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Shalimar the Clown: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Salman Rushdie
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  65 reviews
Sales Rank: 52144
Media: Paperback
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0679783482
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780679783480
ASIN: 0679783482
Publication Date: October 10, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Visible shelf wear -- may have some notes/markings on pages
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Product Description
“Dazzling . . . Modern thriller, Ramayan epic, courtroom drama, slapstick comedy, wartime adventure, political satire, village legend–they’re all blended here magnificently.”
–The Washington Post Book World
This is the story of Maximilian Ophuls, America’s counterterrorism chief, one of the makers of the modern world; his Kashmiri Muslim driver and subsequent killer, a mysterious figure who calls himself Shalimar the clown; Max’s illegitimate daughter India; and a woman who links them, whose revelation finally explains them all. It is an epic narrative that moves from California to Kashmir, France, and England, and back to California again. Along the way there are tales of princesses lured from their homes by demons, legends of kings forced to defend their kingdoms against evil. And there is always love, gained and lost, uncommonly beautiful and mortally dangerous.
“A commanding story . . . [a] harrowing climax . . . Revenge is an ancient and powerful engine of narrative.”
–The New York Times Book Review
“Absorbing . . . Everywhere [Rushdie] takes us there is both love and war, in strange and terrifying combinations, painted in swaying, swirling, world-eating prose that annihilates the borders between East and West, love and hate, private lives and the history they make.”
–Time
“A vast, richly peopled, beautiful and deeply rageful book that serves as a profound and disturbing artifact of our times.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
“Marvelous . . . brilliant . . . a story worthy of [Rushdie’s] genius.”
–Detroit Free Press
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
– The Washington Post Book World –Los Angeles Times Book Review –St. Louis Post-Dispatch –Rocky Mountain News
ONE OF THE BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR
–Time –Chicago Tribune –The Christian Science Monitor
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| Customer Reviews: Read 60 more reviews...
 Mesmerizing October 10, 2005
huckledude
42 out of 50 found this review helpful
A mesmerizing tale centered in Kashmir but roaming around the world and throughout history. The large cast of characters are each enchanting or entrancing in turn (although, oddly, the protagonist, India Ophuls, is not). The central tragedy of the story is the transformation of Kashmir from a Garden of Eden populated with warm, humble, enchanting, and enchanted rural villagers, into a ravaged moonscape populated by cold-blooded, fanatic, malevolent marauders from Pakistan and India; the story of Shalimar the Clown and Boonyi recapitulates the tragedy on a personal level, each proceeding toward their respective dooms after Boonyi eats from the forbidden fruit of modernity and Shalimar the Clown becomes an Islamist terrorist by way of passage to the execution of his personal terrorist agenda.
Rushdie's writing is mesmerizing throughout. The narrative is a dense tapestry that seems to lead in many directions but is all, in the end, tightly woven together. The only weakness, in my humble opinion, was that his protagonaist, India Ophuls, is an unappetizing character in her own right. The story of her childhood as the "root cause" for her unappealing traits is an oddly sociological, Oprah-istic formulation in a novel that is dominated by innocence and evil frankly declared.
Notwithstanding the overarching tragedy of the narrative, there is considerable humor of both the life-affirming and the splenetic varieties. On the other hand, Rushdie's proper English gentlemanliness creeps in occasionally in his disdain for those sullied by commerce or uniforms.
As someone who does not read a great deal of fiction, I was familiar with Rushdie only because of his unpopularity with the famous literary critic, Ayatollah Khomeini. I can see from Shalimar the Clown that I have been missing out on one of the most substantial literary talents of our time.
"An age of fury was dawning, and only the enraged could shape it." September 12, 2005
Mary Whipple (New England)
37 out of 45 found this review helpful
When India Ophuls finds the body of her father, his throat slashed by his Kashmiri chauffeur, Shalimar the Clown, she and the police believe the death to be connected to terrorism. Max Ophuls, "the Resistance hero, the philosopher prince, the billionaire power-broker, the maker of the world" was also "America's best loved, then most scandalous Ambassador to India." Though Max has been US counter-terrorism chief recently, his assassination by Shalimar the Clown, we learn, has been an act of pure, personal revenge, unrelated to terrorist organizations.
Through an extended flashback, Rushdie recreates the love story of Shalimar, a tightrope walker, and Boonyi Kaul, a dancer and acrobat, in a troupe from Pachigam, a small Kashmiri village where both Muslims and Hindus live and work together peacefully and govern the town together. Shalimar and Boonyi fall deeply in love at fourteen and marry soon after, but several years later, Boonyi has an affair with Ambassador Max Ophuls, and her abandonment of her husband turns the enraged Shalimar into a potential assassin, who swears revenge upon everyone involved in the affair.
