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Title: The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie ISBN: 0-679-74466-5 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 14 January, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.13 (71 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Rushdie's got plenty of sighs
Comment: "The moor's last sigh" is the story of Moraes Zogoybi, an Indian-born half jew half christian, who carries in his body the curse of living twice as fast as anyone else. Through the book, he tells us the story of his family in India.
The only other book I'd read by Rushdie was "Haroun and the sea of stories", which is really wonderful, although directed to younger readers. The only other Indian author i've read is Arundathi Roy ("The god of small things), this one an "older-people" author, and I didn't enjoy her book. So, this one was a try in Rushdie's grown-up books, out of curiosity.
He is really very good in character development, not only about the main character, but everyone that surrounds him and has a more-than-slight participation in the story. What other authors do with plots, Rushdie do with people: they seem very different and un-related at the beggining, and are all tied up at the end.
The story itself has plenty of extraordinary elements, and is sometimes detached of reality, particularly in the end.
I'ver read many reviews saying that, since this is Rushdie's first book since "Satanic Verses", they expexted a dark and hateful book, but found "The moor's last sigh" to be very light and happy and optimistic. Well, in my view, the story in "The moor's last sigh" is VERY sad and dark. It's possible to trace similarities between Rushdie's and Moraes' lives. Both of them have a curse and a deformity they don't understand and didn't ask to be brought upon them, and their lives will (or may) be shortened because of something external to their ways.
I don't give this book five stars because of the differences in the pace of the narrative (sometimes it was too slow, mostly in the middle, and sometimes it was too fast, like in the rushed ending) and because of the great number of unreal or fantastic elements in the story, which are not to my taste.
Grade 8.3/10
Rating: 5
Summary: A Surreally -Contorted Story of Compassion
Comment: Being not only a reader but believer in the supernatural, I found The Moor's Last Sigh to be an extraordinary lesson in the power of the sublime. Rushdie's masterful manipulation of the English language is so amazingly poetic and unparalleled that it was hard to stray from its magical grasp. He is a master of metaphor and colour capable of carrying the reader into active participation in the dream. If you have read previous Rushdie novels, Arundhati Roy, Carlos Casteneda, Ana Castillo, etc... read this. The heart of Moraes Zogoiby is one of a tormented child X 2. The world surrounding the Moor is one of hatred, envy, madness, and betrayal. The Moor reminds me of Dr. Frankenstein's creation who is gentle and intelligent, spurned from society due to his double deformity, and capable of loving but driven by those around him into a life of predicaments and turns beyond his control. This is no doubt an inspirational novel of triumph over life's undue cruelties. Remember your compassion. God bless the Moor.
Rating: 3
Summary: Typical... too typical
Comment: "The Moor's Last Sigh" begins promisingly set in the rich cultural melting pot, that was Portugese India. Rushdie has made it a habit to analyse India in bits and pieces, one at a time with each novel. It is now the turn of the Malabar and one of the earliest roots of colonial India, that has come to deserve his attention. The focal point of the story is Moraes Zogoiby, the nodal leaf of the da Gama-Zogoiby family tree, with enough colours in his blood to make a rainbow pale in contrast. It seems to be a faithful allusion to India's "royal family apparent" - the Nehru-Gandhi clan, members of whom are frequently and rather brusquely alluded to. Getting through the first 150 pages is a joy ride. For those who perceive the intricacies of Indian history, the allusions are stark and vivid.
As any experienced reader might expect, Rushdie chips in with his now-branded magic realism with references to the supernatural, the unknown, the ambiguous, the pathetic fallacies, and the coincidences with his bewitching word play.The story meanders, twists, turns and sometimes cascades in typical Rushdie style, as the scene cuts to Cochin, then to Bombay (Rushdie's Oedipus Complex??) and finally to Andalusia. You meet more startling characters, expose more personalities, descend to the dark dungeons of humanity, and gain an insight into the secretive, alternative world that deceives and betrays the posh, exterior facade. Again, characteristic to Rushdie is the hapless narrator, the insecure, victimised, ugly, yet omniscient incarnate who speaks to you in the first person.
Rarely, would you feel a Rushdian character very simple to comprehend. Uma Saraswati, Moraes's lover, Abraham Zogoiby, his father, Aurora, his mother, his sisters, his grand-parents, his grand-uncles - all intricately woven and presented in a picture so complex that you feel that years of translucent history cannot have mystified simple lives so much. Rushdie's genius in exploring human values and emotions is evident and only to be expected. But, as you go panting and wanting more and more of it, the denouement comes too quickly and too abruptly. The demystification that you wait for so long, never takes off. Rushdie takes the easier route to deal with the problem - by destruction and it is this tried and tested Bollywood formula that wrecks the boat. It was my experience of "a burning head and a parched tongue." If this is what Rushdie wanted you to know, well, that is another twist, but a very unconvincing one. Maybe the sea hath dried up?
That being my initial peeve with the work, I realised later that this is not his only pitfall. Rushdie, with this novel might stand accused (not without reason) of being stereotypic. You come across too many things (sometimes one per page) that remind you of an earlier occurence somewhere in another of his works. The techniques and formulae are pretty old. Self-plagiariasm is an excuse that a creator of Rushdie's stature cannot afford with his readers. This was the fourth work of Rushdie I set my hands on, having already read "The Midnight's Children","Haroun and The sea of stories" and "The Ground beneath her feet". Having thorughly enjoyed the other three, I felt Rushdie flatters to deceive in this one.
Beginners to Rushdie - this is one book you can afford to skip. Old wines are in the cellar. Check them out first.
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Title: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie ISBN: 0140132708 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: April, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Satanic Verses : A Novel by Salman Rushdie ISBN: 0312270828 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Shame : A Novel by Salman Rushdie ISBN: 0312270933 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Ground Beneath Her Feet : A Novel by Salman Rushdie ISBN: 0312254997 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 16 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: East, West : Stories by Salman Rushdie ISBN: 0679757899 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 23 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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