This was my first encounter with the obscure genre of magical realism and Rushdie himself. The book is set in a fictional town of Pakistan or ‘Peccavistan’, although Rushdie elucidates that it can be any country because no one is immune to shame, even the ‘shameless’. It is an uncomfortable part of human existence which insidiously haunts our lives.

The book’s central plot deals with the relationship between Iskander Harappa and Raza Hyder, which are allegorically based on two of most influential political leaders of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq respectively. The story delineates the inherent vulgarity and brutality which are permeated into the political edifice of the country and how religion is exploited by the despots to suppress the masses, as they dare not defy the “rhetoric of faith, because people respect the language, are reluctant to oppose it.”

In the distinct fashion of magical realist context, some characters are bestowed with surreal and fantastical qualities. I feel ambivalent about the sinuous structure of the narrative; the chapters are tediously lengthy, the author is impatient to tell us what is going to happen, so that we come to know the fate of many characters even before their ‘proper’ introduction. Rushdie’s English is exasperatingly complicated, but also beautiful and satirical at best.


This is the novel I’m sure I’ll re-read one day.

1001 Libros que hay que leer antes de morir: N.º 172 de 1001

Recientemente, Salman Rushdie fue apuñalado en una conferencia. Su pronostico sigue siendo reservado. La diana que el sanguinario Ayatollah Jomeini pusiera sobre su frente el fatídico año de 1989 al fin ha surtido efecto. Sirva este espacio para rendir tributo a uno de los autores más originales y brillantes del siglo XX, y a las victimas del integrismo islámico que persiguió con obstinada maldad a aquellos involucrados en difundir su obra. Porque el aún puede sobrevivir a sus heridas, pero otros no corrieron la misma suerte.

No tengo más que decir: no hay nada más que decir.

Dear Sir Rushdie

Shame is an excellent satire written in your plainspoken magic realism prose, which has left me awestruck. It is astounding how perfectly you lamented the political state of affairs in Pakistan with that of unrest of hypothetical country Q. The chronicle of the shift in political powers and musings on deeper realms of human mind weaved together by an exotic language yet a quality prose is much appreciated.

Authors would like to write a gripping story for masses, you write for your own audience; the ones interested in taking a pause, willing to enter a world of abstraction, introspect and silently thank you later for those moments of felt proximity to lost fragments of consciousness. So, may I call you a narcissistic author, who writes for applause? The surreal characters, magic realism and black humor give a passage to escape from the unbearable encounters with decaying minds, lost souls or over intellectualized escapists. Your words make the reader believe in the implausible. I believe in the power of imagination that you force the reader to indulge in, for imagination breeds hope. It is for the same reason, which makes people read Harry Porter, Hunger Games and the likes. Your writing, however, is demanding which can be overwhelming at times.

The examination of ‘Shame’ through rhetoric within the social and personal contexts is excellent. The only reason I gave this book a three star rating is because the account of Pakistan politics is a bygone and it is I who cannot relate to it… blame it on my late arrival in this world.

The three stars are exclusively for those delightful sections that probed me to have intimate conversations with my-‘self’.

Sincerely
PS

I reread SHAME this weekend and was once again reminded why Rushdie is one of the greatest authors of our time. In Shame he addresses may levels but this last reading I focused on how he has intertwined the relationship of Shame throughout the levels of our human experience. He draws his characters so that there many layered motivations and convoluted histories speak to more than simply internal shame but also how actions on level produce effects that reach as broad as national politics and historical change. He makes the very clear statement that shame is not necessarily tied to innocence vs. guilt but that external factors on a person produce the monsters of human emotion that cannot be reigned in by living a moral life. The absence of shame or an attempt to seclude one's self from the world and its shame make no difference in the human arena and create the same returning responsibilities to the soul and the world.

Rushdie personifies human emotions as physical entities and yet also bridges the parallels into macro-society. His context of bring the external and internal into a single overreaching view of humanity are brilliant. It is hard not to react to such clear and lucent observations.

