Some duds ("Yorick," "Columbus,") but most of these stories show that Rushdie could have a solid career as a short-story writer if he wants to give up the novels. As the stories stretch out, they do get better; "Chekov and Zulu" is quietly tragic and the line in "The Courter" about his mother and grandmother getting robbed by the Beatles is loudly funny. Overall the "East, West" stories are the best, the "West" stories aren't generally as good, and the "East" stories fall somewhere in the middle, which all makes intuitive sense.

" Un sfat bun e mai de pret ca aurul"

This is a collection of 9 short stories divided into 3 sections East, West and East, West. The stories in the first two sections are uniquely Eastern and Western respectively, meaning that their settings, characters and contexts uniquely belong to the life and lifestyles of the Eastern and Western hemispheres. In the last section East, West, the characters get pulled in both directions (most of them having migrated from the East to the West) and they have to choose, with a somewhat heavy heart, either of the two. Read my full review here: http://susmitakundu.com/book-review-e...

This was really good! I’m giving it 4 stars because there was one or two stories I didn’t like but overall it was really enjoyable and I loved the magical realism.

My favorite section was the East

Good Rushdie, but not as good as "Midnight's Children." But then, what is?

İlk defa Rushdie okuyorum, olumlu yönde inanılmaz etkilediğini söyleyemem. Aslında yazarın kalemini, tarzını sevdim, hikâyeden hikâyeye anlatma şekli değişse de duyduğum ses aynıydı, bunu ayırt etmek zor değildi bana göre. Bazı hikâyelerde, aslında çoğunda iğneleyici bir anlatımla yaptığı taşlama çok baskın geldi bana ve çoğu yerde bağlam dışı hissettim kendimi. Yine kimi hikâyeler göndermelerle doluydu, hepsini kavrayabilmek benim için mümkün olmadı. Bu da takdir edersiniz ki okuma keyfini kötü etkileyen, hatta baltalayan bir unsur bence. Hikâyelerin tümünü yüzde yüz anlamak, keyifle okumak ve yazarın aklındaki niyetleri doğru değerlendirmek için onun içinde bulunduğu bağlamda, aynı zamanda halet-i ruhiyede olmak gerekiyor sanırım. Bunun için de aslında daha fazla kitabını okumak, yazdıklarının zihnimize nüfuz etmesi gerekiyor. Kısacası bence yazardan okunacak ilk kitap olmamalı Doğu, Batı. Başka kitaplarını okuduktan sonra, söz konusu nüfuzdan da hoşnut kalırsam bu hikâyelere geri döneceğim.

"With one foot in the East and one foot in the West, this collection reveals the oceanic distances and the unexpected intimacies between the two."
Joyfull, fresh words and first-handedly humorous. As always, like Salman Rushdi.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Okay. Rushdie is just a master.

These short stories had so much depth to them, and I loved that they were still enjoyable to read. You think you're getting these fun stories about fantasy and reality, but in fact each one had its own unique message. My favorites are The Courter and At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers, though each story had its own merits.

An enjoyable read overall! I will note that I am glad I was able to talk about most of the stories in class, because otherwise I probably wouldn't understand most of the messages...

Ashamed to admit that it's my first time reading Rushdie! I found myself quickly sucked into this motley bunch of short stories. Rushdie is clearly a brilliant storyteller (at least to my eyes/stating the obvious, etc.) and I'm keen to read his other acclaimed titles.

There were a couple of dud stories but overall super interesting and well written. The Harmony of the Spheres in particular was fascinating given it’s relevance to the ‘cooker’ epidemic of today’s world.

Gems, all of them.

El libro es una colección de nueve relatos divididos en tres secciones: Oriente, Occidente y Oriente, Occidente.
Disfruté mucho leyendo los tres relatos del apartado de Oriente ambientados en India: tres narraciones que me tuvieron completamente enganchada y me llevaron a un viaje cultural, tradicional, familiar y religioso. Sin embargo, los tres relatos de Occidente, en Inglaterra, me fueron muy pesados: tenía que releerlos porque me perdía y en ningún momento entré en la lectura.
Los tres cuentos del apartado Oriente y Occidente, me gustaron mucho: son un puente entre ambas perspectivas culturales, plasman el concepto de identidad e incluso nos muestran que aunque hayan muchas diferencias culturales entre uno y otro, en realidad, estamos muy interrelacionados.
Este es el primer libro que leo de Salman Rushdie, para mí, se había convertido en una asignatura pendiente desde hace años. Su escritura me ha parecido en algunos momentos un poco estrambótica, y en otros momentos, de una imaginación desbordante. Me gustaría leer algún libro más de él y, quizás, el próximo será su polémico libro “Los versos satánicos”.