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.