A quote on the subject of Shame: "... But we are discussing an abstract, an entirely ethereal vending machine; so into the ether goes the unfelt shame of the world. When I submit, it is siphoned of by the misfortunate few, janitors of the unseen, their souls buckets into which squeegees drip what was spilled. We keep such buckets in special cupboards. Nor do we think of them much, although they clean up our dirty waters.
This is one of many times when Rushdie illustrates the transference of our guilt, shame, hatred and darker moments onto those around us in an effort to survive our pride. His vending machine metaphor is actually very well developed beyond this short quote and I suggest you look it up - it is about a page and brilliants demonstrates how we take what we can - and let the rest drip into society at large to create the personality of a generation. It is a lesson on owning up and also survival.

As usual, Rushdie's characters are one of a kind, vividly drawn and scented humans. Their stories are entangled, fascinating and dark.

Please take the time to read this book, it will move you in very different directions and take you on a journey through time, confluence and generational shame.

القراءة لسلمان رشدي تهمة جزافية , فكل من يرى كتبه عندي يربط لاإراديًا بين الاسم وجريمته المزعومة آيات شيطانية (والتي لم أقرأها بعد) , بداية من الأصدق��ء حتى أبي , الملتزم دينيًا الذي ما إن رأى أعمال لرشدي ضمن مكتبتي حتى استفسر قائلًا : أليس هذا صاحب آيات شيطانية ؟ فقلت له : نعم ولكني لم أقتنيها . فاكتفى بنظرة امتعاض و رفض .

المهم : أنا بحب أسلوب سلمان رشدي , الأسلوب المعقد البسيط في آن واحد , الخلط المبهر بين الواقع والخيال , بين الحلم والحقيقة , ذلك المزيج المبهر الذي يضمن لك متعة أدبية رائعة , متعة لا تجدها إلا عند الأدباء رفيعي الطراز .

هذا العمل امتداد مبهر لرائعة سلمان (أطفال منتصف الليل) والتي احتلت مكانة عظيمة داخل مخيلتي الأدبية , في عمليه تشعر أنك أمام وطني مهموم بقضايا وطنه الأم , فيه تجد ال��ند وباكستان وبنجلاديش معروضين أمامك بلا أي زينة.

العار : تلك اللفظة العالمية ذات المعنى المقزز , العار : الشعور الأسوأ على الاطلاق , شعور الخيبة والاشمئزاز من النفس والمجتمع , الشعور العالمي الذي لا يفرق بين لغة او جنسية أو حتى دين , فكلهم في البلاء سواء , وكلهم يعانون عار ما , ومن نوع ما .

العمل منسوج باحترافية عالية للغاية , عمل مطرز بجمال من نوع خاص , ذلك الجمال الأدبي الذي يستحق أن يُخلد.

ببساطة مطلقة : هو عمل عن الدين , وعن الثقافة , وعن المجتمعات المتخلفة , هو عمل عن السياسة وعن الديكتاتورية في بلاد العالم الثالث , عمل عن العادات التي تشبه العاهات , وعن التقاليد التي تقيد البشر و تحدد حريتهم .

العمل يبدأ بداية نارية : من قصر مهيب في بلدة حدودية , قصر يشبه قصور الحكايات الخيالية , حدث فيه نوع من العار , ألزم ساكنيه العزلة التامة , ومعنى العزلة التامة هي العزلة التامة , فلا خروج لأحد حتى للخدم, ولا دخول لأحد حتى لطبيب أو لحانوتي , وتدبروا أمر مؤنتهم بسلسلة من الاجراءات المعقدة الغريبة ولكن الفعّألة في نفس الوقت ,

يقطن في هذا القصر 3 أخوات غريبات معقدات , أثرت تربيتهم الصارمة على نهج حياتهم فما أن شعروا بنوع من الحرية حتى أساءوا استخدامها , وكانت نتيجة هذا السوء : عارهم الخاص , والذي كان عبارة عن طفل ابن زنى , وهذا ما دفعهم بعيدًا عن الناس والبشر , وعن المجتمع ومؤسساته .