The continuing story of Boonyi and Shalimar becomes an allegory for the history of Kashmir, its Hindu/Muslim conflicts and its political India/Pakistan conflicts, as young Muslim men including Shalimar, respond to the teachings of the "iron mullahs" with their fundamentalist messages. Incorporating local mythology, legend, and traditional story-telling, Rushdie sheds light on the actions of the main characters, emphasizing the traditional beliefs which underlie much of their behavior. Dreams, visions, and prophecies give warnings of disasters to come. Boonyi's relationship with Max becomes the story of betrayal by a powerful American, and Max's Jewish background, which is emphasized, injects fundamentalist hatred of Jews into the controlling allegory.
Though Rushdie stresses that Shalimar assassinated Max Ophuls as an act of personal revenge, not terrorism, he nevertheless extends the allegory and symbolism from the personal to the universal. When the focus of the novel moves from Kashmir into the broader realm of all recent world events, it begins to break down thematically. "Everywhere's story is now a part of everywhere else," Rushdie says. Shalimar, for example, has trained in the Philippines with Abu Sayyaf, a group aided by Libya and Malaysia. India Ophuls sees her father as Nelson Mandela in a dream. The Los Angeles riots, 9/11, Rodney King, and Reginald Denny are viewed as part of interconnected violence throughout the world. Even the 1974 murder of a nanny in England by Lord Lucan is somehow connected to Max's murder and Shalimar's personal revenge.
Dense with imagery, legend, and local color, the novel lacks Rushdie's trademark humor, word play, puns, and clever repartee. His characters, though layered and often complex, illustrate aspects of the historical allegory and behave in ways that advance the plot and symbolism, rather than as characters with lives of their own. Journalistic passages, inserted within the story, give further information about the Indian army, its fight against the insurgency, and reports of fidayeen attacks and atrocities.
A fascinating study of the Kashmiri conflict, the cultures of the area, and the growth of radical Islam, the novel conveys both the spectacular beauty and the spectacular violence of the area, offering much to think about in terms of the origins of such violence. In his attempt to broaden the scope from Kashmir to the world stage and to show all violence as connected, however, Rushdie has stretched his themes and created a novel which often feels dogmatic. n Mary Whipple
Rushdie and the Exquisite Myth September 6, 2005
Evan (Sac, CA)
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
Leave it to Salman Rushdie to tackle the most poignant issue of our day - terrorism, and do so with eloquence, wit, and true revelations into its distressing nucleus. While other authors have included 9/11 in their novels (Foer's rather trite attempt in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Rushdie has managed to set the stage for a true exegesis of the zeitgeist prior to, and directly thereafter, this seminal event in American history. By investigating so perfectly the transformation of Shalimar into an extremist, Rushdie is able to weave together an explanation of why terrorists are born that remains personal, and yet also reaches an almost universal explication. This eerie gift is by far a better investigation of the reason for terrorism than any so-called scholarly work that has come out post-9/11. The fact that Rushdie provides his terrorist with such a layered biography is a testament to his talents, and allows the reader to understand there is far more to it than what they suggest on the nightly news. Rushdie's Shalimar becomes nearly the equivalent of Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost - we feel sympathetic towards him while at the same time, we know he is no hero. Like Milton, Rushdie is a myth-maker, and his ability to conjure up these new myths makes the novel all the more alluring.
Myths are universal. They capture the collective (un)consciousness of a given society. They tap into our most primal and complex notions and feelings. They work as symbols of our own actions and emotions. So, for an author to invent a myth, and do so with the perfection of actually capturing our attitudes, our new customs, our new thoughts, our new fears, he or she has accomplished something grand. And here, Rushdie has done so flawlessly. His characters work as archetypes, each one representing a given aspect of our worldly society today. Shalimar is those that we fear, Max is those we understand and respect (the West) but who are unequipped to understand and properly deal with the new world's greatest threat, Boonyi is the middle-point, the place where this friction collides, and it is fitting that she is the mother of complacency and American narcissism. For her child, living in Los Angeles in an absurd existence of self-indulgence and isolationism, with no understanding of her roots and the imminent catastrophe, is our attitude and response.
