The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
Trying to describe a Salman Rushdie novel is like trying to describe music to someone who has never heard it–you can fumble with a plot summary but you won’t be able to convey the wonder of his dazzling prose or the imaginative complexity of his vision. At its heart, The Enchantress of Florence is about the power of story–whether it is the imagined life of a Mughal queen, or the devastating secret held by a silver-tongued Florentine. Make no mistake, it is Rushdie who is the true “enchanter” of this story, conjuring readers into his gilded fairy tale from the very first sentence: “In the day’s last light the glowing lake below the palace-city looked like a sea of molten gold.” At once bawdy, gorgeous, gory, and hilarious, The Enchantress of Florence is a study in contradiction, highlighted in its barbarian philosopher-king who detests his bloodthirsty heritage even while he carries it out. Full of rich sentences running nearly the length of a page, Rushdie’s 10th novel blends fact and fable into a challenging but satisfying read. --Daphne
***I’ve never read Rushdie but growing up I’ve heard all about his controversal writings and my mother forbid to read Satanic Verses. Now I’m the type who needs to read before I can label the guy anything. Just seems like everywhere you read about his writing people have great things to say.
hmm thats how most muslims feels but I need to read and know how offensive he was -- I can't take anyone else's word but yeh I've heard he's ahard read as well.
I haven't read any of his books but I plan to this summer.
Personally, I hated him ever since "hearing" about that whole thing about the book he wrote and how my parents were all like oh he is so bad and blah blah and all the imams saying we'd go to hell if we read it.
What changed my mind about him was watching a speech he gave here on tv on multiculturalism. It was like, I don't know, hard to explain, it was amazing. He was so engaging and so right about things about the world. I can find the link if you want...
i also alwayz wanted 2 find out 4 myself y this guy ticked off the whole muslim nation..how did he say what he was trying 2 say?..what exact words did he use..and now after hearing about his mesmorizing speech also nd not just his writings..my interest has been peeked nd awakened once again.