الطفل : عمر الخيام شاكيل , كان محور القصة وبطلها , لا لعظمة شخصيته وقوته , ولا للأحداث العظيمة المرتبطة به , بل لهامشيته اللانهائية , بطولة عمر تأتي من أنه نكرة , نكرة تامة , لا تعني الاهتمام لشئ ولا تهتم بشئ , طبيب متلصص , فقط , يتأمل ما حوله ويطلق قذائفه الكلامية التي غالبا ما تسبب كارثة .

العمل خلط بين الواقع والفانتازيا بطريقة ساحرة , دمج بين الأسماء الحقيقية وشخصيات الرواية بل و بتدخلمن الكاتب نفسه , نتج هذا العمل الغريب المبهر .

تاريخ , سياسة , دين , جنس , عادات , تقاليد , كلها مشاعر قد تحدث عار ما , وهذا ما استغله الكاتب أفضل استغلال .

شخصيات الكاتب مقدمة بتفاصيل كاملة , شخصيات حيّة كاملة , كاملة بصفاتها الرئيسة وصفاتها الثانوية , فأتت بصيغة أدبية كاملة .

الاحداث : معقدة بطريقة محببة للنفس , الكاتب يجيد استخدام أزمنة كتابته , فيقدم الحدث ويأخره , ويجلب الماضي أو المستقبل أولا , لا يفرق معه في شئ , طالما ممسك ببداية خيط روايته وأحداثها .

الترجمة كانت جيدة كافية للغاية لتدلل على عظمة النص الانجليزي .

وكالعادة : يظهر جليًا خلفية الكاتب الاسلامية ودرايته بمختلف العقائد الأخرى .

في المجمل : عمل جيد للغاية .

Shame: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...

In a typical Salman Rushdie fashion, Shame shocks from the mere start. Omar Khayyam Shakil has been born and raised in the fictional town of Q. (actually Quetta, Pakistan) by his three mothers – sisters who shared the symptoms of pregnancy as well as the birth itself, making it impossible to determine which one gave birth to him exactly. Confined in his home for more than 20 years, Omar develops into a strange and introvert fat boy, filled with hatred towards his mothers. Upon his escape he is blessed (or cursed) by them to never experience shame – because of how he looks or because of who he is.

On the opposite of the shame-shamelessness specter is Sufiya Zinobia, the daughter of General Raza Hyder (based on real-life General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq). Disappointment to her parents from the moment of her birth (in a typical Muslim tradition they wanted a boy) she grows into a mentally disabled woman with the brain of a 10-year-old. Unlike Omar, Sufiya has been raised with shame – ignored and despised by both of her parents, the girl lives in her dreamy world of imagination until a vicious force overwhelms her. For in Rushdie’s novel both shame and shamelessness ultimately lead to violent brutality.

Through the lenses of magical realism Rushdie also explores the real-life decades long conflict between Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq (respectively Iskander Harappa and General Raza Hyder in the novel). The struggle between these two men over dominance in Pakistan spreads out to their families, wifes, children and relatives and submerges everything into blood and death. Because the only way to destroy a dictator is obviously to substitute it with another one.

Read more: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...

The book is not bad and covers a very interesting topic in a fantasy Pakistan. However the fantasy world is pushed a bit too far and many analogies are a bit too self consciously explicit. By allowing himself to detach the story so far from "reality" it makes the thematic aspect of the book come out stronger, but at the expense of the narrative.

If I have one advice for those who plan on reading Shame it would be: take notes on who is who, write down names of characters and how they relate to each other, or you will be lost like I did! It reminded me a lot of A Hundred Years of Solitude, I had the Buendia's family tree with me all the time when I was reading it, so I could keep track of the characters relations. With Shame, there is the same confusion, the characters' stories are in a tangle, some are similar and the constant flashforwards and flashbacks won't make it any easier. Salman Rushdie excelled in the stinging criticism of his country's politics and religion, a criticism that could cover the whole arab and muslim world too. The story is tinged with uninhibited dark humor and caricatures. Rushdie writes about what is happening in muslim and islamic countries shamelessly, his critique hits the hipocrisy of such societies and leaders. Shame is read like a dream, full of military coups, feral daughters, secluded sisters, complicated family relations... a dream that forms a perfect circle, following Omar Khayyam, from birth to death, a dream which ends where it began, from hope to ashes.

yuck. perhaps I'm just not as intelligent as I thought, but, I hated this book. There I said it. And, I'm just going to leave it at that.

