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Product Identifiers

PublisherRandom House Publishing Group

ISBN-100679463356

ISBN-139780679463351

eBay Product ID (ePID)45312000

Product Key Features

Book TitleShalimar the Clown : a Novel

Number of Pages416 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2005

TopicPsychological, General

GenreFiction

AuthorSalman Rushdie

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.3 in

Item Weight24.3 Oz

Item Length9.5 in

Item Width6.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2005-042796

ReviewsPraise forShalimar the Clownby Salman Rushdie "Rushdie has written an intensely political novel, infused with recent events, but its emotional scope reaches so far beyond our current crisis and its vision into the vagaries of the heart is so perceptive that one can imagineShalimar the Clownbeing read long after this age of sacred terror has faded into history." The Washington Post "Richly textured, exotic prose . . . Rushdie simply delivers more of a wallop in one novel than most writers achieve ever. . . . [He] proves himself to be a master of the global novel." USA Today "Evoking a novella by Gabriel Garcia Márquez or a movie by Quentin Tarantino or a tragedy, say, by Shakespeare,Shalimar the Clownis a chronicle of an assassination foretold. . . . Rushdie defies gravity and dispatches his characters on journeys leading up to the assassination, leading away from the assassination, entertaining and dazzling, but all the while guiding us on an examination of this precarious high wire we find ourselves walking in the 21st century. . . . Rushdie's greatest novel sinceThe Satanic Verses." Los Angeles Times "Though there are already a number of fine novels that have examined the mind-set of the budding Islamic terrorist . . . this is probably the most important of all. . . . a brilliant work of political imagination [and] a welcome return to form for one of our modern masters of the novel." Houston Chronicle "Rushdie has done what he has set out to do. InShalimar the Clown, he has written a vast, richly peopled, beautiful and deeply rageful book that serves as a profound and disturbing artifact of our times." San Francisco Chronicle "Fiercely focused . . . and understated . . .Shalimar the Clownshould rank as Rushdie's most affecting and most effective novel in years." The Miami Herald "Marvelous . . . brilliant . . . Prepare for magic when readingShalimar the Clown, the kind of magic that comes from a novelist weaving a story worthy of his geniusand the kind of magic that comes from a novel that opens you to seeing the world as you never supposed." Detroit Free Press "A masterpiecea beautiful, painful, terrifying book, both fantastical and harshly realistic, filled with complex and memorable characters, and completely unpredictable in its blend of political thriller, folktale, melodrama, reportage and even science fiction." Seattle Times "Mischievous, masterful . . . a whirling dervish of a story that unfolds from Los Angeles and Strasbourg to Kashmir and New Delhi. The vastly entertaining high jinks involve high diplomacy, low politics, illegitimacy, assassination, innumerable assignations, frequent hallucinations, media saturation, and post-9/11-style terrorism." Elle "Rushdie is a master of ambiguity, but his belief in beauty's influence, perhaps most tellingly in denial, makesShalimar the Clownhis most uncompromising novel yet. This glittering jewel of the storyteller's art justifies Rushdie's faith in beauty and is the best antidote I know for post-9/11 despair." Providence Journal "Eye-popping . . . daring . . . poignant." Boston Globe "When all is said and done,Shalimar the Clown. . . is a timely no, Praise forShalimar the Clownby Salman Rushdie "Rushdie has written an intensely political novel, infused with recent events, but its emotional scope reaches so far beyond our current crisis and its vision into the vagaries of the heart is so perceptive that one can imagineShalimar the Clownbeing read long after this age of sacred terror has faded into history." The Washington Post "Richly textured, exotic prose . . . Rushdie simply delivers more of a wallop in one novel than most writers achieve ever. . . . [He] proves himself to be a master of the global novel." USA Today "Evoking a novella by Gabriel Garcia Márquez or a movie by Quentin Tarantino or a tragedy, say, by Shakespeare,Shalimar the Clownis a chronicle of an assassination foretold. . . . Rushdie defies gravity and dispatches his characters on journeys leading up to the assassination, leading away from the assassination, entertaining and dazzling, but all the while guiding us on an examination of this precarious high wire we find ourselves walking in the 21st century. . . . Rushdie's greatest novel sinceThe Satanic Verses." Los Angeles Times "Though there are already a number of fine novels that have examined the mind-set of the budding Islamic terrorist . . . this is probably the most important of all. . . . a brilliant work of political imagination [and] a welcome return to form for one of our modern masters of the novel." Houston Chronicle "Rushdie has done what he has set out to do. InShalimar the Clown, he has written a vast, richly peopled, beautiful and deeply rageful book that serves as a profound and disturbing artifact of our times." San Francisco Chronicle "Fiercely focused . . . and understated . . .Shalimar the Clownshould rank as Rushdie's most affecting and most effective novel in years." The Miami Herald "Marvelous . . . brilliant . . . Prepare for magic when readingShalimar the Clown, the kind of magic that comes from a novelist weaving a story worthy of his geniusand the kind of magic that comes from a novel that opens you to seeing the world as you never supposed." Detroit Free Press "A masterpiecea beautiful, painful, terrifying book, both fantastical and harshly realistic, filled with complex and memorable characters, and completely unpredictable in its blend of political thriller, folktale, melodrama, reportage and even science fiction." Seattle Times "Mischievous, masterful . . . a whirling dervish of a story that unfolds from Los Angeles and Strasbourg to Kashmir and New Delhi. The vastly entertaining high jinks involve high diplomacy, low politics, illegitimacy, assassination, innumerable assignations, frequent hallucinations, media saturation, and post-9/11-style terrorism." Elle "Rushdie is a master of ambiguity, but his belief in beauty's influence, perhaps most tellingly in denial, makesShalimar the Clownhis most uncompromising novel yet. This glittering jewel of the storyteller's art justifies Rushdie's faith in beauty and is the best antidote I know for post-9/11 despair." Providence Journal "Eye-popping . . . daring . . . poignant." Boston Globe "When all is said and done,Shalimar the Clown. . . is a timely novel that tells us something about Kashmir, a distant valley that has been thr

