This little book provided a special experience. The first four stories were definitely my favorites, so after those I couldn't help but find that the remaining jewels in the collection less lustrous. But they were jewels nonetheless.

From my experience, I'd say Rushdie's short stories are more accessible than his long fiction. But whatever you chose to read of his, it's worth it. So just go at it.

These novels are very varied. Some are very short and relatively long; in some, we find Salman Rushdie's usual writing and the pleasure of reading it. In others, we are dealing with an oriental tale, like "The Hair of the Prophet."

East, West is an interesting and thought-provoking anthology of short stories by Salman Rushdie. I am unsure if this is unprecedented having stories collated under cultural tags, namely East, West and East-West. While the tactic is crude perhaps there is a message in that too.

Like many I preferred the East stories better than the West and thought the the East-West ones to be the finest of the lot. Locations range from scenes at a UK embassy in India to the heavenly gardens of Shalimar in urban Kashmir. Topics are also equally wideranging; just like life itself, -from terrorism to schizophrenia to adultery to reminisces of an adored childhood Ayah and heartbreaking and comical relationship with an Eastern Block chess grand master. In short, eclectic.

Rushdie is prolific as always in his humorous depiction of repercussions of sudden surge of religion on a person and a family in The Prophet's Hair. Then there are stories like Free Radio where a rickshaw puller from a village in Indira Gandhi led India is lured into losing his reproductive powers. I found it to the writer's credit that the story does not blame anyone in particular and Ram's motivations are unclear, is it pure Narcisstic egotism or his love for the village widow that drives him to this. A master storyteller is at work here and the fine balance of wordplay, fantasy and reality offers much to learn for budding writers, in this reviewer's humble opinion.

The Easy West stories often had a tinge of autobiographical undertone in them, especially the last story might just have happened in its entirety. These stories appeal the most with their innate questions of belonging and never belonging, of assimilating and standing out for a migrant in a foreign land. There are frankly brutal pronouncements of racism when a girlfriend's mother asks her to find her something like her in ownself or sobering melancholy when a young Indian diplomat plunges into a monologue of how much he loves London and, "...theatre, ballet, opera, restaurants!The royal ducks on the royal ponds in total St James's park! Decent tailors, a decent mixed grill when you want it, decent magazines to read! I see the remnants of greatness and I don't mind telling you I am impressed.... I went to a meeting with junior minister at F and CO and realised I was in the old India office. All that John company black teak, those tickets rampant on the old bookcases, gave me quite a turn. I applaud them for their success, hurrah! But then I look at my own home and I see that it has been plundered by burglers. I can't deny there is a residue of distress. "

The courter would deserve it's own review so I will leave it for you, reader, to experience.

Good riddance


The issue with postmodern literature is always that the line between the author doing something genius and the author doing just… too many things is a little thin…
I liked our discussion in class, but reading it? Not so sure

This review is about "The Prophet's hair", one of the chapters in the book "East, West"
Briefly, the story involves a relic that is Muhammad's hair. This was stolen from Hazratbal mosque in Kashmir, and following tragedies from one's greed. I've never read or heard of Salman-bhai before. However, as I began to read this book in class, I've gained more interest in reading his writing. I'd like to give some opinions about this chapter.
Salman-bhai's style of writing is very descriptive but also metaphorical. While reading the story, I've sensed that some sort of twist is coming because otherwise, this story would've been really boring. His descriptions are used to describe situations and characters in story very clearly that forms image inside the reader's mind. His words are also very selective and sophisticated.
The story is somewhat narrative and contains genre of 'magical realism'. Using something supernatural and superficial helped me to form further interest in reading the story. Clearly describes the Indian superstition but in this case ‘real’. Throughout the story, he does not lay events chronologically, but he puts back and forth that helps reader understand the situation without having any misunderstanding in reading the story. Not only has that he conveyed information favourably, but also slowly progress the story that creates even better understanding of the story for the readers.
Rushdie portrays the religion as one very important aspect and divulges into abstract view from his perspective. 'Muhammad's hair' is symbolized as an symbol for religion, Muslim. In particular, Rushdie creates strong connection between Muhammad's hair and Hashim. Once Hashim possess Muhammad's hair, he changes completely. Hashim becomes really passionate about 'being' Muslim, due to what the 'hair' does to his business and family. It was very interesting to see how one's perspective in religion can change so drastically.
To conclude, his use of magical realism in this story works perfectly, he describes what one's 'religion', in particular, 'faith' can truly mean through this story.

I have based this review on the work itself and not the author.

Confession: It was written so bad that I did not even had the energy to read the last two stories.

I am not the biggest fan of short story collections, but believe short stories can be a way of demonstrating or trying new techniques or experiments. Many of the stories seemed quite experimental to me, especially "Yorrick" and the story about Isabella and Columbus, which can be interesting but it not made interesting in this book.

The stories are truly awfully written. I was constantly lost and it was so uninteresting that I could not even keep my attention to one single page. The characters are unlikable und undevelopped, the situations basic, there are weird elements, which I can only see as a kind of "shock factor" and maybe have a vague overgeneralised statements. The stories have no goal nor any reason to exist.

