Quichotte - Salman Rushdie

Reading a novel by Rushdie is usually a challenge - a challenge that is usually very, very rewarding, as I found out through The Satanic Verses, The Moor's last sigh and Midnight's children. Then there was Luka and the Lake of Fire which I read to my kids ( which the kids and their father found tiresome), and the equally chaotic Fury ( which luckily was "read" in its audiobook" form - so no harm done ). If Quichotte didn't manage to sneak up to be among the finalists of last year's Booker nominees, chances are I would've given this the miss. But the fact that it did, along with the fact that it was  loosely based on the character of Don Quixotte ( the book considered to be the first modern novel), and involves traveling across contemporary America with many an adventure, convinced me that I should read this. I was not disappointed . In fact I like this much - and this has to be the most readable and accessible Rushdie novel that I've read to date.

Rushdie handles many contemporary issues. The white supremacy that has woken up from decades of slumber in an opportune political environment, is a primary topic. Rushdie has been living in the United States for twenty years, and he is likely to have sensed the change of political climate, to make this point ( and he's not the first one to do so - even persons known to us have conveyed similar sentiments). A subtle license to hate has been tolerated over the last few years, Rushdie thinks. The next reference is the use of Opioids. Given the time of the release of the book (2019) it is safe to assume that Prince's death possibly due to fentanyl was one of the reasons to consider it as one of major ills of present day U.S. In fact he makes reference to Prince's death in an interview he had given about the book. The role that  Opioids play in American society takes  a considerable role in this tale.

The other topics he visits across this nearly 400 page book are -   Talk shows, with a fictional character that resembles an Indian born version of Oprah as a main character. Trash TV, broken migrant families where siblings live in different continents with less than the best of sibling like affection between them. There is  numerous literary references as appropriate a post-modern novel  - from Moby Dick to Alice in Wonderland, Lolita, Pinocchio to Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac ( he must be liking the boss - he referenced Bruce in Fury too - after all, the Boss is the ultimate working class American's singer and hence, representative of America ).



The characters both fictional, and the fiction's fictional, have their roots in India - Mumbai (as usual). It was interesting to note that the topic of abuse by trusted family members, comes up several times, with  how the repercussions affect them throughout their lives.
In Quichotte, Rushdie limits fantasy to the sub-narration, leaving the base narration within the realms of the real - until the last page or two, where he attempts to make the fantasy world, a sub-world and extension of the base - a neat trick I felt. There is also the faintest hint that he laughs at himself, in this novel, and that too is an attraction.

Overall, it was one of the most readable novels by Rushdie, and it was quite an enjoyable book. Personally I would rack it along with his best works - The Satanic verses, The Moor's last sigh and Midnight's Children ( i.e. from the ones I've read), and rate it just a few tenths below them.