Eclectic, entertaining mix of East and West characters!

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	• East, West: Stories Salman Rushdie Vintage, 1995 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Stories for Bedtime

Salman Rushdie is an excellent writer in general. He likes to write fantastical stories based on common everyday things. This book brings together stories from the East and stories from the West. My personal favorite is "the Prophet's Hair" about a family that sets out to find a professional theif to steal the latest addition to their father's collection and, hopefully, restore the family back to normal. There's only one story that seems to not fit and tends to be confusing: it's a rewriting of Shakespeare's Hamlet. I think you'll enjoy all the rest, though.

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The best sociological study around

Well, you probably supposed that this in not some kind of boring sociological study (not to say that those things are boring, only some of them :)), you also probably guessed that this is a novel comprised of short stories. Wow, good guess, considering that all that is written somwhere around. Enough with the joking.
Well, having read most of Rushdie's work, I was finding myself, very often, suprised, about the fact that every educated reader in the world could find his work interesting. Or so the media tries to present it. As much as I do not appreciate his other work (including, Satanic verses and Midnight:Children) I must confess that these novels stand for the best ones I have ever read in my entire life.
When westerner tries to grasp struggle that is (and still will be) going on between East and West, he can't run from prejudices which he breathes by mere fact of being westerneer. Upon reading this book, one does find himself wondering, what the hell happened to the world...

These are the stories of prejudices, both East and West, stories of love and hate that exist in both spheres, told in language extraordinaire, stories that presents the world in his filth, and richness, in his sadness and loveability, stories that you'll remember long after the moment of reading has passed.
I can only but recommend this book....
(If you have any doubts, pleas call our emergency line at 1-800-HELP...j/k e-mail me)

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Compelling

I loved this book by Rushdie. I was first introduced to it as a selection in a seminar course, and have found myself going back to a number of the stories to re-read them - something I almost never do. The first three stories take place in India and play greatly with Western readers perceptions of Indians and Indian culture. The second selection of three stories takes place in the West. Some are contemporary while one is actually futuristic, bordering on sci-fi. The last three are a fussion of these two worlds. The stories are rich in their imagery, and definitely multi-layered. They prove to be an entertaining read for the casual reader, as well as an extremely intriguing read for those who are involved in a book club or academic enviornment. While some stories are difficult because of the Indian dialect or else due to the point at which the reader is dropped into the story, I would encourage one to keep reading. It will untangle into perhaps one of the best short stories you will encounter, and they are written this way for a reason. With Rushdie, nothing is left to chance, and there is a reason for everything in these stories whether it be the starting point, the dialect, the time frame, a character's name, etc. Definitely get this book. It is worth every penny.

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Eclectic, entertaining mix of East and West characters!

East, West is most readily accessible work of Rushdie. The stories are high entertaining, and each of the nine stories manages to create well-defined character sketches, as well as plots with interesting twists, myths and humor. The story about Columbus and Isabella is full of laughs, about Courter is full of sentimental exuberance, one about Chekov and Zulu delves into Indra Gandhi's assination and its effect on the friendship of a Sikh and a Hindu (very poignant for us who witnessed the tradegy), and there are others that deal with the charade of charlatan, the obsession of occult of some Cambridge students and so on. These stories reflect how well Rushdie captures both the Eastern and Western personalities and history and how he manages to combine them to make stories worth relishing.

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Rushdie a master of the short story form

The stories in this collection present lighter reading than Rushdie's mammoth novels such as Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses but they display just as many of his lavish, elegant and rich prose writing talents. The stories focus on various cultural aspects of Western and Eastern societies - the lifestyles, events, stereotypes and prejudices that affect people in these areas, especially those who, like Rushdie, migrate from one to the other.

The stories are vastly diverse - those in the 'East' section document important cultural events that are particular to Indian society - the woman seeking a Visa to travel West, the man who undergoes a vasectomy to get a free radio. Those in the 'West' section include a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead esque reworking of Hamlet from the perspective of the minor characters and a whimsical portrayal of Christopher Columbus as beholden to the dominant whims of Queen Isabella rather than the pioneering bold explorer of legend.
The final stories 'East, West' tackle issues of East, West cultural commingling. 'The Harmony of the Spheres' is the story of an Indian undergraduate at Cambridge University who encounters a paranoid schizophrenic, obsessed with the occult. Chekov and Zulu, the code names of two diplomats, is a story set in the historical context of Indian politics and mixes Western popular culture images in the unfamiliar context of Asian political circles. The final story 'The Courter' highlights perhaps the dominant theme we associate with East, West migration, the difficulties faced by poor immigrant families in London and the prejudices they suffer. The final page deftly highlights the sensation felt, perhaps by Rushdie himself, and many other people who have crossed frontiers: 'I...have ropes around my neck, I have them to this day, pulling me this way and that, East and West, the nooses tightening, commanding, choose, choose. I buck, I snort, I whinny, I rear, I kick. Ropes, I do not choose between you. Lassoes, lariats, I choose neither of you, and both. Do you hear? I refuse to choose'. The stubborn proudness of the cross cultural traveller. East, West highlights these virtues superbly.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Satanic Verses comes nine stories that reveal the oceanic distances and the unexpected intimacies between East and West. Daring, extravagant, comical and humane, this book renews Rushdie's stature as a storyteller who can enthrall and instruct us with the same sentence.

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