The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Picador.

The Satanic Verses is easily Rushdie’s most famous work. I found it to be of mixed quality. Some parts are really good, beautifully written and interesting to follow. Overall, the story is good, even if the ending left me rather unsatisfied.

But sometimes the poetic language and “novel” use of punctuation went too far, annoying me. Parts of the book - lots of the book - end up reading something close to Moleskine’s propaganda, the writing of pretentious kids dilettantes course takers. There is a fine line between art and annoyance. Rushdie crossed it too often.

But I can overlook all that. Because in the grand scheme of things, I’m totally on Rushdie’s side.

Are you familiar with the series of events that followed Verses’s publication? There are still barbarians in the late 20th and early 21st century.