consortium Inc; New edition edition (1 April 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0963270702
  • ISBN-13: 978-0963270702
  • Product Dimensions: 19 x 13 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,146 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Rushdie, Salman
    #46 in  Books > Fiction > By Period > 20th Century
    #79 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

No book in modern times has matched the uproar sparked by Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, which earned its author a fatwa from Iran's Ayatollahs decreeing his death. Furore aside, it is a marvellously erudite study of good and evil, a feast of language served up by a writer at the height of his powers and a rollicking comic fable. The book begins with two Indians, Gibreel Farishta ("for fifteen years the biggest star in the history of the Indian movies") and Saladin Chamcha, a Bombay expatriate returning from his first visit to his homeland in 15 years, plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their jetliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations. Rushdie's astonishing powers of invention are at their best in this Whitbread Prize winner.

Synopsis

No book in modern times has matched the uproar sparked by Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses", which earned its author a death sentence. Furor aside, it is a marvelously erudite study of good and evil, a feast of language served up by a writer at the height of his powers, and a rollicking comic fable. The book begins with two Indians, Gibreel Farishta ("for fifteen years the biggest star in the history of the Indian movies") and Saladin Chamcha, a Bombay expatriate returning from his first visit to his homeland in 15 years, plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their jetliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations. Rushdie's powers of invention are astonishing in this Whitbread Prize winner.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Satanic Verses
94% buy the item featured on this page:
The Satanic Verses 3.3 out of 5 stars (36)
£5.63
Midnight's Children
4% buy
Midnight's Children 3.5 out of 5 stars (61)
£4.99
East, West
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Customer Reviews

36 Reviews
5 star:
 (15)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (9)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (36 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
39 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Controversial but brilliant, 29 July 2007
By Sam J. Ruddock (Norwich, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Don't you think it's about time you made up your own mind about the most controversial book of the modern era? If nothing else, it will give you an opinion the next time the media gets its knickers in a twist about what is, at the end of the day, a work of fiction

But it will give you so much more than that. There is everything you expect from a Salman Rushdie novel: vast in scope, vivid in portrayal and seriously bizarre. As the author has often pointed out, it is also darkly comic and often hilarious. It is a vastly satirical meditation on the theology of religion, the struggle between human doubt and belief and, above all, the power of stories to change the world. Themes of race and immigration flow through the book alongside the usual contemporary and classical references. Reading a Salman Rushdie book is like reading nothing else, he is wholesomely devious, wonderfully irreverent and completely unique. His is a style of writing brimming with delightful sentences, so beautifully worded as to be like some fabulous cocktail: refreshing and invigorating and with that little kick of something you know is truly special.

The story revolves around the lives of Gibreel Farishta, legend of Bollywood Cinema, and Saladin Chamcha, the voice of radio, the man of a thousand voices. When their plane is blown up by terrorists high above the English Channel they float slowly to earth, as though divinely spared certain death. It soon becomes apparent that there is more to their escape than meets the eye. For while Saladin Chamcha begins to sprout horns, cloven feet and a forked tail, Gibreel Farishta seems to be shrouded by the glow of a halo. Confronted with dreams of past prophets Gibreel sets out to change the world. But as the lives of the two men become increasingly entangled within the social climate of the 1980's the clarity of Gibreel's belief becomes cloudy and we are left questioning where enlightenment ends and madness begins.

Salman Rushdie is a breath of fresh air in this tense and divided world: the antidote to community relations rather than the cause. Read this book, and make up your own mind. Because that is what Rushdie is all about, not dogma, not fear, but making ones own mind up, questioning the world, and being able to laugh at oneself. Rarely has a knighthood been so thoroughly deserved.
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed... :(, 14 Jun 2008
I bought The Satanic Verses for many different reasons.... the main one being to see why there was so much contorversy surrounding the book....

Even though the book in my opinion was very cleverly written with highly intriguing characters, I don't know, I just didn't enjoy the book. Whilst reading the book I was disappointed as I thought it would offer me more than what it did, which was hardly anything. As a Muslim, I wasn't as offended as others because I thought the book was a higly imaginative work of fiction. I found the characters in the book very intriguing and completely fell in love with the characters of the young teenage girls as I thought they were hilarious and correctly portrayed young teenagers. I liked the cross of cultures and the surreality of certain aspects of the text. I thought the idea of good and bad, and what is really good and bad very intelligent and also thought provoking. But even then, I just didn't enjoy the book. Maybe it was because the text was so small... maybe because there was too much imagery, maybe because it just didn't have that little something in it for me.

I see a lot of mixed reaction to this book, which is good as not everyones opinion is the same, but for me: the book was very intelligent but I just didn't enjoy it.

I do recommend it however, to most people. As its one of those books that everyone should read and draw their own opinions of. I need to read his other books to compare them against this one.

Not very helpful as a review I know. Sorry. I'm just torn bewteen my opinions of this book.
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31 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Fantasy, 16 July 2002
By A Customer
This book is exquisite. From start to finish the story wraps itself around you not letting you escape from its grasp. I found myself questioning my life and the kind of person I am throughout the and mulling over its ideas after reading. It was impressive to read a mainstream book (due to the press mainly) actually handle the ideas of Good and Evil as abstracts rather than merely PC right and wrong. The ideas seem to reach many people on many different levels (as all great books should) as everyone I know who has read it was delighted but in different ways. Although the story wavers sometimes and you may get a little bored when hearing of the two main characters love lives and slow mental anguish your perseverance is rewarded.

What can I say? I loved it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Just not for me
A very difficult read for someone from a very christian background and I have to be honest and say I really struggled to stay with this surreal offering.
Published 24 days ago by J. P. Marshall

3.0 out of 5 stars Good condition!
The book was in good condition as promised and the speed of delivery was excellent!!
Published 1 month ago by Ms. Cd Faquir

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this.
For a rusty reader, this was at times very demanding on my imagination but a gripping read non the less. Read more
Published 1 month ago by sounique

2.0 out of 5 stars Unique, yet confusing and frustrating
Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" has polarised opinion to an extent almost unprecedented in the modern era. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. T. Pooley

5.0 out of 5 stars Other Agendas
Having a look through the 'other reviews' by those giving this 1 star does give the impression that some of them may have an agenda other than just literary criticism...
Published 2 months ago by J. Prowse

1.0 out of 5 stars Incomprehensible Satanic Verses
I had prevously read another book by Rushdie and enjoyed it, but I found this one to be incomprehensible and gave up after a few pages. Read more
Published 10 months ago by B. Quilliam

4.0 out of 5 stars Satanic Verses
Without wishing to become embroiled in the controversy surrounding this book, there is no doubting the quality of the writing. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Spider Monkey

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully written and a joy to read
Over the English Channel, a hi-jacked airliner explodes leaving two survivors clinging to each other as they fall. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mr. R. Bhaskar

4.0 out of 5 stars ENTERTAINING, MEMORABLE AND WELL WORTH THE EFFORT
Definitely hard-going - after reading `The Angel Gibreel', I returned straight to the beginning and re-read so as to truly feel I was in the story - but, ultimately, worth the... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Easily Me

1.0 out of 5 stars Pretentious Drivel
Well don't believe the hype. This book is the biggest pile of pretentious drivel I have ever read, whole passages are incomprehensible as to what the hell is going on, new... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. R. J. Fairhurst

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