Revisiting Satanic Verses

So to be completely honest, I only made it through Part VII of Satanic Verses. It was quite ambitious of us to undertake this book, and I felt we rushed through it just a bit. I got through as much as I could, but I feel like we should have had someone, not necessarily holding our hand, but say, someone in a boat nearby with a life-saver handy. In any case, my thoughts on the book are as follows.

I really enjoyed Rushdie's style of writing. I mentioned Roi's book in an earlier post, and the more I read of Verses the more I thought of "God of Small Things." Making up words to represent complex ideas was an effective way of showing his character's displacement: as Indians in a Caucasian world, the language barrier fuels the cultural barrier, and there is often no other way of expressing what one means than to make up a word. Throwing in Hindi words was also true to his characters; the elder Indians I know often speak a mixture of English and Hindi in the same sentence, again scrambling together whatever means possible to convey an idea. Sometimes, I felt like this push for expression of thought could also be felt in Rushdie's magical realism - writing a true-to-life story couldn't have been the best way for him to express his intentions.

As for what his intentions were, I don't think it's quite so easy to quantify. Maybe he was just trying to explore the mythologies surrounding the satanic verses. Or, being an Indian in a Caucasian world himself, the book was an attempt to come to terms with his own life, making it autobiographical. If you can't tell, that's the part of the book I can relate to. The absurdity of culture shock is similar to Waugh's characterization of "the American" in "The Loved One."

Since the book is broken down into chapters, I thought I'd say a few words about each one.

Part I: The Angel Gibreel
Rushdie certainly knows how to begin a story. Two men falling out of the sky. This was the section I could most easily relate to, with references to my cultural experiences; though after discussions in our group, it was probably difficult for the others to gleam the full scope of Rushdie's writings *because* of the numerous cultural references. For example, knowing that "chamcha" meant spoon, made it a whole lot more meaningful when Gibreel refers to Saladin Chamchawala as "Spoono."

Part II: Mahound
"Should God be proud or humble, majestic or simple, yielding or un-? What kind of idea is he? What kind am I?" (P. 113). To me, this quote is an example of why the book might be Rushdie's attempt at finding himself. These kinds of open-ended questions appear throughout the book, making it read somewhat like a very personal diary; though his characters are the ones questioning, you can clearly hear the questions in Rushdie's voice.

Part III: Ellowen Deeowen
Rosa Diamond was a strange character. First, I didn't understand why the coppers took Saladin but not Gibreel. Then, I thought the whole Gibreel/Rosa relationship was as bit sketch. I was intrigued by the following quote: "while dying Rosa tossed on her bed, did-she-didn't-she, making the last version of the story of her life, unable to decide what she wanted to be true." We had a bit of a talk on this topic, the idea of the illusion of a viable memory, the choice we have to remember the events as we see fit, and whether Rosa did or didn't cheat on her husband. I my opinion, had she not cheated on her husband, she would have no need to reinvent history; then again, had she remained faithful, inventing an affair might be the only way for her to conclude she had had a fulfilling (eventful) life.

Part IV: Ayesha
I *hated* the character of Ayesha. I thought the whole story was painful to read, mostly because I didn't care for this character. I felt bad for Mizra, having his wife converted to believing in what I perceived was a false prophet.

Part V: A City Visible but Unseen
"'Chamcha,' Mishal said excitedly, 'you're a hero. I mean, people can really identify with you. It's an image white society has rejected for so long that we can really take it, you know, occupy it, inhabit it, reclaim it and make it our own. It's time you considered action.'"

When do you know your society is in a state of disrepair? When the image of the devil becomes something to rally around. It's not that it's the *devil* people are rallying around, but that the people need something to rally around and anything will do. I thought the image of the Asian youth taking on Saladin as their hero was absurd, yet one we see everyday - how much more ridiculous is it that people obsess over celebrities (hey, me included) to the point where they will do anything one individual says (not me, here, but think more Nazi/Hitler).

Part VI: Return to Jahilia & Part VII: The Angel Azraeel
It was at this point that I lost interest, or got so bogged down in the grit of the story, trying to follow what was happening, that I couldn't go any further. I stopped taking notes, mostly because there were so many to take.

In conclusion, I want to read this book again. With someone beside me that's done it before, and that can give me a nudge or two in the right direction.