Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie

656 Pages

Trade Paperback

Memoir Non-Fiction

Rushdie is one of the most engrossing writers I have read. His imagery continually draws me into his stories and stands alone outside of the tales that he tells. For many years he has been one of my favorite authors. He is probably most famous not for the work he has written, but more for the reaction to one of his earliest works, The Satanic Verses. Once his book was released the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran placed a fatwa on his head sentencing him to death. For the next nine years he lived in hiding and under the protection of the British police.

Joseph Anton is a recounting of his time in exile. The name is the one he takes to cover who he really is. The book is written in 3rd person and gives the feeling of an almost fictional situation. Sadly we know this is a true story. We follow Rushdie through the end of a marriage and the beginning of another. We experience how his young child grows to manhood, while he father lives in hiding. Rushdie originally is constantly moving. As soon as one place is getting comfortable he is forced to move to another. At first he barely allowed to leave his home. As time passes things get easier and he is even allowed to go on vacation. The undercurrent of the book is his original supplication to what has happened to him and eventually his efforts to stand up against those that would censor him and other authors of the world.

For a book that is essentially about a guy that is stuck in one place for years at a time it still kept my attention. Rushdie's books normally have a magical part to them and grand adventures happen in fantastic places. Now we have relatively normal guy living in an uncomfortable situation. He still makes it work. We lose some Rushdie's fantastic writing. There isn't as much flowing prose and encompassing descriptions, but we get a treat here and there. Some of my favorite parts of the book is where is describes working on his other novels. Three men involved in the publication and translation of the book are attacked. Sadly, the Japanese translator is killed.   Disappointingly, Rushdie feels that at least two books will never be made because of the fatwas disruption of his life.

3 Intellectual/Emotional - This really stands as a defiance to censorship and opposes the feelings of a few denying the rights of the many. It is easy to feel for Rushdie. 

3 Style/Readability - The realism of the book makes it sad and less appealing than Rushdie's other work, but it was still very engaging and I quickly read through it.

3 Long Term Impact - Rushdie will probably always be more famous for the fatwa against him rather than the quality of his writing and that is a shame. Even so, this book wouldn't be his most valuable. 

9 out of 13. This feels about right. I might give it another point somewhere, but honestly if you haven't read his work I suggest starting somewhere else first. I would suggest Midnight's Children, The Moors Last Sigh and Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

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