Banned Books: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie
Two men fell thirty thousand feet
in the air, landed in the English Channel and were found washed up on the
beach. Their plane, the Bostan, had
exploded in flight, the act of a terrorist group that had taken the plane
hostage. Gibreel Farishta was the famous Indian actor that had vanished and
begin living his life in the silent shadow. He was on the way to the woman he
loved when his flight was hijacked. Saladin Chamcha was the lesser known voice
over actor that was desperately trying to leave his family and past behind.
They fell together, one singing songs while the other was desperately flapping
his arms trying to save his life. Their falls would end with transformations
for both, one into an angel of God, the other a representation of evil.
Where to begin? This book was all
over the place. In the first hundred pages of this novel, I was just trying to
wrap my head around what was going on. Here we have an actor singing as he
falls to his death, even though he believes (correctly) that it’s really his
rebirth? And what’s with the other guy, the other Indian actor, who seemingly
tries to adopt a new life and identity away from his Indian home? All of these
questions are answered throughout the pages of the novel but I’m not sure how
satisfying I found it. I can hardly adequately explain what happened because
everything feels like it would either be a spoiler or just cause confusion.
There was a lot going on in this novel. Too much going on in this novel. I
found myself distracted by half of this novel and incredibly moved by other
parts. It was trying and difficult to invest myself in this novel. Did I do it?
Yes but I’m not sure how to summarize it so I won’t. The aforementioned will be
as good as it gets. (In my opinion this novel simply took the longest, winding
road imaginable to express itself.)
Now one thing that must be said
because it weighs very heavily on the reasons why this novel has been banned is
the religious context of this book. I am not well versed on the Quran but the
religious tones of this novel are obvious throughout the pages. Even though
this wasn’t an all-out battle between good and evil, it definitely presented
different aspects of faith, representations of that faith, expressions of that
faith and completely turning away from said faith. The Satanic Verses has been banned in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Qatar, Indonesia, South Africa and
India because of its criticism of Islam. Riots have happened because of this
book where people have lost their lives. It was even considered a crime to own
or read this book in Venezuela, with a penalty of 15 months imprisonment.
Translations of this book has caused serious injury and death to those who have
translated it. Now, The Satanic Verses
definitely discussed Islam and I’m sure it challenged many people’s views but
this is as extreme as it gets. Nothing else I’ve read as part of this years
banned book theme has come close to the repercussions I am seeing here. I don’t
think Rushdie wrote this novel intending to piss people off but it seems as if
he did it masterfully. Most people don’t like to have their faith tested and
would see this novel as blasphemous but I can’t imagine entire countries being
so outraged that they have banned this novel and made it a crime. I find that
to be extremely absurd.
Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing
Course top 100 Novels of the 20th Century
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics/reasons Retrieved 10/13/2014
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