Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights

by Salman Rushdie

Blending history, mythology and a timeless love story, this is a satirical, magical masterpiece.

In the near future, after a storm strikes New York City, the strangenesses begin. A down-to-earth gardener finds that his feet no longer touch the ground. A graphic novelist awakens in his bedroom to a mysterious entity that resembles his own comic book creation. Abandoned at the mayor's office, a baby identifies corruption with her mere presence, marking the guilty with blemishes and boils. A seductive gold digger is soon tapped to combat forces beyond imagining.

Unbeknownst to them, they are all descended from the whimsical, capricious, wanton creatures known as the jinn. Centuries ago, Dunia, a princess of the jinn, fell in love with a mortal man of reason. Together they produced an astonishing number of children, unaware of their fantastical powers, who spread across generations in the human world.

'A riotous, exuberant and sometimes maddening celebration of the power of storytelling' Sunday Times

Reviewed by Beth C. on

2 of 5 stars

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I'm just going to post this disclaimer right off the bat - I am not all that familiar with Salman Rushdie. Yes, I'm aware of the Fatwa, and yes I know he's written other books. That pretty much covers my knowledge of him. Details and particulars I do not know - and I'm ok with that. I wanted to come into this book being unaware of the reasons for the notoriety that seems to surround him. I also wanted to be able to enjoy the book. One out of two isn't bad, right?

At some point in the very near future, our world as we know it will change. Things we believe to be fairy tales or fantasies will be proven to be true as they wage their Great War on Earth, using humans as their fodder and their currency. It all started way back with two old philosophers, and it will end with a gardener, a crazy woman, a graphic novelist - and a jinnia who dared to learn to love as humans do. Whether or not it ends as they plan, well...they do say the jinn are devious.

Frankly, I'm not quite sure *what* thought of this novel. It seemed almost like two different books intertwined, and it didn't always make the most sense. It was like a fantasy novel was thrown together with a treatise on current events and human nature and loosely mixed together so that neither one worked well. For a novice Rushdie reader, I closed the book feeling confused and reluctant to ever want to read another one. Now - it's very possible that not knowing his backstory may have hindered my reading of this book. If so, then that's a shame - any person should be able to open a novel and feel swept away by the story within, even if they haven't read the first book or don't understand the author's history. I just didn't feel like that was the case here.

I truly wanted to love this book - the premise certainly was interesting enough for me to have given it a shot. And I did enjoy some of the fantasy elements. However, it just felt overly wordy, had a strange fixation on emphasizing how often the jinn like sex, and was confusing as well. Not my cup of tea, and I certainly would not recommend it to a friend.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 8 June, 2015: Finished reading
  • 8 June, 2015: Reviewed