However, this novel is not all dire. Like all great myths, it is hilarious, erotic, absurd, and beautiful. It is a Divine Comedy, as well. The paradox of Dante's ominous subject is deftly played out here, as the humor and the beauty works to magnify the tragedy.
It has long been argued as well that the real frontline of terrorism is Kashmir, and here again, Rushdie beautifully expresses why this is, from a very interesting discussion of the history, to the events shaping the area into a hotbed of extremism. Long before there was Bush's war, there was the unending war between Hindu and Muslim. Kashmir is its home. Rushdie of course has intimate knowledge of this collision of cultures and the violence it can cause. His own forced reclusion after The Satanic Verse, when extremists were intent on doing away with him, is magically transferred into this novel, but without simply blaming Islam. Yet again, a feat of Rushdie's gifts.
Finally, Rushdie seems to be so in tune with our culture's prevailing attitudes, he appears to be almost speaking for us all. And not just those of us in the US or Europe, but our fellow humans across the globe similarly effected by terrorism. This notion of myth-making, of creating a new saga to highlight truths that cannot otherwise be expressed is a welcome return in contemporary literature. I am reminded of Christopher Wunderlee's The Loony, in which truth is so shrouded in mythology; we are incapable of understanding it. While Wunderlee's novel illuminates our mythologizing the past, and contorting the past to fit our current needs, Rushdie is looking at now, and requesting his readers to look forward. Both novels (interestingly both published this year) investigate the work of myth in our lives, untruths clarifying our basic truths, and how these sagas can still explain so much, even today.
Shalimar for the Kashmiris... June 2, 2006
P. Kaul (NY, USA)
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
I was 13 when I had to run from Kashmir in the cover of the night, with my family, to escape being butchered by Islamic fundamentalist groups. I am 30 and I live in NY now, but the nightmares wont go. Hence my review might be biased.
I just finished reading this book - I have laughed, cried, wailed, fumed with anger and every possible emotion. It was a roller coaster that way. I LIKED IT A LOT for the following reasons:
1. Salman has researched the book very well. I can attest to most of its historical and cultural references pertaining to Kashmir and India. He has liberally used metaphors from the Kashmiri language. Made the read very lucid for me.
2. Most of the political analysis - I am in agreement with, and seeems correct.
3. The story has been commented on in other reviews so I will refrain from it. But what must be pointed out is Salman's own background. As far as I know he's of Kashmiri origin. His ancestral house was still standing in Kashmir till a few years ago when it was blown up by the the terrorists. That translates into a very emotional narrative, almost honest.
4. I wont comment on the author - enough has been said about him. He's a great writer and I have loved most of his other works.
I DIDNT LIKE:
1. The overtly brutal potrayal of the Indian army. That was definitely an exagerration.
2. Sometimes he goes on in too much detail, on wild tangents.
3. The ending(but that a personal thing).
Other works I would highly recommend:
1. Midnight's Children.
2. Haroun and the sea of stories - with lots of hidden references to Kashmir: Dull lake anyone?
Definitely a good read.
Peace.
yes it comments on terrorism but is so much more September 27, 2005
L. Berlin (Evanston, IL United States)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Yes I am a fan of Rushdie, but I found this to be his best since Satanic Verses, although much different. As the other reviewers note part of this book is about terrorism. The other reviews also do a nice job of covering plot so I will skip it.
I would suggest the book is about so much more than terrorism. In fact I think his views of terrorism are not integral to the story and would not recommend reading it as a text in support of or against current US policy. Rushdie condemns politicians and their inane behavior in many ways, but I do not view that as central.
First and foremost, I believe this book is about the meaning of freedom. This brings it close to the heart of Rushdie who of course had to give up his freedom, at least for awhile to take advantage of his freedom to think and write. The book recounts the flights to freedom and differing views of it through many of the characters in the book. It explores the struggles of many characters to attain freedom or to benefit from it. This includes Max Ophuls who fled the nazis, Boon-yi, the heroine of sorts, who is trapped in her life, India Ophuls, the daughter of Maxand other characters. It is also about Kashmir and its loss of freedom at the hands of India and Pakistan who use it for their political ends.
I also believe this book is about the western concept of fate as passed down from the Greeks and its meanings. It is also about women and their role in societies and how they cope with men, life, love, tragedy and more. Much of it reminded me of the classics by men and written about women. Yes this is a short list, but Rushdie does such an amazing job of dealing with these issues, I can hardly do it justice.
All this is done through a tight plot with typical Rushdie humor, twists and turns and a good share of mysticism. It was a pleasure to read and I heartily recommend it.
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