About this title: Rushdie's controversial bestseller, which earned him a sentence of death from the Islamic hierarchy of Iran, is a magical realist fantasy that examines questions of identity and belief. Two survivors of an airplane crash, Saladin and Gibreel, are transformed from ordinary citizens and public figures into personifications of Good and Evil, ...
read more
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Fair. As issued No Jacket. Spine lean, corner bumps, corner creases, reading crease rear cover, spine crease, some stains to the right edge of book(not much bleed in), and other moderate to heavy shopwear. Reading copy only if you dare. read more
Description: Good. 1997-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Very Good- As issued No Jacket. Spine lean, corner bumps, reading crease to the front cover, soiling to the top edge of the book, chipping to the spine corners, and other light to moderate shopwear. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780670825370ISBN:0670825379
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. DJ has very minor wear and has a Brodart cover, binding is tight and square, pages are clean and unmarked. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 560 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780670825370ISBN:0670825379
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Slight edgewear. No markings or spine creasing. Pages bright and tight. Trade paperback edition. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 560 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: Ninth Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking, New York
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780670825370ISBN:0670825379
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine DJ. 0670825379. Book is Near Fine. Clean and unmarked text. Tight and sturdy binding. Appears book never read. Very slight front cover upward bowing-no damage. DJ is near fine. Very slight bumping to cover spine ends. Very light surface shelf wear to DJ cover.; 547 pages. read more
Edition: First edition. First American Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780670825370ISBN:0670825379
Description: Very good. No dust jacket. The pages are very clean, no tears or marks. The cover and binding are clean and tight. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 560 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 1989
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Book is in near fine condition. Pages are bright and unmarked. Cover has slight wear. 546 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
"If just to find out what all the fuss is about. I first ordered this book from a small bookstore and when it arrived, I clandestinely read it my bedroom. The only problem was I had no idea how to decipher the first chapter :)
Here we see Rushdie at his most playful and creative. Inspiring a hybridity of characters that fluidly blend and shape shift between one another and history, The Satanic Verses is what I would consider one of the best books I've read in my entire life. There's a mix of Bollywood, Jorge Luis Borges, Shakespeare's Othello, South Asian Diaspora life, Thatcherite England, The 1001 Arabian Nights, The Wizard of Oz, and of course Islam. There are some websites out there that put a reference to every allusion that Rushdie makes, but even without this dense background, the book is still highly enjoyable because of the questions it asks...and it's a really humourous book, too.
A highly recommended book which I would consider better than Midnight's Children, and also a book that ask troubling and difficult questions from its reader."
"This book is diabolical nonsense. How did it ever receive national acclaim? It is a waste of time to read this book when there are so many good books to read."
By Ellie,
Henley-On-Thames, OXON, The United Kingdom
"I was massively underwhelmed by this. I have put off and put off reading it, and then I was told by a friend that it was her favourite book, so I thought I'd give it a go, and frankly I wish I hadnt bothered.
I found the writing pretentious, with very little story. It has the potential to be brilliant, as the bones of it is good, but there is so much waffle, rubbish and unnessessary wording that it fast becomes tedious and irritatnig.
That said its made him very rich, so good on him!"
Twenty years after controversy and confusion, I picked this book almost as an obligation, wondering if the publicity was its greatest quality. In fact, on its own, this is, in my opinion, a great novel -- a story which incorporates so many elements all the while never neglecting one or making any feel superfluous.
Politics, religion, family, good and evil, love, hate -- all these elements intertwine but never step on each other, making "The Satanic Verses" one of the most pleasant discoveries I've made in a long while. I say discovery because I was expecting so little.
I must admit that I am not well-versed in Islamic lore to fully understand the elements that led to the infamous fatwa of the late '80s. I can see some points of contention, however.
The strongest elements for me were the feelings of lack of identity that pervade the existence of Saladin/Salahuddin. I can only imagine the feelings of duality an immigrant could feel in the capital city of the conquerors of his own country. Mr. Rushdie is particularly effective in describing Saladin's loneliness and feelings of displacement.
Furthermore, Mr. Rushdie gives us an interesting glimpse into his own view of the race relations situation in London.
Overall, few negatives to mention about this novel..."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
