Current mood:	accomplished
Current music:	House
Entry tags:	books

Book Review Pt. 1
-The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie: The part of this book that cracked me up the most is that the people most outraged about it were the people for whom Rushdie was writing. The book at its heart is about the intersection of tradition and modernity, and how far people go to lose their heritage.
There are several subplots. Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha are both of Muslim Indian heritage. Gibreel is a Bollywood star, while Saladin is a stage actor and a star of a popular children's show. After surviving a harrowing plane hijacking and a fall from 30,000 feet, Saladin starts taking on the attributes of a devil while Gibreel starts taking on the attributes of an angel. It's not incidental that Saladin rejected his heritage while Gibreel embraced his heritage.
Ultimately, the nature of their transformation remains unknown. People witness Gibreel's halo and Saladin's transformation into a horned satyr-like creature. Also, members of the immigrant community start dreaming of Saladin and embrace the idea of him as a symbol for their marginalized existence. On the other hand, Gibreel's belief that he's an angel is refuted by a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
The second subplot follows a prophet modelled after Mohammed and details his eventual takeover of a desert city. Gibreel dreams this, and in the dreams he is the angel Gibreel and he has no clue as to what he's supposed to reveal to Mahound.
The final subplot involves a modern prophetess, Ayesha, and her pilgramage with her followers from India to Mecca. Something of a supernatural nature does occur, but it's never explained and in the end, what happens to Ayesha and her followers is unexplained.
I suppose that what you believe happened depends on your faith, if you have any. I found this book to be exceedingly poetic and beautifully written. At its heart, I think it's a warning against fundamentalism and faith in things that don't deserve your faith, and the reaction to it is rather ironic.
Body of Work by Christine Montross
Christine Montross documents her experiences as a first year med student in the anatomy lab. She documents (In gorgeous detail) her first dissection of a cadaver and the psychological effects it has on her and her fellow med students.
Ms. Montross describes what it's like doing what humans are trained not to do, mutilate a body. Along with her personal journey to becoming a doctor, she details the history of dissection (In a MUCH better way than Human Remains, while remaining sensitive to the gender and racial issues entwined with the history of dissection), the history of medical school, and the difference between American and Asian dissection traditions.
This book is gorgeously written, illustrated with lovely engravings, and ultimately deeply engrossing.