What do you say about a writer who is brilliant at his work, but uses it to highlight and exaggerate the negative aspects of life? I say its a shame. Its a shame that someone with Salman Rushdie's exceptional writing skills can't employ them in constructive writing. Instead, he chooses to write about the problems in the societies he used to inhabit. This most depressing aspect of his writing is most evident in this book, titled quite aptly, Shame.

The book is an encyclopedia of everything that could be wrong in life. It seems to challenge all concepts of decency and goodness in men (& women). By the end of the book, you lose all hope in mankind. Rushdie seems to delight in pointing out everything that is wrong with the world. There is a fine line between realism and championing negativity, and Rushdie crosses it far too often in this book.

I firmly believe that art's main purpose is not to reflect reality, not to show humankind and society the way it is, but rather the way that it should be. An idealization of life. To portray the best that we can be. This is the reason I love Michelangelo's sculptures & paintings. They show man as he should be - strong, proud and flawless. That most beautiful of human creations, the Sistine Chapel, shows you the heights man can reach at his most inspired best. But I digress.

What I'm trying to say is that Rushdie's endless tirade betrays the purpose of art. Instead of showing what could be, Rushdie tells us what was, and how disguting it was. Instead of talking about what should be, he talks about everything that should never be. Its not just a reminder of the evils perpetrated by some people, but a magnification of these until you feel that its all that mankind is capable of. What purpose does it serve, I wonder? Besides reminding the smug literary-elite that eastern society is messed-up. A most disappointing & depressing book!

Although I always list Rushdie as one of my favorite authors of all time, it had been almost ten years since I picked up one of his books. So when I came across Shame in 12th Street books, I decided to dive back in.

I loved the way that the story kept leaping ahead of itself, rushing ahead like an impatient child to tell you things that wouldn’t happen until much later, and when they did happen how different they were from the expectations that had been seeded. The narrator of Shame, like many of Rushdie’s narrators is not only unreliable, he is perfectly honest and upfront about his unreliability, even encouraging you to doubt him at times. The effect is to feel yourself lifted up by the lapels and dragged forcefully into the strange world Rushdie weaves (a Pakistan that is at a “slight angle to reality”) and the bizarre story that enfolds within it.

" Shame" é o título da obra de Salman Rushdie que podia ser um tratado político ou religioso sobre o Paquistão, devido aos comentários que o próprio autor faz ao longo da história.
Mas é também uma fábula sobre o bem e o mal, um relato da história europeia/oriental ... Principalmente este romance corresponde a um conto de fadas monstruoso, lembrando-nos de histórias como a " Bela e o monstro" ou " Dr.Jkel e Dr.Hyde". Mas nada semelhantes na sua essência.

Conta a aventura da "criança macaco" criada por três mães e de pai desconhecido. Um ser invulgar que cresce e se torna num médico obcecado pela sua ciência.

A história de um menina com uma personalidade dupla. Ao mesmo tempo é a bela e o monstro. Acordada ela um eterna criança inocente. E a noite, nas jornadas sonâmbulas ela se transforma num verdadeiro animal canibal capaz de destruir todo o que lhe surge a sua frente.

E por último temos o relato de um país desconhecido ( que indirectamente sabe-se ser o Paquistão), corrompido por ditadores e o Islão. Um país em que as mulheres são desprezadas, apenas servem para procriar e estar ao lado do seu marido.

Salamn Rushie soube como ninguém transmitir a cultura oriental através de um romance ficcional, e sem chocar as mentalidades dos seus leitores. O fim surpreende e nos faz querer mais...