It is not the best of Salman Rushdie, is all I can say. This retelling of India’s D-Company story is not the best topic on which someone like Salman should’ve spent his energies on. The story has been told multiple times in different genres, books have been written, bollywood movies have been made, there is nothing here which people already are not in know of. The book is also not coherent like other books by author as if he wrote it on and off and it seems the author tried to blend different events around the globe to cook up a mish mash story. Also the story started as a narration from someone who had access to main players but then later narrator becomes an important player in the overall plot and that’s where the author looses the grip on the story and it all became predictable. Was there a need to burn the Golden House in the end with little toddler being tossed out from a window by dying mother and incredibly caught by a firefighter? Well it seems Salman was really trying hard to reduce himself to a level of a pulp fiction writer. There are glimpses of old Salman in the book but overall a below standard work from the great author.

If this is the first book you’re reading from Salman Rushdie, then please stop it and pick up a better one like Midnight Children or Shame which is one of my personal favourites.

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