Review of Grimus

By Salman Rushdie

Do you like solving puzzles? I just solved one. Yes, I am talking about Salman Rushdie’s first book, Grimus.

Reading Grimus is, like putting together a puzzle. The first segment showed me all the pieces face up and urged me to structure a mental plan. The second segment relied on my power of observation and analysis; to not only look at the pieces but, try putting them together. The third chapter left me with about 50 pieces left of a well-defined portrait and I raced to the finish line, putting everything in place. In the end, I realized it had kept me at a run to know the unknown.

The protagonist, Flapping Eagle (a.k.a. Born-From-Dead) in the first few pages is given the "gift" of eternal life. Staying the same age for hundreds of years, Flapping Eagle decides he no longer wants to live, but to finally die a mortal's death! Immortality becomes a curse for him! To regain his mortal life he has to go to Calf Island and ascend Calf Mountain to meet Grimus, an all-powerful entity. That's the challenge!

Along the way, Flapping Eagle befriends Virgil Jones and his lady, Dolores O'Toole. The disfigured couple is the first clue that something is dreadfully wrong on Calf Island. Jones the obese is with O'Toole the humpback! The two really are remarkable. Rushdie creates sympathy for them but never encourages pity.

On Calf Island, a host of characters and themes are introduced; mythology is blended with science fiction. As readers become acquainted to the disfigured reality of Rushdie’s imagination, Flapping Eagle embarks on a quest to find Grimus with Virgil Jones as his guide, echoing Danté.

At this point I lost control over the pages and things became really confusing. But my trust on Rushdie held me to the book. And it didn’t betray me. Mystified as I was, I knew I was being taken on a voyage by the master, who in his first novel was plainly establishing himself as a master.

Tales are told. Resolutions are made. Masks are removed. Details pile up. Reality is disoriented and then reoriented. The novel moves on keeping the reader in uncertainty.

Those who are impatient should think twice before picking up this book. And it is alone for this reason that many critique ended up giving very less attention to Grimus. In my words, Rushdie has his awesome style and in his first novel he is teaching his readers to read it his way.

The finale is grand!

The book is available at Friends’ Book Corner, Nilkhet.

Reviewed by Efadul Huq

efahuq@gmail.com