Grimus

An enchanting work by the greatest writer alive!

I'm a fan of Rushdie's but this book is like no other I've read of his. Just wonderful. Loved it.

There are few living writers that gain immediate recognition as true artists in their time, along side Pynchon, DeLillo, and perhaps Vonnegut, is Salman Rushdie. Before The Satanic Verses and before the fatwa there was Grimus.The first impression of this book, gleaned from the initial 50 or so pages is that we are face to face with an unrefined Rushdie. His penchant for dabbling in mythology, spirituality, canonical literal echoes, and Joycean word play are on full display. Being his first book, I was surprised that someone would pick up such chaotic prose as an author's debut. But trusting the author, I stuck it out. I'm glad I did.Our protagonist, Flapping Eagle?who also goes by the names Born-From-Dead and Joe-Sue in the first handful of pages?essentially has been given the "gift" of eternal life. Staying the same age for hundreds of years, Flapping Eagle decides he no longer wants to live, but to finally die a mortal's death. He has to go to Calf Island and ascend Calf Mountain to meet Grimus, much like a mythological Wizard of Oz. That's the premise.Along the way, Flapping Eagle befriends Virgil Jones and his lady, Dolores O'Toole. The disfigured couple are the first clue that something is dreadfully wrong on Calf Island. Jones the obese is with O'Toole the humpback. The two really are remarkable and Rushdie gets lots of mileage from the two, creating a sympathy for them that never ventures into pity. A host of characters and themes are introduced, mythology has served Rushdie well and one gets the impression that Joseph Campbell would have enjoyed the playfulness and overlapping of Native American and Asian-Indian concepts. As we grip this overlap, Rushdie sends Flapping Eagle to find Grimus with Virgil Jones as his guide, echoing Danté.Details quickly pile up and the writing veers in unforeseen directions. Any balance that we grasped in the first chapter is taken away in the second. The only thing that kept me reading was trust in the author. Lost as I was, I knew I was being taken on a voyage by a master, who, in his first novel, was clearly establishing himself as a master. As obtuse as the second chapter was, then, the third chapter was very, very clear. Seemingly meaningless details from hundreds of pages prior came to make sense. Interruptions in the story, now had their place. Masks were removed. Tales were told. Resolution came into focus.Reading Grimus is, in some respects, like putting together a puzzle. The first chapter involves turning all of the pieces face up so we see what we have to work with. The second chapter relies on our powers of observation to not only look at the pieces but, at least try to fit them together. The third chapter leaves us with about 50 pieces left of a well-defined picture and we can race to the finish line, putting everything in place. In the end, you should have seen it all along.The greatest praise I can heap on this book is this: Rushdie teaches us how to read it. Like every great master, Rushdie

I recently read Salman Rushdie's "Grimus" for my Commonwealth Literature class in university. This is the only book I have read by Rushdie and I did not know what to expect. The novel was, at times, confusing; the story will start with one character, then abandons that character for a time and moves on to another; sometimes the narrative voice changes suddenly from first person to third, and most confusing for me, the novel seems to be a mystery, and the reader is not sure of who or what Grimus is until the end of the story. But having said that, I can also say that the story is beautifully told and utterly fascinating. I took my Commonwealth class with Dr. Uma Parameswaran, one of the first serious scholars of Rushdie. She explained to our class that Rushdie wrote this novel for a science fiction contest - an interesting bit of trivia, but also, this should give you some idea of the story as well. It is science fiction, but it also social commentary, I felt...and a fascinating read. The only reason why I gave the novel four stars is because at times it seems to includes references to sex that I felt were only there for the sake of sensationalism, and I also have a problem with Rushdie's depiction of women (they were either whores, or stupid, or stupid whores). At any rate, I still believe that this novel is worth purchasing...and if you have read other Rushdie novels, people I know that have read this novel and his other works say this one is quite different. Just so you know!

Very mystical and very confusing, this is Rushdie's first work and if you enjoy his later stuff this is worth the read. If you have never read Rushdie it is a great book to begin with.