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Grimus
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'A mixture of science fiction and folktale, past and future, primitive and present-day . . . Thunderous and touching.'
Financial Times
After drinking an elixir that bestows immortality upon him, a young Indian named Flapping Eagle spends the next seven hundred years sailing the seas with the blessing -- and ultimately the burden -- of living forever. Eventually, weary of the sameness of life, he journeys to the mountainous Calf Island to regain his mortality. There he meets other immortals obsessed with their own stasis and sets out to scale the island's peak, from which the mysterious and corrosive Grimus Effect emits. Through a series of thrilling quests and encounters, Flapping Eagle comes face-to-face with the island's creator and unwinds the mysteries of his own humanity. Salman Rushdie's celebrated debut novel remains as powerful and as haunting as when it was first published more than thirty years ago.
'A book to be read twice . . . [Grimus] is literate, it is fun, it is meaningful, and perhaps most important, it pushes the boundaries of the form outward.'
Los Angeles Times
Financial Times
After drinking an elixir that bestows immortality upon him, a young Indian named Flapping Eagle spends the next seven hundred years sailing the seas with the blessing -- and ultimately the burden -- of living forever. Eventually, weary of the sameness of life, he journeys to the mountainous Calf Island to regain his mortality. There he meets other immortals obsessed with their own stasis and sets out to scale the island's peak, from which the mysterious and corrosive Grimus Effect emits. Through a series of thrilling quests and encounters, Flapping Eagle comes face-to-face with the island's creator and unwinds the mysteries of his own humanity. Salman Rushdie's celebrated debut novel remains as powerful and as haunting as when it was first published more than thirty years ago.
'A book to be read twice . . . [Grimus] is literate, it is fun, it is meaningful, and perhaps most important, it pushes the boundaries of the form outward.'
Los Angeles Times
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,1975
This edition
- Format
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320 pages, Paperback
- Published
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September 30, 2003 by Random House Trade Paperbacks
- ISBN
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9780812969993
- ASIN
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0812969995
- Language
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English
About the author
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Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.
After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.
Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.
After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.
Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.
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Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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Very obviously an early work, but I'm not convinced it's as bad as people think. At the very least, if it doesn't come together as a cohesive whole (it's probably inherently to broad in scope to do that) it is far from unpleasant to read. Psychedelic and a bit up itself, sure, but not ponderous and self indulgent.
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Rushdie critique's his own work in this book. Read carefully the debate between Gribbs, Elfrida, and Irna about whether stories should be well tied together or not. It seems to be the issue that Rushdie struggles with in his first novel. There are moments of mystery, but the drive to tie all the ends together makes it a bit too neat in the end.
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Rushdie is brilliant, but this is a well-polished turd.
There are other books to read.
There are other books to read.
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Turns out that crap Rushdie is still quite good.
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Premier roman de Salman Rushdie, Aigle Errant personnage principal du roman, boit un élixir d'immortalité et passe sept cents ans à parcourir le monde. Mais ce don commence à devenir un fardeau il se lasse de l'existence, il apprend qu'il y a un homme sur une île qui possède l'antidote.
Arrivé sur cette île il sent comme un effet mystérieux et corrosif l'effet "Grimus".
J'ai bien aimé cette aventure dans un monde déjanté avec des personnages hauts en couleurs.
A découvrir.
Extrait :
_ Un gnome qui marmonnait sans arrêt :
《 Remarquable, tout à fait remarquable 》 se tenait au pied du lit. Un gnome extrêmement soigné, qui sautillait dans tous les sens d'un air de vive impatience et d'insatiable curiosité. Il portait une cravate et chemise de soie immaculées, une veste d'intérieur sur un pantalon de velours à grosses côtes terriblement désuet mais fleurant bon la propreté, et des pantoufles en tapisserie. Ses yeux violets étincelèrent quand il s'aperçut qu' Aigle Errant était réveillé.
Arrivé sur cette île il sent comme un effet mystérieux et corrosif l'effet "Grimus".
J'ai bien aimé cette aventure dans un monde déjanté avec des personnages hauts en couleurs.
A découvrir.
Extrait :
_ Un gnome qui marmonnait sans arrêt :
《 Remarquable, tout à fait remarquable 》 se tenait au pied du lit. Un gnome extrêmement soigné, qui sautillait dans tous les sens d'un air de vive impatience et d'insatiable curiosité. Il portait une cravate et chemise de soie immaculées, une veste d'intérieur sur un pantalon de velours à grosses côtes terriblement désuet mais fleurant bon la propreté, et des pantoufles en tapisserie. Ses yeux violets étincelèrent quand il s'aperçut qu' Aigle Errant était réveillé.
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Well, we've all gotta start somewhere, I suppose. The potential is clear enough but frankly this is just not a great book. I'm glad I read it but I doubt I'll ever feel the need to read it again.
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This is Rushdie in the rough. You can see the seeds of his unique style, which will come out in its full glory in his later book. Grismus writing is still a little awkward, the fairy-tale aspect a little more trippy than in his later books. Rushdie wrote this book as an entry to a science-fiction competition, and it feels like the fantasy element is a little forced. Later he will learn how to strum this confidently, but in Grimus... left me nauseous at times. Love Rushdie, but this is not his best.
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