EXPECTATIONS:
It was raining like it does during that season in Mumbai. The disastrous rainfall, now a part of history, was a week away. But this write-up is not about that eventful day. A week before that on the way to campus I bought 'Shalimar the Clown' off the street. For long I was wanting to read the work of an Indian writer. First attempt at reading 'Shalimar the Clown' was a failure. Honestly, I could not understand it. Second attempt, within a week, met with the same result. The next time I was home my 'chikkappa' and my father totally wrote off Salman Rushdie. They claimed he is a hypocrite, they still do, and I didn't understand what that had to do with his writing. My chikkappa said he tried reading 'Midnight's Children' and could not finish it. However, he didn't give me a reason for not reading it fully. I didn't want to make any guesses. Then and there, Salman Rushdie was not an author on my list of must-reads. I felt he wrote books for people with intellect beyond mine. Within my mind I surrendered to reading regular fiction consisting of bestsellers.
'One Hundred Years of Solitude' changed my perception of novels. Arguably the author's most well-known book was to me highly entertaining. Yes, there are references to the war in Colombia and maybe lots of other stuff but to me it was great entertainment. A work by a Nobel prize winner became one of my favorites. It was time to revisit an Indian author and maybe go beyond the bestsellers.
An ideal start would have been 'Midnight's Children' but I could not get it. The library at UCD has everything related to this novel except the novel itself, books on understanding the book, stage play written from the novel, commentary on this etc. 'The Satanic Verses' was checked out. I was not too familiar with the other books. So why did I pick 'Shame'? I read somewhere on the internet Rushdie saying something about getting a better book after winning the Booker prize for 'Midnight's Children'. If not exactly at least something of this sort said by Rushdie himself gave me a feeling it was a good book. I also vaguely remembered it was on the Booker nominations, but I was not sure then. I gambled with 'Shame' and checked it out on my I-card.
On coming home I looked for response on the internet. What did I find?
It was raining like it does during that season in Mumbai. The disastrous rainfall, now a part of history, was a week away. But this write-up is not about that eventful day. A week before that on the way to campus I bought 'Shalimar the Clown' off the street. For long I was wanting to read the work of an Indian writer. First attempt at reading 'Shalimar the Clown' was a failure. Honestly, I could not understand it. Second attempt, within a week, met with the same result. The next time I was home my 'chikkappa' and my father totally wrote off Salman Rushdie. They claimed he is a hypocrite, they still do, and I didn't understand what that had to do with his writing. My chikkappa said he tried reading 'Midnight's Children' and could not finish it. However, he didn't give me a reason for not reading it fully. I didn't want to make any guesses. Then and there, Salman Rushdie was not an author on my list of must-reads. I felt he wrote books for people with intellect beyond mine. Within my mind I surrendered to reading regular fiction consisting of bestsellers.
'One Hundred Years of Solitude' changed my perception of novels. Arguably the author's most well-known book was to me highly entertaining. Yes, there are references to the war in Colombia and maybe lots of other stuff but to me it was great entertainment. A work by a Nobel prize winner became one of my favorites. It was time to revisit an Indian author and maybe go beyond the bestsellers.
An ideal start would have been 'Midnight's Children' but I could not get it. The library at UCD has everything related to this novel except the novel itself, books on understanding the book, stage play written from the novel, commentary on this etc. 'The Satanic Verses' was checked out. I was not too familiar with the other books. So why did I pick 'Shame'? I read somewhere on the internet Rushdie saying something about getting a better book after winning the Booker prize for 'Midnight's Children'. If not exactly at least something of this sort said by Rushdie himself gave me a feeling it was a good book. I also vaguely remembered it was on the Booker nominations, but I was not sure then. I gambled with 'Shame' and checked it out on my I-card.
On coming home I looked for response on the internet. What did I find?
- For many books Wikipedia has a long article which includes plot, characters, response, etc. But for this there was hardly anything. I was dissappointed.
- I could hardly find any reviews on the internet. Another disappointment.
The arguments in favor and against the book were balanced, 2-2. I started the book not knowing what to expect. I was starting with a clean slate. The thing hurting me was a feeling that I was starting with one of his 'lesser' books and that if I didn't like this I may not read Salman Rushdie's works again.