Dewey Edition22

Dewey Decimal823.914

SynopsisIn this gripping international tale of love and revenge--and the ancient and modern conflicts from which they spring--a murder looks at first like a political assassination, but turns out to be passionately personal., Shalimar the Clownis a masterpiece from one of our greatest writers, a dazzling novel that brings together the fiercest passions of the heart and the gravest conflicts of our time into an astonishingly powerful, all-encompassing story. Max Ophuls' memorablelife ends violently in Los Angeles in 1993 when he is murdered by his Muslim driver Noman Sher Noman, also known as Shalimar the Clown. At first the crime seems to be politically motivated Ophuls was previously ambassador to India, and later US counterterrorism chief but it is much more. Ophuls is a giant, an architect of the modern world: a Resistance hero and best-selling author, brilliant economist and clandestine US intelligence official. But it is as Ambassador to India that the seeds of his demise are planted, thanks to another of his great roles irresistible lover. Visiting the Kashmiri village of Pachigam, Ophuls lures an impossibly beautiful dancer, the ambitious (and willing) Boonyi Kaul, away from her husband, and installs her as his mistress in Delhi. But their affair cannot be kept secret, and when Boonyi returns home, disgraced and obese, it seems that all she has waiting for her is the inevitable revenge of her husband: Noman Sher Noman, Shalimar the Clown. He was an acrobat and tightrope walker in their village's traditional theatrical troupe; but soon Shalimar is trained as a militant in Kashmir's increasingly brutal insurrection, and eventually becomes a terrorist with a global remit and a deeply personal mission of vengeance. With sweeping brilliance, Salman Rushdie portrays fanatical mullahs as fully as documentary filmmakers, rural headmen as completely as British spies; he describes villages that compete to make the most splendid feasts, the mentality behind martial law, and the celebrity of Los Angeles policemen, all with the same genius. But the main story is only part of the story. In this stunningly rich book everything is connected, and everyone is a part of everyone else.Shalimar the Clownis a true work of the era of globalization, intricately mingling lives and countries, and finding unexpected and sometimes tragic connections between the seemingly disparate. The violent fate of Kashmir recalls Strasbourg's experience in World War Two; Resistance heroism against the Nazis counterpoints Al-Qaeda's terror in Pakistan, North Africa and the Philippines. 1960s Pachigam is not so far from post-war London, or the Hollywood-driven present-day Los Angeles where Max's daughter by Boonyi, India Ophuls, beautiful, strong-willed, modern, waits, as vengeance plays itself out. A powerful love story, intensely political and historically informed,Shalimar the Clownis also profoundly human, an involving story of people's lives, desires and crises India Ophuls' desperate search for her real mother, for example; Max's wife's attempts to deal with his philandering as well as, in typical Rushdie fashion, a magical tale where the dead speak and the future can be foreseen. Shalimar the Clownis steeped in both the Hindu epicRamayanaand the great European novelists, melding the storytelling traditions of east and west into a magnificently fruitful blend and serves, itself, as a corrective to the destructive clashes of values it scorchingly depicts. Enthralling, comic and amazingly abundant, it will no doubt come to be seen as one of the key books of our time. The second portent came on the morning of the murder, when Shalimar the driver approached Max Ophuls at breakfast, handed him his schedule card for the day, and gave in his notice. The ambassador's drivers tended to be short-term appointees, inclined to move on to new adventures in pornography or hairdressing, and Max was

LC Classification NumberPR6068.U757S47 2005