Product Description

Omar Khayyam Shakil had three mothers who shared the symptoms of pregnancy, as they did everything else, inseparably. At their six breasts, Omar was warned against all feelings and nuances of shame. It was training which would prove useful when he left his mothers' fortress (via the dumb-waiter) to face his shameless future...As captivating fairy-tale, devastating political satire and exquisite, uproarious entertainment, "Shame" is a novel without rival.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69228 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
Salman Rushdie is the author of eight novels, one collection of short stories, and four works of non-fiction, and the co-editor of The Vintage Book of Indian Writing. In 1993 Midnight's Children was judged to be the 'Booker of Bookers', the best novel to have won the Booker Prize in its first 25 years. The Moor's Last Sigh won the Whitbread Prize in 1995, and the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature in 1996. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.

Customer Reviews

Unusual, witty and brilliant
Someone else who reviewed Shame on this site said that the book is a struggle if you don't know anything about Pakistan. I studied this book on my university course and, having no prior knowledge about Pakistan whatsoever, found it by far the most enjoyable, captivating and enlightening book on our course.

It was the first Rushdie book I read [I've since sought out other novels by him]. The character threads and plotlines throughout the novel are complex and tangled, but distinctive and engrossing enough to keep the reader on track. Rushdie's unmistakeable writing style, which seems to appeal highly to some and repulse others, struck me as nothing short of ingenious; knowledgeable and informed without being condescending, humourous without being silly, and informal without being trivial; one has the sense of having a story told verbally to them by a wise and well-travelled uncle with a twinkle in his eye and a wandering memory prone to spinning off on charming tangents. Hugely enjoyable, and like nothing I've ever read before.

A gripping and winding yarn; Rushdie's answer to his critics
Though Rushdie begins the novel by introducing his hero, in a casual, Henry Fielding-style, and sets out what seems to be the main theme of the book (namely shame and embarrassment in the Islamic faith and culture), this book is never so simple. The narrative follows both numerous secondary characters, the hero never wholly central, in a winding but entertaining yarn which takes in as much Pakistan's own invented history as it does it present and the lives of the characters. Yet the interest of the reader is always held; the plot, though winding, never ceases to be fascinating in its endless blind alleys and diversions.

In the novel postmodernism is embraced fully; the past and present intermingle, and the narrative changes its focus throughout. Rushdie seeks to reconcile himself with Pakistan and his own Muslim upbringing in India and Britain, drawing heavily from his own life and from Pakistan's history. It is also Rushdie's answer to his critics, no doubt, as rather than ignoring Islam he challenges it and in particular there is a feminist aspect to the story. Rushdie shows himself to be at once a great writer in a the 'classic' tradition and a progressive and enlightened man.

Another lucid and imaginative view from the eyes of Rushdie.
Once again Salman Rushdie has produced a fantastic insight for the reader drawn from his own incredible mind and experience. His use of magic realism and graphic metaphor produce a book which will remain in your conscious weeks after you put it down. 'Shame', the title says it all but you will still be left guessing at the conclusion.