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    The Satanic Verses
    The Satanic Verses
    The Satanic Verses
    Audiobook21 hours

    The Satanic Verses

    Written by Salman Rushdie

    Narrated by Sam Dastor

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Inextricably linked with the fatwa called against its author in the wake of the novel's publication, The Satanic Verses is, beyond that, a rich showcase for Salman Rushdie's comic sensibilities, cultural observations, and unparalleled mastery of language. The tale of an Indian film star and a Bombay expatriate, Rushdie's masterpiece was deservedly honored with the Whitbread Prize. "Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Voltaire's Candide . [Rushdie] is very much a latter-day member of their company."-New York Times Book Review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMay 27, 2011
    ISBN9781461804048
    The Satanic Verses
    Author

    Salman Rushdie

    Salman Rushdie is the author of many acclaimed novels, including Midnight’s Children (winner of the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), Grimus, Shame, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and The Sea of Stories, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown, The Enchantress of Florence, Luka and the Fire of Life, and Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights—and a collection of short stories: East, West. He has also published works of nonfiction, including Joseph Anton (a memoir of his life under the fatwa issued after the publication of The Satanic Verses), The Jaguar Smile, Imaginary Homelands, and Step Across This Line—and co-edited the anthologies, Mirrorwork and Best American Short Stories. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature.

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    Reviews for The Satanic Verses

    3.5/5

    126 ratings73 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved the writing in this book. I loved the difficult nature of his text. I understand that some people, some very literary people, despise his incessant amount of detail. I think it works, and works marvelously. This book is an experience and I found it wonderfully captivating.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I'd been curious about this book for quite a while, obviously because of the publicity and controversy surrounding it.
      My opinion: it's good. But it's certainly not worth dying for. (As a translator already has, and two others have barley survived assassination attempts).
      Interestingly, the main focus of the book is not on religion, although it plays a part.
      Mostly, I would say the book is about the experience of Indian - British immigrants. Rushdie explores the psychological conflicts through a story of two Indian men, both average, but one who's really rather a self-centered jerk. Falling from a plane which was victim to a terrorist attack, the two miraculously survive, but one becomes a sort of avatar of an angel, and one of a devil. Intertingly, the roles are reversed - the more 'decent' guy becomes the devil, growing horns, and the self-centered film star developing a halo.
      In exploring these identities, especially that of the archangel Gibreel in Islamic mythology, is where Rushdie moves into supposedly 'blasphemous' territory, including a historical depiction of Mohammed, and a strong implication by the Prophet's personal scribe that he is a fraud, making up religious rules to suit his whims. There's also a funny, satirical episode where a brothel decides to make more money by having their whores role-play the parts of the Prophet's wives.
      I suspect that Rushdie underestimated the response these scenes would get. It's pretty clear from the book that Rushdie is probably an atheist. But it's also very clear that the scenes in question are satire. They're almost incidental to the main plot of the book (which takes place in the present day), and also to the main
      idea of the book, which has to do with the concepts of "Indian-ness" and "British-ness" and personal identity.
      I'd say the novel is definitely worthwhile for its insights into human nature, but it does have a tendency to meander, and the colloquial language that Rushdie uses can occasionally come across as a bit too 'clever.'

