Two Finished

Boodini might have been the student left behind, but still enjoys reading. So on opening the pages of  Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, it was a very slow and difficult novel to get through. Basically because it is full of satirical, metaphorical, and personification that left one really bewildered and challenged. Rushdie was given a fatwa in Islamic law by Ayatoliah Khomeini in Iran to be executed for what Muslims felt was a blasphemy in this novel. There were nine failed assassination attempts, one of his translators was killed, two others serious hurt, till he went under an alias Joseph Anton, which is his latest book, on his hidden life from Islamic assassins. So when a few weeks ago picking up the second novel Midnight's Children, I was already doubting that decision. It really was tougher than the first to get through. It is about India's independence, and he as a character is born with magical powers and gets into the political struggles and factions of that continent from Kasmir to Agra. The intense layout he presents is full of every walk of life and religious belief in India, and there is no way to describe the writings, he is just very good. Like the first book I thought about just laying it down, reading should be fun, so I disciplined 25 pages a day as an option. Even though I usually read beyond that, finally I finished. Looks like I am free to finish the other two books I started with Midnights Children only because it was hard for me to get done.