The Satanic Verses: A Novel

After all of the publicity surrounding this novel, I found the content disappointingly non-stimulating. The character descriptions were good, but strange, and the plot was difficult and frustrating to follow. I would not read this book a second time.

Magnificent. Received copy today. Read years ago.good going Rushdie. 2 attempts at bringing this to silver screen. One, Innocence of moslems , failed. Second, flames of war, has been better received. Again , well done Mr Rushdie on exposing Christian zionislam and the coexist movement

It is great literature, both hilariously funny and making you think of the eternal questions of life at the same time - for the latter reason I would not call it easy bedside reading, but it is definitely worth the effort.

Terrific book. No real reason to add to the other 200+ reviews, I'm sure the other guys covered all relevant points. Wikipedia has a decent synopsis on the subject, but they do give the ending away. Anything that inspired an Islamic fatwa in the 80s is probably progressive. The entertainment value was a bonus.
Signed,
An Iranian American

This book is stupid. The only thing that saves it is the audible recording. Magical realism, schizophrenia, British Indian culture, and critiques of eastern religious figures is not exactly accessible. The amount of character and voice switching is chaotic and jarring. There are too many main characters/sub characters that are weighted to heavily to attach yourself too. Read the cliff notes :/

Salman Rushdie did a good job relating the story of Mahound/(Mohammed) and his near compromise with the elders of Mecca in regards to the worship of other deities. On the whole ,I find the book bizzare.

Some books become famous because they are controversial. This book may fit into that category, but it is also exceptionally written. A must read, and thankfully our society is still free enough (for the moment) that we are able to access important books like this.

Here again the kinds of choices given do not make sense in a discussion of this book. I have not finished reading it, since I find the author's narrative method exasperating. Some will appreciate the humor and insightful commentary about history and culture in India and Pakistan. I like a more simple, straightforward narration, so that I don't have to read the book three times to know what is going on.

In 2013 I heard a radio program about Mr Rushdies life (after the novel was publiished) Fascinating!
So I wanted to finally read this book that caused such a controversy. Unfortunately I found myself unable to finish the book.
It is written in a style that I find difficult to like. So I guess I will never understand the controversy. Sorry Mr Rushdie.

The original hardcover seemed smaller in size but I loved getting a chance to read this work by the man who was in fear for his life just because he crirticized the faith. It is the same way when people criticize the free masons and then they are also killed. That's why there is no difference between the right-wing and the fundamentalists who advocate death to the folks who doubt or merely question authority.

For the hype and all of the nonsense about Rushdie being condemned to death, I expected more of a critique of Islamic theology, Muslim theocracy , Muslim society, with a couple of disparaging comments about their venerated Prophet. What I discovered was a story that appears to have originated in the tortured mind of a person in an opium den. My conclusion is that the Imam who issued the fatwa intended it as a gesture of mercy to Rushdie and Rushdie's readers.

I read "Shalimar the Clown" and was smittem with the beauty of Salman Rushdie's writing. When the Joseph Anton Biography was released I enjoyed learning more about Slaman life. After reading all the difficulty that the Satanic Verses had caused so many people I decided to go ahead and pay the steep price charged for my Kindle copy of Satanic Verses. Well I really tried and tried but after about a third of book I decided to quit beating myself up by trying to continue a book that was offering me nothing but stress.

To really understand this book, one must read the entire Qu'ran. Only then can one have any hope of understanding the mind of Mohammed and the importance of the "satanic verses." Worth the effort if one wishes to understand Islam.

I feel sorry for Salman Rushdie who will be remembered for this heap of junk. His word usage is unique but a more boring tirade I have never read. It is a shame the author has been so long tortured by a gang of religious fanatics who took this thing seriously. It took me years to get around to it after hearing all the fuss and I still do not know the source of the commotion. My sense of art has never been mainstream, but,Allah,please return the hours I have just wasted on this tripe. I can not even pretend to be on the band wagon.

My past review below, I would stand by, however I realized the store has a loophole. Just change your location in the settings, and then I could download it. So with that, sorry if my previous opinion distressed you =) No harm meant, I just really wanted to read the book.

Previous review: I am deployed in Afghanistan, and I would love to read this book. Unfortunately, the store will not allow me to buy it because my location is in the Middle East. Very dissapointing. American companies that are ok with censorship in order to make profit.

I'm slogging through this book. Eventually I'll finish it, but it ain't an exciting read. I bought it to see what all the fuss was about re: the followers of Mohammad feeling insulted. Its not worth the read.