The basis and concepts are nonetheless extremely interesting - like an occultist writer who struggles with psychological problems - but the execution of the novel is just so terrible, it is nearly unreadable.

Maybe I did not understand the stories myself. I am not very well-known with this writer; therefore the question arises whether this the case of just this novel or it is just something in Rushdie's writing style.

Prva polovina knjige smještena je na Istok i te su mi se priče nesumnjivo više dopale od onih sa Zapada. U svim pričama Rushdie zadržava ironični ton i humor, ali na Istoku to puno bolje funkcionira (valjda zbog nedostatka britanske atmosfere, šta god ona bila u ovom djelu).

This was a good collection of short stories, couple of which bordered into fantasy - which to my greater delight and surprise - I enjoyed! This book has three parts - East, West, East-West, with very different writing styles. East was a collection of stories which very much reminded me of someone like Manto - the writing style of his translated work. The themes/stories not as evocative for me. 3/5. Though the story 'the prophet's hair' in East collection was a giant ball of absurdity which I enjoyed. West - 4.5/5+. I loved it! The writing style, subtle humor, narrative and touch of fantasy! Pleasurable. Fun! It led me to want to explore Rushdie more. :) East-West was good. Overall, a good enjoyable collection.

I'm not always a fan of plot-heavy writing, but this short story collection was FUN. It was humorous, weird, and entertaining! And to be honest, while Rushdie's stories aren't usually "my type" of short stories, they were a breath of fresh air. Reading Salman Rushdie's collection, East, West is a good reminder that even when you think you don't like a certain type of writing, it may not always be the case: especially in this moment, this collection was perfect for me.

I haven't read Rushdie's work before, and I like how playful his writing is. I don't always love that his female characters are young, good (or should be), and beautiful (what is it with these 2-dimensional stereotypes I've encountered recently?!), but there were enough small naunces in the female characters that I could (eventually) move past this annoyance.

If you're looking for something to make you laugh; want to read about India and England and the relationship between the two; and/or want to read plot-heavy and richly described writing, then this collection could be for you!

*Buddy read with Jo Smith

[Audiobook, Everand]

3.8*

I love reading Salman Rushdie. His diction is phenomenal and his prose is more beautiful, interesting and flowing than most poetry.
Although sometimes I find that his longer books stall after 2/3's of the way through, since this is a collection of short stories, it is amazing from beginning to end. I also like his alternate focus and blending of British and Indian points of view and styles. His British stories are chalk full of Western references.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys language, alternate worldviews or is simply looking for some light reading.

East, West is a collection of 9 short stories. The book is divided into 3 parts with 3 stories each. 'East' 'west' and 'East, West'. The stories in East and West are based in their namesake worlds respectively. Each story is like a portal to the east (read India) and the west, setting up the worlds beautifully in which the stories occur. Be it an auction house through which the writer explores the rubble around the sale of magical slippers or the beautiful valleys of Kashmir where a family is obliterated due to the possession of an ancient relic the worlds come alive on the pages.
The stories of the east and west embody the ideas and historical events associated with the eastern and western world. And all this is done through the medium of short stories, which seems like an unlikely form for stories of such nuance but Rushdie manages it nonchalantly.
The third and my favorite part 'East, West' where the book reaches its excellence is the part where the stories are filled with the two worlds, east and west leaking into one another. East and West are juxtapositioned to reveal these intricate lives of the characters in the stories, showing you that the two worlds are not always mutually exclusive. The characters face questions of identity and the conundrum of belonging to one of the two worlds, East or west. The stories in this book are enthralling and carry the best of both worlds, to say the least.


Here are one-line summaries of the stories I got from Wikipedia so that you don’t have to.


Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies - A young woman attends the Consulate so she may join her husband for an arranged marriage in England, only to derail her interview with incorrect answers to remain in India as an independent woman.

The Free Radio - Examines government attempts during the State of Emergency to address high birth rates with sterilization of poor men. The naive hope of the rickshaw puller is tested as he makes a decision he regrets.

The Prophet's Hair - a moneylender is driven mad after finding a stolen lock of the Prophet's hair. His family enlists an infamous burglar to steal it, in the hopes that the moneylender will regain his sanity once he is separated from the hair.

West
Yorick - a fictionalized account of the childhood life of Prince Hamlet and his father's court jester Yorick, that then proceeds to influence the events of the widely recognized play Hamlet by Shakespeare.

At The Auction of the Ruby Slippers - various members of a destitute world attend an auction to bid for the ruby slippers of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, in the hope, their transformative powers will help them achieve personal and political ends.

Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship (Santa Fé, AD 1492) - Christopher Columbus wait in desperation for his patron Queen Isabella to agree to sponsor his voyage to the edge of the known world, i.e. to discover the Americas.

East, West
The Harmony of the Spheres - The protagonist reflects on his relationship with a friend whose schizophrenia leads to his suicide.

Chekov and Zulu - Two friends with codenames Chekov and Zulu are involved in a mission to collect intelligence on radical Sikhs in Britain following Indira Gandhi's assassination.

The Courter - A teenage boy retells the story of the Indian woman who raised him and his siblings, and her relationship with the 'porter' of their building, whose title she mispronounces as 'courter'.