Purchased used from thrift books. My copy had a price sticker with “L-21000” on it. Twenty-one thousand Lira? 200 pages into the book I found a faded receipt from the year 2000. The book was first purchased from a bookstore in the airport in Milan for 21000 Lira before the Euro was introduced in Italy.

I’m assuming the original owner never finished the book, considering the location of the receipt, that they were most likely using as a bookmark. I did finish the book, but it was a slog.

Clocking in at 635 pages this is Rushdie’s longest book. I read that after the critical reception of this book, he expressed regret at the form and vowed never to write a book so long again, which he stuck to.

The first time I read this I was completely discombobulated from the experience and had no idea what I had just read. This was a decade ago, I was busy, busy, busy, living a modern life, working out too hard at the gym and trying to read this before I went to bed. I would never get through more than five pages before I fell asleep.

Reading this book at that slow a pace just didn’t work as this is not pedestrian literature. It requires your attention. It breaks rules, like naming main characters with the same first letter: Pirate Prentice, Pointsman. It shifts the narrative without giving you warning. It introduces characters in the first 200 pages and doesn’t mention them again for 400 pages.

A decade later with some trepidation I decided to take on this book again. But I came armed with a slower lifestyle and less sleep debt. I also read it in conjunction to listening to the now defunct “Pynchon in Public” podcast. I would read my required chapters then listen to the podcast to get some interesting insights.

Another thing I did when reading this book was take breaks. The book is broken into four distinct sections:

1. Beyond the Zero page 1 - 177
2. Un Perm’ au Casino Herman Goering 181 - 278
3. In the Zone 279 -616
4. The Counterforce 617-760

After reading each section I went and read a different book, and I found reading it in this manner quite enjoyable.

RIP - Pynchon in Public podcast.

I purchased a used paperback copy for the sum of six dollars. As soon as I started reading the novel something felt off. Eventually I figured out what was so odd about my reading experience. You see, over time, I have become accustomed to paperbacks of a certain size. 4 1/4 inches wide by 7 inches tall to be precise. But my copy of The Mission Song is much taller measuring at 7 1/2 inches tall.

This slightly different form factor was mildly discombobulating though I persevered, and “got used to it”.

As for the novel, I found the protagonist quite naïve, especially as the novel got closer and closer to the conclusion. Nothing in the novel surprised me but I might be getting too used to the Carré style as I have been reading his novels in pretty close to consecutive order.

Only six left to go and six of them are waiting patiently on my Tsundoku shelf …

Usually with a 700-page book I read it as fast as I can as I find the momentum brings the book alive. I could tell 100 pages in that there wasn’t the level of post-modern complexity ( lots of characters etc) that a sprint read was not necessary. Not only that, I felt that a slow read made it more savoury. It took me almost two months to read and my only regret is that I didn’t take a full three months to read. ;)

I found this book a slog and was sorely disappointed as I enjoyed The Satanic Verses so much and have read it twice. This made me question whether Verses is as good as it seems or if the controversy makes it more exciting to read. But I don’t believe that. I’ve read everything before Verses and although Grimus and Shame weren’t my favourites, Midnight’s Children was a delight.

I think what unnerved me about this book was the choice of narrative style. Why should I care about the narrator and his family? Also, many of the characters in the story die, but I never felt any loss when the characters died as every character felt cartoonish and not real, which is the style of the novel.

I also believe much of the Indian background where the novel takes place made it less relatable to me. Whereas Verses takes place partially in India and partially in London, this takes place completely in India. A country the author was unable to travel to at the time of this writing. But again, I did not find this a problem when reading Midnight’s Children

What I believe we see here is an author struggling, as this was written when Rushdie was in hiding. Publishers were getting killed for the act of publishing Verses and publishing a novel afterwards had high expectations and there was caution about the subject matter. The narrative style makes the actions that occur in the novel seem more distance, less impactful and more cartoonish. This could be intentional as it tones down the critiques of Indian society.

Purchased a paperback for $6 then later found it on hardcover for free in a little free library. Read the first 400 pages by hardcover but then went on vacation and wanted to travel light and switched to my paperback copy.

Definitely a different experience. I would not recommend this to anyone I know. I picked up on circularness of the plot and a couple of other things. Read the plot summary on wikipedia to learn what I missed.

Long, banal and depressing. I started this and didn’t like the vibe. I took a vacation by the sea and didn’t want this to be my sunny read so took ten days off from reading this and read some more jovial summer reads.

So I read it slow at first but then powered through it to get it finished. This was a book that I read and kept with based on reputation so I could put a notch on my belt that I’ve read it.

I read Freedom before this which is also critically acclaimed and enjoyed it. I found the characters in this novel more tragic and detestable at times. As the novel progressed my reading pace increased and I had sympathy for the entire family.

I found out about this book because a female Mossad agent in The Little Drummer Girl reads it and this is mentioned several times. So when I found a used copy for $5 I picked it up.

Did I find this book absolutely enthralling? No. But it kept me reading and I liked that because it was a serial the chapters were short and I enjoyed reading it at a steady pace of only a chapter or two each day.

I can see why John Le Carré referenced the book. Henchard is a tragic character following a tragic path and many of his novels post Smiley’s People are in the same vein.