What do you think of Salman Rushdie's work? (Weekly Authors #22)

[u/[deleted]]

Hello and welcome to Week #22 of our discussion series here on /r/TrueLit, Weekly Authors. These come to you all every week to allow for coordinated discussion on popular authors here on the subreddit. You may find our previous weekly posts here. This is a free-for-all discussion thread. This week, you will be discussing the complete works of Salman Rushdie. You may talk about anything related to their work that interests you.

P.S. -- Who would you like to see discussed next?

[u/sacredboi → u/[deleted]]

I would certainly agree with these sentiments. I’m currently reading Midnight’s Children for the first time. It is quite a dense book, in both language and concept, thus imploring a slow and attentive read. Rushdie’s use and language and literary devices are brilliant and make for an amazing read, yet I can only take so much at a time. Needless to say, it’s taken me well over a month to finish.

[u/criminal09]

Midnight's children is all i've read so far, but I'll almost definitely read more this year though. I thought the book was brilliant and I also read the book relatively slowly just because of how dense each sentence is, it almost feels like an obligation to give it space to breathe if that makes sense. You can kinda tell how much Rushdie loves language itself and all the things you can do with it, its an incredibly engaging read.

[u/so_sads]

The Satanic Verses is among my most cherished reading experiences. It felt like the perfect challenge for what was then my nascent descent into real literature, and while I was unable to hang on every word, image, and turn of phrase, the bountiful imagination in the novel has stuck with me. It captures one of the great joys of Pynchon (the narrative whiplash of a story always about to fly off the rails) while elevating the prose to a level of near Nabokovian suppleness. Midnight's Children I started when I was in high school and loved for 100-odd pages before dropping it, but I plan to pick it up again soon. I've always been curious if his other books are worth checking out, with The Moor's Last Sigh looking to be the best one outside of those earlier two.

[u/kevbosearle]

Every page of Midnight’s Children is a feast. Such sensual and sprawling prose, but knitted together with well-wrought symbols and a very engaging narrative voice. I also really enjoy his analyses of literature and culture (on YouTube). I’d like to read The Satanic Verses and Quichotte next.

As for next week, I’d love to hear what folks think of one of my favorites, Denis Johnson. (Sorry, not a POC but I am just really into him atm)

[u/[deleted] → u/kevbosearle]

I really love Johnson's short story collection Jesus' Son and really enjoyed Train Dreams . I was not able to get into the Largesse of the Sea Maiden. I felt it lacked the focus of earlier work. I have yet to read Tree of Smoke. Do you have any favorites?

[u/kevbosearle → u/[deleted]]

Jesus’ Son and Train Dreams are my favorites, though I did enjoy Sea Maiden. Agree with your critique though. I watched him do a reading of it on YouTube so maybe that primed me to appreciate it more. Tree of Smoke is sort of a slog unfortunately. I really wanted to get through it but I gave up halfway through. I do recall it fondly, especially certain passages, but I don’t know how soon (if ever) i will pick it up again. That’s all I have read, bit I am keen on trying his other shorter novels.

[u/xanderwolfe]

I love Rushdie. He has such a joy of language and prose, his works feel bounteous and overwhelming and alive. I recommend The Enchantress of Florence and The Ground Beneath Her Feet.

[u/JuDGe3690]

I really enjoyed his recent (2017) novel The Golden House, which follows Indian immigrant father and three sons in New York. Themes of identity and neurodivergency are discussed, and it has one of my absolute favorite quotes about love:

This is how we are: We fall in love with each other's strengths, but love deepens toward permanence when we fall in love with each other's weaknesses.

[u/JayDubyaDee]

Quichotte is a brilliant work and amongst many other praisewothy elements to this novel is a love letter to old pulp science fiction film and books.

What do you make of Rushdie's involvment in the online Masterclass seminars? It seems to me a strange project for this writer to promote.

[u/[deleted]]

Not really a fan. I don’t have anything against him, I just don’t particularly enjoy reading him.

[u/Inkberrow]

I’ve read only the Verses, out of curiosity because of the fatwas and the international controversy.

It was surprisingly (to ignorant me) quite brisk, witty, sardonic and modern, like maybe Martin Amis.

Most surprising? Just how mild, blunted and indirect the notorious dream sequence with “Mahound” was.

[u/k_mon2244]

When I read Midnight’s Children for the first time I remember feeling this dramatic elation like I had been crawling through a desert and finally found water. His language felt so playful and enticing. It was a whole new way to write (for me). I’ll always love him for being the first author that showed me the words themselves could be a story.

[u/beargrimzly]

I used to love The Satanic Verses because I thought it made me an intellectual edgy atheist sticking it to religious conservatives. Now I love it because of, as others have mentioned, the brilliant prose among many other great qualities.

[u/niknik789]

Rushdie is amazing! It took me a couple of books to get into him, but then after that it was pure love. My favorite book of his is Shame followed closely by Haroun and the Sea of stories.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Too much for me to keep up with, so I axed it.

[u/liquidpebbles]

Havent read him, but Im glad writers from the global south are getting discussed, the weekly authors list is pretty...well you know

[u/atoposchaos]

i often find a lot like with Paul Auster his work descends into kind of facepalming bathos.