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I started reading this book ten years ago, and have been trying to get back to it ever since. I'm proud to say I have now read through to the end. I enjoyed the imagery, the layers of cultures and symbolism, even the plot, but the ending fell a bit flat for me. Towards the end, the characters go even crazier than usual, and the prose deteriorates to illustrate their mental decay, which reads less well than I'd like. I enjoyed reading The Satanic Verses, and might have given it 5 stars if I didn't also feel like it was a bit too much hard work, if I weren't so glad to finally be done with it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I suspect that this is brilliant fiction. I can tell that it's original and probably revolutionary. However, I lacked enough background knowledge of Islam (except for the very basics) and Indian culture to really "get" this book. I had to look up so many references that about of a quarter of the way through, I realized that this was no longer practical. The story was at times compelling, but I had this constant feeling that I just was missing everything that was truly amazing about it. There were sparkling moments, and I read it all the way through, but I wish I read it in a college class. I professor would've helped. So this "okay" rating is one of an ignorant reader and in no way reflects the quality of the writing.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      really well narrated version of a beautiful and dense story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I remember hearing about Salman Rushdie when I was a child, when news of the fatwa first broke. I was quite worried at the time, particularly when people related to the book actually started being killed. I'd always assumed he must be quite a serious writer, as it sounded like a very serious sort of topic with serious implications. It was the first time I remember hearing about a book causing such consternation, and so it's stuck with me ever since. For me, Salman Rushdie has always been that author. And now I've finally read that book. Some part of my childhood presumptions had remained, and so I was surprised to find magical realism, despite the fact I've read other books by Rushdie, and so should have had some idea what to expect. He's quite the storyteller - I enjoy the things he does with language. It's a massive book though, of interwoven timelines and dream sequences, and takes some concentration. Even with concentration I feel I lost so much of what was there. and will need to re-read a few times to come close to full appreciation.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Two Indian men, both leaving their old lives, miraculously survive an aeroplane bombing over England. During their fall to earth they experience an unusual change - one sprouting horns & the other a halo. The story of their "transformations", is also paralleled with "dream stories".A most unusual, sometimes difficult to follow, always interesting, often humerous, and quite long story full of many layers. A book that could be read multiple times.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      After all the controversy I had no idea until I read this that it would be so funny.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Definitely worth the read. Rushdie is a resounding, powerful storyteller.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Salman Rushdie has an amazing gift for language... and "The Satanic Verses" really doesn't disappoint. He writes the kind of sentences you just want to linger over -- they are clever without being gimmicky and often just put together so beautifully. I really detest magical realism generally, but both of the Rushdie novels I've read were written so well I didn't mind that element at all.I actually enjoyed the story quite a bit as well. In this novel, two men survive when their plane explodes and they plummet to the ground. One takes on the characteristics of the archangel Gabriel, while the other takes on the characteristics of the devil. (As a non-religious sort, I don't have a lot of opinion on the controversy surrounding the book -- I really don't know enough about Islam to know if the book was mocking that religion or not.)The story winds about a lot and this took an extraordinarily long time for me to read as a result. But overall, I really enjoyed the book and wouldn't hesitate to read another by Rushdie.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I really liked the beginning of the novel, but it does get kind of gross and weird- not for the faint-hearted. Well written, engaging, terrifying. You can see why it was banned.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A master of surrealism. Easy to read in spite of the length, but with some quirks that point clearly to the author's iconoclasm not only in religion, but in writing. Few writers would be able to get away with a sentence of over 50 words, but somehow in this book, it worked. The imagery is strange, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes frightful. It would be fabulous to see someone do this as a movie, but given the fatwa the author has lived under for so long, it's unlikely anyone will ever dare.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I tried to read this book and could not get into it but then I listened to it on audible and loved it. Somehow listening to it made it understandable and enhanced the humor and the beauty of the language. I had already read (on paper) Midnight's Children and enjoyed that; so I was used to the writing style and the sense of humor. I found some of the sentences in Satanic Verses the most beautiful I have read anywhere. I think his characters are hilarious and his depictions of the shifts in personality between the two main characters is thought provoking. I think Rushdie has a deep understanding of human nature and the nature of human relationships and is able to represent these with the humor that pervades life. I have been to India and lived among Indians so I appreciate, and to some extent understand the Indian culture (although I was born in the US). I can see how some of the references would be lost on the typical non-Indian reader. I think many of the humorous references may be lost on one who is not very familiar with Indian culture. So the Satanic Verses has many aspects that may make it difficult and not enjoyable. That said, I found it wonderful and listened to it on audible three times liking it better and finding it funnier each time.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Opening;"To be born again", sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, "first you have to die".
