Reviews
Praise forShalimar the Clownby Salman Rushdie "Rushdie has written an intensely political novel, infused with recent events, but its emotional scope reaches so far beyond our current crisis and its vision into the vagaries of the heart is so perceptive that one can imagineShalimar the Clownbeing read long after this age of sacred terror has faded into history." The Washington Post "Richly textured, exotic prose . . . Rushdie simply delivers more of a wallop in one novel than most writers achieve ever. . . . [He] proves himself to be a master of the global novel." USA Today "Evoking a novella by Gabriel Garcia Márquez or a movie by Quentin Tarantino or a tragedy, say, by Shakespeare,Shalimar the Clownis a chronicle of an assassination foretold. . . . Rushdie defies gravity and dispatches his characters on journeys leading up to the assassination, leading away from the assassination, entertaining and dazzling, but all the while guiding us on an examination of this precarious high wire we find ourselves walking in the 21st century. . . . Rushdie's greatest novel sinceThe Satanic Verses." Los Angeles Times "Though there are already a number of fine novels that have examined the mind-set of the budding Islamic terrorist . . . this is probably the most important of all. . . . a brilliant work of political imagination [and] a welcome return to form for one of our modern masters of the novel." Houston Chronicle "Rushdie has done what he has set out to do. InShalimar the Clown, he has written a vast, richly peopled, beautiful and deeply rageful book that serves as a profound and disturbing artifact of our times." San Francisco Chronicle "Fiercely focused . . . and understated . . .Shalimar the Clownshould rank as Rushdie's most affecting and most effective novel in years." The Miami Herald "Marvelous . . . brilliant . . . Prepare for magic when readingShalimar the Clown, the kind of magic that comes from a novelist weaving a story worthy of his geniusand the kind of magic that comes from a novel that opens you to seeing the world as you never supposed." Detroit Free Press "A masterpiecea beautiful, painful, terrifying book, both fantastical and harshly realistic, filled with complex and memorable characters, and completely unpredictable in its blend of political thriller, folktale, melodrama, reportage and even science fiction." Seattle Times "Mischievous, masterful . . . a whirling dervish of a story that unfolds from Los Angeles and Strasbourg to Kashmir and New Delhi. The vastly entertaining high jinks involve high diplomacy, low politics, illegitimacy, assassination, innumerable assignations, frequent hallucinations, media saturation, and post-9/11-style terrorism." Elle "Rushdie is a master of ambiguity, but his belief in beauty's influence, perhaps most tellingly in denial, makesShalimar the Clownhis most uncompromising novel yet. This glittering jewel of the storyteller's art justifies Rushdie's faith in beauty and is the best antidote I know for post-9/11 despair." Providence Journal "Eye-popping . . . daring . . . poignant." Boston Globe "When all is said and done,Shalimar the Clown. . . is a timely no, Praise forShalimar the Clownby Salman Rushdie "Rushdie has written an intensely political novel, infused with recent events, but its emotional scope reaches so far beyond our current crisis and its vision into the vagaries of the heart is so perceptive that one can imagineShalimar the Clownbeing read long after this age of sacred terror has faded into history." The Washington Post "Richly textured, exotic prose . . . Rushdie simply delivers more of a wallop in one novel than most writers achieve ever. . . . [He] proves himself to be a master of the global novel." USA Today "Evoking a novella by Gabriel Garcia Márquez or a movie by Quentin Tarantino or a tragedy, say, by Shakespeare,Shalimar the Clownis a chronicle of an assassination foretold. . . . Rushdie defies gravity and dispatches his characters on journeys leading up to the assassination, leading away from the assassination, entertaining and dazzling, but all the while guiding us on an examination of this precarious high wire we find ourselves walking in the 21st century. . . . Rushdie's greatest novel sinceThe Satanic Verses." Los Angeles Times "Though there are already a number of fine novels that have examined the mind-set of the budding Islamic terrorist . . . this is probably the most important of all. . . . a brilliant work of political imagination [and] a welcome return to form for one of our modern masters of the novel." Houston Chronicle "Rushdie has done what he has set out to do. InShalimar the Clown, he has written a vast, richly peopled, beautiful and deeply rageful book that serves as a profound and disturbing artifact of our times." San Francisco Chronicle "Fiercely focused . . . and understated . . .Shalimar the Clownshould rank as Rushdie's most affecting and most effective novel in years." The Miami Herald "Marvelous . . . brilliant . . . Prepare for magic when readingShalimar the Clown, the kind of magic that comes from a novelist weaving a story worthy of his geniusand the kind of magic that comes from a novel that opens you to seeing the world as you never supposed." Detroit Free Press "A masterpiecea beautiful, painful, terrifying book, both fantastical and harshly realistic, filled with complex and memorable characters, and completely unpredictable in its blend of political thriller, folktale, melodrama, reportage and even science fiction." Seattle Times "Mischievous, masterful . . . a whirling dervish of a story that unfolds from Los Angeles and Strasbourg to Kashmir and New Delhi. The vastly entertaining high jinks involve high diplomacy, low politics, illegitimacy, assassination, innumerable assignations, frequent hallucinations, media saturation, and post-9/11-style terrorism." Elle "Rushdie is a master of ambiguity, but his belief in beauty's influence, perhaps most tellingly in denial, makesShalimar the Clownhis most uncompromising novel yet. This glittering jewel of the storyteller's art justifies Rushdie's faith in beauty and is the best antidote I know for post-9/11 despair." Providence Journal "Eye-popping . . . daring . . . poignant." Boston Globe "When all is said and done,Shalimar the Clown. . . is a timely novel that tells us something about Kashmir, a distant valley that has been thr
