❤️ loved this book because...
I liked the insight into Vijayanagara, the real empire located in present day Karnataka, India that Rushdie fictionalizes in his magic realism fable. The character of Pampa Campana, the 250-year-old queen who never ages, is a proxy for the kingdom that lasted for that same amount of time from the 14-16th centuries. There are stories within stories here, exposing all the travails of medieval empires, replete with conspiracies, uprisings, internal turf-battles, colonizers, assassinations, and border wars between the Hindus and the Moghuls. A must read for someone trying to understand the multi-faced fabric of Indian history. It is also a proxy for the rise and fall of empires, of how they rise and why they fall.
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Loved Most
🥇 Originality 🥈 Teach -
Writing style
❤️ Loved it -
Pace
🐕 Good, steady pace
3 authors picked Victory City as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
She will whisper an empire into existence - but all stories have a way of getting away from their creators . . .
'A total pleasure'
SUNDAY TIMES
'Shows once again why his work will always matter'
NEW YORK TIMES
'Rushdie still has the gift of alchemy'
FINANCIAL TIMES
In the wake of an insignificant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who tells her that she…