    • 4/5
      The Satanic Verses occasionally ventures into the fantastic as many of Rushdie's other works, it doesn't do enough with those fantastical moments to be as gripping as those other works. Though clearly carefully crafted with symbolism and parallels abounding, the story progresses slowly and often seems to feel like drudging through until it picks up again. An interesting read but not necessarily the enthralling read I've come to expect of Rushdie.
    • 3/5
      One of those books I started many times and never finished...now I have finished it. I'm glad I read it, if only to wade through all of the things that were said about it in the wake of the controversy. Not surprisingly, it is much more thoughtful, nuanced, reflective than the impression purveyed by the hype. Scattered as a novel, I sometimes felt a little lost, but some wonderful parable-like sequences weaved through cultural and religious history.
    • 2/5
      Bij deze is het officieel: Salman Rushdie is geen favoriete schrijver van mij. Ik heb nu drie boeken (gedeeltelijk) achter de kiezen en hij ligt me gewoon niet. Spetterende stijl, briljant, beeldend en een ongelofelijk creatieve verhalen verteller, daar niet van. Maar ik moet het niet hebben, het zegt me echt niks. Dat heeft - denk ik - niks te maken met de culturele afstand (want eigenlijk is Rushdie door en door westers), maar vooral met de stijl. Sorry, Salman. Overigens denk ik dat iedereen zijn mening mag uiten, ook al wordt die door anderen als blasfemisch beschouwd.
    • 1/5
      Life is too short to endure bad fiction.The story started out interesting enough, with the characters literally falling out of the sky. It took me a awhile to get into the story, but I finally did. The problem was that every time you managed to get a hold of the basic underlying narrative it would evaporate and be replaced by a nonsensical dream sequence. The transitions between the two realities was so seamless that you frequently find yourself lost. Add all of that to the fact that you are trying to juggle the names of very foreign persons and places and it gets even worse.I think that, perhaps, to approach this book and appreciate it you have to have a working knowledge of the Koran and Persian Mythology.I also think that the book would have never been have read by as many people as it has been were it not for the controversy surrounding it.
    • 4/5
      The books takes a lot longer to read then you think it would. It was tough to get through the beginning because it is very confusing. The timelines jump back and forth and there are a lot of dream sequences throughout the book. In the end it was completely worth it though. The characters were great (and vast), and it is a very original novel. I really like the ending as this isn't really a book you read for the plot, but it still comes together at the end.
    • 5/5
      Blew my mind. Made me giggle, made me think, made me wonder, and made me believe. I had always been intimidate by Rushdie - the way his name is spoken in hushed tones made me think his work would be beyond my intellectual capacities (pish!), and the fact of the fatwa resulting from this book made me think it would be heavy religious stuff that I didn't want to get into (into which I did not want to get :p). WRONG!I will search out his work in the future - I've heard that this wasn't even one of his better works, and frankly, I can only hope that this is the case.
    • 2/5
      This book did not make any sense. I think 500-page dream sequences aren't really my thing. Also, the rather loose use of English sentences was cool for the first few pages, and then it just made the book harder to read.
    • 1/5
      Ya know, had though zealots in Iran just forgotten about this thing, no one would have bought another copy. This is probably the worst book I have read.
    • 4/5
      A strange and compelling book, with flashbacks and side stories set in different eras. I can see why this upset Muslims as there are parts which are very insulting of the Prophet. Unfortunately, the reaction of Fundamentalists then made it unacceptable for moderate Muslims to be seen to be complaining about the content of the book. Read it an make up your own mind.
    • 2/5
      Ok, I'll admit, this is the second book of Rushdie's I've hacked my way through, & while this one was more tolerable than the last one I read, it was every bit as conflicting & confusing. The characters were more caricatures than characters, & I found it very hard to identify with them. While the general premise of the book, 2 men falling out of the sky after their plane is blown up by terrorists & miraculously surviving is interesting, I found the rest of the book, about their transformations into one, a form of the archangel Gabriel, while the other transforms into a strange satyr like creature, reminiscent of the Christian view of the Devil, but based more correctly on the even older representation of the Nature god Pan, extremely odd. All of this overlaid with the sublife of the Indian culture in England, and the Hindi mythos, left me wondering what the hell the author was REALLY striving to say. I certainly saw NOTHING Satanic about this book, & saw no reason for him to have had death threats placed against him when the book first came out. All in all, it was just weird
    • 4/5
