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Salman Rushdie's most ambitious and accomplished novel, sure to be hailed as his masterpiece. At the beginning of this stunning novel, Vina Apsara, a famous and much-loved singer, is caught up in a devastating earthquake and never seen again by human eyes. This is her story, and that of Ormus Cama, the lover who finds, loses, seeks, and again finds her, over and over, throughout his own extraordinary life in music. Their epic romance is narrated by Ormus's childhood friend and Vina's sometime lover, her "back-door man," the photographer Rai, whose astonishing voice, filled with stories, images, myths, anger, wisdom, humor, and love, is perhaps the book's true hero. Telling the story of Ormus and Vina, he finds that he is also revealing his own truths: his human failings, his immortal longings. He is a man caught up in the loves and quarrels of the age's goddesses and gods, but dares to have ambitions of his own. And lives to tell the tale. Around these three, the uncertain world itself is beginning to tremble and break. Cracks and tears have begun to appear in the fabric of the real. There are glimpses of abysses below the surfaces of things. The Ground Beneath Her Feet is Salman Rushdie's most gripping novel and his boldest imaginative act, a vision of our shaken, mutating times, an engagement with the whole of what is and what might be, an account of the intimate, flawed encounter between the East and the West, a brilliant remaking of the myth of Orpheus, a novel of high (and low) comedy, high (and low) passions, high (and low) culture. It is a tale of love, death, and rock 'n' roll.
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Review:
The ground shifts repeatedly beneath the reader's feet during the course of Salman Rushdie's sixth novel, a riff on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in the high-octane world of rock & roll. Readers get their first clues early on that the universe Rushdie is creating here is not quite the one we know: Jesse Aron Parker, for example, wrote "Heartbreak Hotel"; Carly Simon and Guinevere Garfunkel sang "Bridge over Troubled Water"; and Shirley Jones and Gordon McRae starred in "South Pacific." And as the novel progresses, Rushdie adds unmistakable elements of science fiction to his already patented magical realism, with occasionally uneven results.
About the Author:
Rushdie's cunning musician is Ormus Cana, the Bombay-born founder of the most popular group in the world. Ormus's Eurydice (and lead singer) is Vina Apsara, the daughter of a Greek American woman and an Indian father who abandoned the family. What these two share, besides amazing musical talent, is a decidedly twisted family life: Ormus's twin brother died at birth and communicates to him from "the other side"; his older brothers, also twins, are, respectively, brain-damaged and a serial killer. Vina, on the other hand, grew up in rural West Virginia where she returned home one day to find her stepfather and sisters shot to death and her mother hanging from a rafter in the barn. No wonder these two believe they were made for each other.
Narrated by Rai Merchant, a childhood friend of both Vina and Ormus, The Ground Beneath Her Feet begins with a terrible earthquake in 1989 that swallows Vina whole, then moves back in time to chronicle the tangled histories of all the main characters and a host of minor ones as well. Rushdie's canvas is huge, stretching from India to London to New York and beyond--and there's plenty of room for him to punctuate this epic tale with pointed commentary on his own situation: Muslim-born Rai, for example, remarks that "my parents gave me the gift of irreligion, of growing up without bothering to ask people what gods they held dear.... You may argue that the gift was a poisoned chalice, but even if so, that's a cup from which I'd happily drink again." Despite earthquakes, heartbreaks, and a rip in the time-space continuum, The Ground Beneath Her Feet may be the most optimistic, accessible novel Rushdie has yet written. --Alix Wilber
Salman Rushdie is the author of several novels, including Grimus, Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor's Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, and Shalimar the Clown. He has written collections of short stories, including East, West, and co-edited with Elizabeth West a collection of Indian literature in English, Mirrorwork. He has also published several works of nonfiction, among them The Jaguar Smile, Imaginary Homelands, The Wizard of Oz, and Joseph Anton, a memoir of his life under the fatwa issued after the publication of The Satanic Verses.
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- PublisherPicadorUSA
- Publication date2000
- ISBN 10 009928295X
- ISBN 13 9780099282952
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages496
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The Ground Beneath Her Feet
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Book Description Condition: Very Good. Book is in Used-VeryGood condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain very limited notes and highlighting. 0.75. Seller Inventory # 009928295X-2-3
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Fair. From the author of THE SATANIC VERSES, EAST, WEST and THE MOORS LAST SIGH, the story of a famous singer who is killed in an earthquake, and that of her lover who finds, loses, seeks and finds her, over and over, throughout his own extraordinary life in music. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration. Seller Inventory # GOR002314500
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Book Description Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present. Seller Inventory # M0009928295X-G
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Good. 496 pages. Cover worn. Salman Rushdie's most ambitious and ac complished novel, sure to be hailed as his masterpiece. At the be ginning of this stunning novel, Vina Apsara, a famous and much-lo ved singer, is caught up in a devastating earthquake and never se en again by human eyes. This is her story, and that of Ormus Cama , the lover who finds, loses, seeks, and again finds her, over an d over, throughout his own extraordinary life in music. Their epi c romance is narrated by Ormus's childhood friend and Vina's some time lover, her back-door man, the photographer Rai, whose astoni shing voice, filled with stories, images, myths, anger, wisdom, h umor, and love, is perhaps the book's true hero. Telling the stor y of Ormus and Vina, he finds that he is also revealing his own t ruths: his human failings, his immortal longings. He is a man cau ght up in the loves and quarrels of the age's goddesses and gods, but dares to have ambitions of his own. And lives to tell the ta le. Around these three, the uncertain world itself is beginning t o tremble and break. Cracks and tears have begun to appear in the fabric of the real. There are glimpses of abysses below the surf aces of things. The Ground Beneath Her Feet is Salman Rushdie's m ost gripping novel and his boldest imaginative act, a vision of o ur shaken, mutating times, an engagement with the whole of what i s and what might be, an account of the intimate, flawed encounter between the East and the West, a brilliant remaking of the myth of Orpheus, a novel of high (and low) comedy, high (and low) pass ions, high (and low) culture. It is a tale of love, death, and ro ck 'n' roll. Seller Inventory # 1235i
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Book Description Couverture souple. Condition: bon. RO60077345: 2000. In-12. Broché. Bon état, Couv. fraîche, Dos impeccable, Intérieur frais. 634 pages. . . . Classification Dewey : 420-Langue anglaise. Anglo-saxon. Seller Inventory # RO60077345
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Book Description Condition: Fine. Book is in Used-LikeNew condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear. 0.75. Seller Inventory # 009928295X-2-2
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