I this book because...
It’s tough competition here—I read War and Peace, Gilgamesh, The Grapes of Wrath, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla in the same twelve months. For me to choose anything over ancient poetry is almost unheard of.
But I think the state of socio-politics right now has played a hand in influencing me—we can see what fanaticism is doing to the world everywhere we look, and Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses not only shreds the notions of religious and political fanaticism but does so with great humanity and intellectual savagery.
Blasphemy is a human right. And only through tragic comedy like this book can free thinkers stand against the rising tide of darkness that comes in the guise of piety and patriotism.
2 authors picked The Satanic Verses as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
'A masterpiece' Sunday Times
Just before dawn one winter's morning, a aeroplane blows apart high above the English Channel and two figures tumble, clutched in an embrace, towards the sea: Gibreel Farishta, India's legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices.
Washed up, alive, on an English beach, their survival is a miracle. But there is a price to pay. Gibreel and Saladin have been chosen as opponents in the eternal wrestling match between Good and Evil. But chosen by whom? And which is which? And what will be the outcome of their final confrontation?
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