      I have wanted to read and think about this insightful book for many years. It caused an uproar in the Islamic world, including a fatwa death sentence for the author. I always wondered why? How can a story about other prophets cause an uproar amongst their followers?To me, the story line essentially chronicles the journey of the prophet in the walk around world. In many senses, The Satanic Verses is similar in nature to other journey books which seem intended to allow the reader (and the author, of course) to explore the conscious and subconscious of the heroes. I enjoyed reading Siddhartha by Herman Hess, The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo, The Iliyad and the Odyssey by Homer, and many others. In each, the hero embarks upon a journey of self-discovery, danger, ecstacy, and fate. Often the results of the journey, successful or otherwise, seem to me to largely be a matter of serendipity. In Siddhartha, the rich Indian boy found his peace in ferrying pilgrims across the river close to his original home. In The Alchemist, the shepard boy found his treasure in Fatima at the oasis. How can one account for the joy these young men ultimately found in simplicity?It is up to the reader to find meaning in any story, including especially its meaning in his or her own life.I think such stories are successful if they trigger introspection in the reader. How is my life or journey similar to the hero’s? What can I learn from this hero’s journey to guide me in my life. If there is deep religious connotation, or comment, do I agree with the views communicated by the author and the protagonists?The Satanic Verses is at once allegorical, satirical, whimsical, and oftentimes, to me, far less penetrable in any conventional sense than most of the books we read on a day-to-day basis. Like reading James Joyce, the twists and turns of the narrative require focus and abstract thought. In this regard, I was reminded of my long read of Raintree County by Ross Lockridge, Jr., an allegorical story of my childhood home in Indiana. It took me awhile to get through the 1,500 pages. When I was done I had discovered what I was looking for in those pages. Frankly, I enjoyed the introspection.In the case of Satanic Verses, my wait was worthwhile. Mr. Rushdie has a wonderful capacity for inducing self-examination. His fine work has earned the rave reviews that it has gotten for the many years since its original publication. It is far more complex than such stories as The Alchemist, yet it is the complexity that provides such rich texture.From a cultural perspective, I found it a far more difficult struggle to engage the hero in The Satanic Verses, than in Siddhartha written by a German or The Alchemist written by a Latin.As with any great book, the re-reading after a passage of time will bring even greater insight. I look forward to that time as well.
    • 2/5
      This is a very strange story that took me a very long time to read. In a nutshell, it is about Gibreel Farishta, a famous Indian movie star who may or may not be turning into the archangel Gabriel, and Saladin Chamcha, an Indian voice actor living in London who may or may not be turning into Satan. Much of the book is also devoted to the story-within-a-story of Gibreel's dreams, which take place in numerous locations and time periods. There is a much discussion of religion, politics, and society without taking a clear stance on anything. The story begins with Gibreel and Saladin falling through the air after the airplane they were on was blown up by terrorists, so you know it's going to be one trippy experience.I have pretty mixed feelings about this one. The story was reasonably satisfying, but I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it were I more familiar with the Qu'ran and Indian society. It was also a bit difficult to get into because of the writing style: Rushdie displayed a fondness for overly long, run-on sentences and a disdain for paragraph breaks, especially where dialogue is concerned. The primary reason I finished this book at all is because I read somewhere that it is one of the most commonly started-but-not-finished books of all time (though how that is measured is beyond me). This isn't a very good reason to read a book, especially one you know you are not fully understanding. I wouldn't say it was a waste of time - I enjoyed some of the characters, especially the maddening Gibreel - but I do believe there are other books I would have enjoyed more during the month it took me to finish reading this one.
    • 2/5
      Bij deze is het officieel: Salman Rushdie is geen favoriete schrijver van mij. Ik heb nu drie boeken (gedeeltelijk) achter de kiezen en hij ligt me gewoon niet. Spetterende stijl, briljant, beeldend en een ongelofelijk creatieve verhalen verteller, daar niet van. Maar ik moet het niet hebben, het zegt me echt niks. Dat heeft - denk ik - niks te maken met de culturele afstand (want eigenlijk is Rushdie door en door westers), maar vooral met de stijl. Sorry, Salman. Overigens denk ik dat iedereen zijn mening mag uiten, ook al wordt die door anderen als blasfemisch beschouwd.
    • 4/5
      Very complicated, took maybe 200 pages before I felt like I was even beginning to get the general situation. The sentences were beautiful, a lovely writer. Very challenging book, an incredible amount of detail and I feel like 90% of it whizzed past my head.
    • 3/5
      I loved listening to this as Rushdie's word have some poetry to them. However, there were some parts that confused me as I did not understand all the religious nuances.
    • 3/5
      It was several years ago that I read this book, so I won't write about it at length. The only comment I would like to make is that the publicity surrounding this novel is unfortunate, because it probably isn't the best place to start reading Rushdie. Although I count his earlier Midnight's Children among my favorite novels, I didn't enjoy this book very much. My feeling wasn't so much that it was poorly written as that I didn't understand it. I do have acquaintances who loved it, so I'm not suggesting that it doesn't deserve to be read, only that it shouldn't be taken as an exemplar of all Salman Rushdie's work.