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The Guardian Reviews Rushdie's Enchantress of Florence.

I can NOT wait to get my filthy mitts on this book:
The essential compatibility of the realistic and the fantastic imagination may explain the success of Rushdie's sumptuous, impetuous mixture of history with fable. But in the end, of course, it is the hand of the master artist, past all explanation, that gives this book its glamour and power, its humour and shock, its verve, its glory. It is a wonderful tale, full of follies and enchantments. East meets west with a clash of cymbals and a burst of fireworks. We English-speakers have our own Ariosto now, our Tasso, stolen out of India. Aren't we the lucky ones?
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  1. Anonymous2/4/08 12:16 pm

    Hmm... Haven't had me some Rushdie for awhile now, but this looks enticing enough... What's your fav Rushdie book, Ted?

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  2. Ted Mahsun2/4/08 12:23 pm

    It's a toss-up between Midnight's Children and Haroun and the Sea of Stories, but granted, I haven't really read much of Rushdie's novels though I have a lot of his books on my TBR pile.

    In fact, I might finally give Satanic Verses a read in light of the recent Fitna furore. With apologies to my Muslim friends, I think Rushdie's reading of an excerpt from this book (can be found on the googliyoutubes) was excellent.

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  3. Anonymous2/8/08 4:35 am

    I just finished reading Rushdie's Enchantress and, as usual, it was an exciting and rewarding experience. However, I was frankly a bit shocked at some of the negative reviews that the book received. It seems that many critics have no idea that good literature demands good reading, that to delve in and experience the beauty, the bawd, and the brillance of Rushdie's work, one must put forth some effort. (This is also true of such great writers as Don Delillo, Martin Amis, Will Self, Thomas Pyncheon, and Zadie Smith, among many others.) I'm not saying that a book has to be difficult to be enjoyed, I'm simply asking, what's happened to the state of literature? Or even more alarming, what's happening to the American mind-set? Do we want to waste our lives and fry our brains sitting in front of the idiot box and having all of our thinking dictated to us? Let me know your opinion of these matters.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ted Mahsun3/8/08 10:52 pm

    I wholeheartedly agree with you. Good literature DOES demand good reading.

    The problem I think is that most reviewers tend to review the personality of the author as well as their books. Sometimes a personal dislike towards the author intrudes on the work and that might skew the review a bit.

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