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Loading... The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999)by Salman Rushdie
None.  Petra.Xs | Apr 2, 2013 |  I think Rushdie can be a bit daunting sometimes because he's really an intellectual through and through. He fills his writing with countless references to mythology and history in a way that I find rewarding but some may find difficult. Rushdie creates the story of a band and music that grows to epic proportions. We follow the story of Rai, a photographer who falls precariously in love with Vina in India while still very much a boy. He basically devotes his whole life to Vina and the language is so strong that by the end, you forget that these characters really are fictional and didn't exist. Ormus, who Vina is also in love with, immediately recalls Freddie Mercury of the band Queen, who has many similarities. The other really engaging thing about this novel is following the characters, especially Rai from India to England to America. The only weakness is how it ends but I can forgive Rushdie this error as the rest of the writing in the novel is incredibly strong. This was the second time I read this one. (  ) kirstiecat | Mar 31, 2013 | I wanted to like this more. The song by U2 (I think it was inspired by the novel) is great, even though I think most U2 is overrated. But, while I liked the plot well enough, I just don't care for Rushdie's writing style. He could have cut a lot out, and then I wouldn't have had to carry around this big, heavy book (even in paperback), and I would have enjoyed it more. (  ) purplehena | Mar 31, 2013 | Good, wacky, epic, thought-provoking storytelling. I suspect I liked it better than Midnight's Children, possibly because it was more playful and inviting. Also, you can tell that Rushdie genuinely enjoys genre fiction, which I appreciate in literary authors who find themselves accidentally writing what amounts to fantasy literature. The only thing I didn't really care for were the first fifty pages or so, before we really got to know the characters. They felt too over-the-top. The rest of the novel was over-the-top too, but the narrative had earned it. (  ) raschneid | Mar 31, 2013 | 10  Stef.Gyssels | Aug 3, 2011 |
"Instead of turning the Orpheus legend into a compelling postmodern myth, Rushdie has simply freighted an old story with his favorite themes and the random detritus of our current celebrity culture. In trying to write what he has called "an everything novel," he has produced a strangely hollow book, a book that lacks both the specificity and the magic that have enlivened his best work in the past. "
References to this work on external resources.
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Wikipedia in English (2)
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I'll never finish this book nor Haroun and the Sea of Stories, nor the Satanic Verses. Life is too short to plough through more than the first 50 pages if you haven't got into it by that stage. On the other though, I will probably reread Shame and Midnight's Children once in a while, I loved those books. (