AS I READ THE BOOK:
- PAGES 1-40: I could not believe what I was reading! I was blown away in the first forty pages. I was reading almost every paragraph twice. Yes, I had trouble following the book. Why? The sentence structure was too complicated. So many ideas being brought about in the same sentence that I had to read them more than once and put the different ideas together. I loved it because it was unlike what I expected. The story until then was so out-of-the-world. It was truly fantastic. Three sisters, their father's death, their party to get pregnant and the way they bring up Omar Khayyam Shakil. It was so captivating. At this stage I looked closer into the article in Wikipedia and noticed it had 'magic-realism'. I loved this in 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and was thrilled to see it here.
- PAGES 41-200: The best portion of the book in my opinion. The strong but strange characterization of Omar Khayyam Shakil, Maulana Dawood, the Harappas, the Hyders, the women in the Harappa and Hyder families, the policeman who marries (shamelessly) Hyder's younger daughter (is it his daughter?), Sufiya Zinobia and an endless list of supporting characters. At this stage I started to feel that for a 286-page novel there are too many characters. In fact there are too many characters anyway (just like 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'). To have so many characters, who all need introductions, the pace does not slack. Surprising isn't it? 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' too employs a similar technique of jumping back and forth in time sometimes through its characters and sometimes through the narrative. Somewhere in this period I again visited Wikipedia and came to know it is the story of General Mohd. Zia-ul-haq and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of whom I didn't know much. All fears of not knowing the history evaporated as I flipped page after page.
- LAST PAGES: With some forty-odd pages to go I could not wait to see how it'd end. I loved the 'eighteen shawls' Rani Harappa makes for Arjuman Harappa. The detail with which Iskander's life is brought out is memorable because I could visualize the shawls in my head. Moving on, I should have seen the end coming. I should have known it would culminate in 'Nishapur'. The 'magic realism' keeps building up as the reader turns the pages. The end is so far-fetched even for 'magic realism'. But by then I was totally into Rushdie's grip. I was ready to believe anything. Sufiya Zinobia's transformation into the animal and the trio escaping dressed as women only to be taken right into their graves is over-dramatic but I lapped it up.
- The similarity of Babar Shakil's death and that of one of the characters in 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' can't be ignored. Both turn into angels and take off.
RANDOM THOUGHTS:
- Rushdie is a part of 'Shame'. He surfaces now and then in the book. I don't remember specifics of these and so can't elaborate. However, I will say that at first I was surprised with this 'trick'. It seemed at first a way for the author to impose himself on the reader. Made me feel Salman Rushdie was being arrogant here. But as I kept reading I found myself looking forward to these parts of the book. They gave better insights of his opinions on various issues (agree or disagree is up to the reader) and some places exposed me to other great works of literature. I love this totally new technique which I have not come across in any book I have read. Now I don't care if Rushdie was imposing himself or is arrogant.
- Wikipedia claimed this is the story of General Mod. Zia-ul-haq and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Any other book would have been written around these two characters. 'Shame' does not do that. Omar Khayyam Shakil is numerous times referred to as the 'peripheral hero' and the book starts and finishes with him. I don't know why Salman Rushdie does this. When I closed this book did I think of any one characters or two characters or three or four? I simply thought of the book as an outrageous but engrossing tall-tale. Rushdie calles Omar the 'peripheral hero' but in my opinion he is not. If anyone it is the narrator who simply takes us through all the significant happenings in Omar's lifetime which includes those two important people in history. That's one great thing about this, the way these important characters are placed in the book. Not at the start, not at the end, not in the middle but scattered everywhere and surfacing now and then.
- All the while I was reading 'Shame' I kept telling myself it was the best book I'd ever read. It was so much fun. Not a thriller but I didn't want to put the book down. Only when I finished it did I tell myself to be a little impartial. A day later I realized that in literature and cinema (and in majority fields) there is no such thing as 'best' and that any such title bestowed is purely a matter of opinion. So it is not the best book. But I want to put it down here because, and I quote myself, "all the while I was reading 'Shame' I kept telling myself it was the best book I'd ever read'. I am going to read every book by Salman Rushdie.
WHAT 'SHAME' & 'ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE' HAVE DONE FOR ME:
Starting today I shall read as many award winning books as possible. Very consciously I shall approach popular books from now. Reading 'Shame' & 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' have put the belief of enjoying, if not with complete understanding, the act of reading prize winning books.
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