Hardcover, 543 pages
German language
Published Nov. 19, 1989 by Artikel 19.
The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published September 26, 1988 and inspired in part by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters. The title refers to the satanic verses, a group of Quranic verses that refer to three pagan Meccan goddesses: Allāt, Uzza, and Manāt. The part of the story that deals with the "satanic verses" was based on accounts from the historians al-Waqidi and al-Tabari.
In the United Kingdom, The Satanic Verses received positive reviews, was a 1988 Booker Prize finalist (losing to Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda) and won the 1988 Whitbread Award for novel of the year.
I read this a number of years ago. I didn't fully understand it at the time, but I've had a lot of time to digest it. It's a critique on Islam and not always favorable.
I listened to a fantastic old audio book version of The Satanic Verses. Somebody digitised it from a series of old cassette tapes and put it on the internet (thank you). I am not sure if it is the voice of Salman Rushdie himself, whoever it is, I would like to thank him so much for this brilliant work. 22 hours of listening pleasure during my walks to and from work.
I always thought that this was a very serious book. But for most parts it is hilarious. It is also long winding, and I must admit that at some parts I dozed off, simply enjoying the very pleasant sound of the narrator’s voice.
